House of Blues

torture.
    Sally's torture was psychic, but it was torture
nonetheless. Each policeman's face was a discrete, personal study in
tension and misery.
    Skip knew what was in all their heads: I twitch my
little finger wrong and the buby's dead.
    She whispered to Johnson, "I'm going to talk to
her a minute, and then I'm going to walk toward her."
    He started to shake his head, but didn't. Indecision
played on his features.
    Skip turned back to Anna, knowing that for the moment
she was in charge. "Anna, you wouldn't hurt Sally."
    "I'll kill her, and then I'll kill myself."
    Skip could feel sweat flowing at her hairline. She
hadn't gotten that far yet—hadn't thought of that one. "Life
seems hard right now because you're going through something. I don't
know what, but I know you are. That's why you left your home in a
hurry. That's why you feel so desperate. But you're a strong woman,
Anna. You've been through a lot and you can get through this one too.
You're not going to kill yourself."
    She was making it up as she went along, going on the
way Anna looked and on Reed's description of her—if she'd been a
dragon, she had to be a strong woman.
    Skip took a step forward. "I knew you wouldn't
kill Sally. You know, before I came to your house, when I was trying
to find you, I called your brother's house."
    " My brother?"
    Skip took another step. "Yeah, John Garibaldi."
    "My husbands brother. My late husband."
    "I talked to his little girl. What a sweet
child!"
    I can't believe the stuff I'm saying. I sound like
I'm at a tea party.
    But it was working. Anna was quiet; something seemed
different about her. And she was sufficiently distracted to discuss
her relatives.
    Skip took two more steps, keeping her eyes on Anna's
face. She couldn't see Johnson, but that was just as well. He had no
choice now except to let her handle it.
    Anna was looking at her, not Sally. But Sally lurched
in her arms, squealing, and Anna's attention turned back to the
child.
    " Little Kathy. Isn't that her name?" It had
to be something ending in a Y.
    Anna didn't answer.
    "She told me how you take her to get ice cream
cones. Did you know you're her favorite aunt? She told me that. Did
she ever tell you that?
    "Do you know how disappointed that little girl
would be if she never saw you again?"
    "You're just trying to manipulate me."
Anna's voice was thick; full of tears.
    "Look, we can work this out. Whatever trouble
you're in, it can't be as bad as leaving Kathy alone. Really think
about that. Weigh it. What's the shock going to be like for that
little girl?" Skip came closer and held out her hand, slowly, as
if trying to make friends with a dog. "Why don't you give me the
gun?"
    "Leave me alone, goddamn it!" It came out
as half a sob, half a scream. Sally lurched again, and the Dragon
cooed, "Oh, baby, did I hurt your ears? Poor little Sally-wally.
Nonna didn't mean to."
    Skip saw what Dietrich meant about dual
personalities. She said, "You love Sally, don"t you? You
love her very much." She paused. "Let her go to her mama."
    Hearing a familiar word, Sally screamed, "Mama!
Mama!"
    "Anna. You know you're not going to kill her. A
beautiful, sweet child like that. You love her. You just can't do it.
Go ahead. Let her go."
    Anna stared straight at Skip. She began to bend from
the knees. Omigod, she's going to do it.
    Skip started to panic, realizing that the minute
Sally was on the ground, Anna would turn the gun on herself.
    She ran the last few steps, knowing Anna's decision
was made. No way was she going to shoot Sally. She grabbed the other
woman's gun hand and twisted till she felt the fingers relax, heard
the gun drop.
    After that, it was a blur. Other officers piled on
and separated the three of them—Sally, Anna, and Skip. Then Sally
was running, shouting, "Mama! Mama! Mama!"
    Skip was sorry that Reed
couldn't run as well.
    * * *
    It was hell getting out of the airport. Once Skip had
fought her way through the thicket of reporters that now bristled
through the corridors, she had to give her report to the Jefferson
Parish guys. By the time that was done, some of the arguing was over
about who got Anna, and the news wasn't too bad from Skip's point of
view: the FBI claimed her for the federal crime of taking a gun into
the airport.
    The good part was, since
the airport was the city's property, she'd be in federal custody in
Orleans Parish prison—not Jefferson.
    * * *
    Cappello met her at her desk. "Great job. I'd
say go home, but there's