One Grave Less

were armed, so he wouldn’t get jumpy when he saw all the guns inside.
    “Everything’s all right now, ma’am,” he said. “You can put your guns away.”
    Diane looked at Frank. She wanted to hear from him that everything was all right. He looked grim, but gave her the slightest of smiles. She stepped aside to let them enter.
    She imagined they would have to answer questions. She hugged Frank and kissed his cheek. He held her tightly around the waist, lingering. He had killed whoever it was. She could feel it in him.
    The man may have deserved it, but it’s not an easy thing to kill another human being. They stepped back from each other and, while Frank led the policeman to the living room, she took her and Gregory’s guns and put them back in the safe.
    Star embraced Frank and wouldn’t let go of his waist.
    “You okay?” she said. “I heard a shot. Is someone out there? Is it the guy who shot Diane? Is he dead? Did an ambulance come for Diane? If he’s out there lying in the grass, can I go kick him?”
    Frank looked at her and smiled. “I’m fine,” he said.
    Star and Frank sat down on the couch. The policeman sat opposite them. Gregory stood back in the shadows near the wall.
    “The paramedics just drove up, ma’am. He said you’re shot?” the policeman asked.
    “It’s not serious,” Diane said. “The bleeding is almost stopped. I’m sure it’ll just need a butterfly bandage.”
    The doorbell rang again, and as she went to answer it, she saw that the bullet that creased her shoulder had hit a photograph of her and Ariel.
    “That damn son of a bitch,” she said with such force that they all stared at her.
    Frank jumped to his feet. “Diane, are you all right?”
    Star and the policeman looked startled. Gregory had already noticed the photograph.
    “The photograph of me and Ariel. Damn it. The bullet hit it. Damn him. Damn him.”
    She picked up the picture and rubbed her thumb over Ariel’s face, cutting her finger on the broken glass. The bullet blew Diane out of the photograph, leaving a ragged edge beside Ariel.
    Frank came over and embraced her.
    “Who are those people? Why do they want me dead?” It came out sounding more teary than she had intended.
    “We are going to find out,” said Frank. “Let the paramedics in. I’ll speak to the policeman.”
    Diane nodded, walked over, and opened the door. Two paramedics were standing on the porch with their cases in their hands. They were the same ones who had come several months ago, after the last intruder. They must think her a magnet for homicidal maniacs. They would be right.
    “Someone has a gunshot wound?” one of them said.
    “Me,” said Diane. “It’s not bad.”
    She led them to the kitchen and let them tend to the wound. She could hear the voices in the other room but not what they were saying. She wanted more to hear what Frank was saying than to have her wound looked at. But she stayed and let them clean and tend to it.
    “You’re right,” the paramedic said. “It’s not too bad. Just a deep graze. We can close it with a butterfly. Are you up-to-date on your tetanus?”
    “Yes,” she said. “I do a lot of caving. I stay up-to-date on things like that.”
    “That’s good, ma’am. I thought about caving once,” he said as he was treating the wound. “I’m a little bit claustrophobic. I understand that’s not too good for caving.”
    “No, not too,” she said.
    They finished with her and packed up their kits.
    “Let a doctor see that in a couple of days,” he said. “But I don’t think you’ll have any trouble. Someone shot you here in your house?”
    “They shot from a distance, through the open door. I was turning, or it might have been a different outcome,” she said.
    “Now, that’s just plain wrong,” said the other paramedic.
    “It is. People should be safe in their homes,” she said.
    “You got that right. See a doctor right away if it starts to bother you.” He paused. “Your finger’s bleeding. Did the bullet hit you there too?”
    “No, I cut it on some glass that broke. This hasn’t been my night,” said Diane. “It’s not bad. I’ll wash it off and put some Neosporin on it.”
    The paramedics left and Diane went back to the living room to listen. She had missed most of Frank’s story. What she did hear was that Frank shot him when he turned the rifle on Frank. That frightened her. It could have been Frank that was shot. All this—Star was attacked and scared to