Rebecca Schwartz 05 - Other People's Skeletons

his angry, harried wife made it seem ugly and cheap, terribly unfair.
    The little girl smiled. “We’re playing rain forest,” she said. “Watch out for the alligators, Ooooh, watch out!”
    “You must be Kristin.”
    “Uh-huh. You want to get in our boat? We’re going down the Amazon.”
    The oldest boy blushed, caught playing with babies. The man said, “I’m Eddie La Barre. You were calling me?”
    “Your wife told us where you were.”
    Alarm showed on his face, something, despite the brothers’ similarities, that probably wasn’t in Tommy’s repertoire. “Is something wrong?”
    “Not at all. We got your name from your brother. We wanted to talk to you, that’s all.”
    And then a refinery exploded about ten feet away.
    Or so it seemed.
    La Barre pushed the kids to the ground and dropped, all four children screaming at once. We heard shouts and scurrying throughout the glass house, but Chris and I stood riveted, heads swiveling, unable to grasp what had happened.
    Finally La Barre, catching on that we were sitting ducks, shouted, “Get down! Someone’s shooting.” There was another explosion. I dropped and heard Chris do the same; my only thought, wildly, crazily, not for us or the children, but for the marvelous old building:
Oh, God, not in here!
    “Daddy!” shouted someone. “Daddy, stop!”
    It was not a child’s voice, but a young woman’s I couldn’t place. Chris whispered: “Adrienne,” and I raised my head, but I couldn’t see anyone through the mist.
    “Daddy, give me the gun. It’s okay, you don’t have to shoot anybody.”
    “Adrienne, you stay out of this. I don’t want to hurt you.”
    “You came to get me, didn’t you? Well, here I am. I’m right here, and everything’s fine. We’ll go home now. We’ll go home and have a nice drink. Come on, Dad— it’s too hot to be out here. Maybe a Long Island iced tea.”
    “I got the reporter; now I got to get the lawyers. Then everything’ll be fine. It’s not fine yet, Adrienne. You go home now.”
    Eddie La Barre called, “Adrienne, go!”
    “Who’s that?” Dunson’s voice changed, became the voice of a crazy man, paranoid, on edge.
    “Dad, come on, now. Give me the gun and let’s go.” Ignoring her, he stepped into view. I could see him from the back, staring at Eddie, down on the ground with his children. “Whoever you are, you’ve got four kids. Hey, Adrienne, who is this guy?”
    Adrienne walked into view also, but I noticed she didn’t get too close to her dad. “Dad, it doesn’t matter— let’s just go now.” She held out a hand but kept her distance.
    “Stand up, mister.”
    La Barre stood, but I heard him whispering to his kids: “Stay down. Don’t move.”
    “You’ve got three beautiful boys, and I don’t have any. Hey, Adrienne, I can solve this thing. I’ll just take one of his boys.”
    “Dad, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Adrienne spoke, not as if her father had suddenly snapped, but like a woman used to dealing with crazy people. I wondered what her life had been like and didn’t envy her. She stepped closer to the children.
    Her father said, “You kids. Stand up.”
    “No.” Adrienne and Eddie La Barre spoke at once. “Come on, Daddy.” Again she held out her hand. “Adrienne, you’re in my way.”
    “We’ve really got to go home now.”
    “Adrienne, don’t make me shoot you.” He fired again, another of those hideous blasts I feared would shatter the building.
    She jumped at him, grabbed for his gun, and once again it went off. Adrienne’s body twitched and sank to the floor.
    Dunson yelled, apparently to the world at large, “Now look what you made me do! I had a son, a wife, and a daughter, and now I don’t have anybody. I’m taking a kid. You owe me that.”
    He kicked one of the children. “You. Get up.”
    The little boy didn’t move.
    He kicked another. “You!”
    The kid made an “oof” noise.
    “Come on, or I’ll kick you again.”
    I followed the kid’s eyes to the still body of Adrienne, blood oozing from her upper chest. Seizing the opportunity, Dunson shouted. “Get up or I’ll shoot you.” The kid stood and Dunson had him in an instant, his left arm pinning the kid against his body.
    Without thinking, I stood up. “Mr. Dunson.”
    He whirled, and I saw the madness in his eyes.
    “I thought you wanted me. That’s what you told Adrienne. I heard you.”
    “The lawyer.”
    “Look, take me instead of the kid.”
    “But