“Sure, no problem.”
“But the most important thing is-you won’t be spending Christmas behind bars.”
Carl’s lips parted, but he didn’t speak. His eyes became wide and watery.
“Which is good, because Tommy isn’t going to have anyone else to stay with.”
There was a catch in Carl’s throat. “You mean, I’m going to spend Christmas with-” He suddenly let out a gasp. “Look out!”
Megan whirled around to see a man she knew must be Frank flying toward her, fists first. She screamed.
Carl grabbed her by the arm and yanked her out of Frank’s path, barely a second before he landed. Where had he come from? Megan puzzled. In the space of a heartbeat, she realized he must’ve hidden in a back bedroom, then dropped out of a window as soon as the police left the house.
“You’ve ruined everything,” Frank growled. His eyes were blazing; the expression on his face said he could kill anyone and anything that came into his grasp. Then he lunged.
Carl shoved Megan out of the way. Frank hit Carl front and center, knocking him down onto the porch-hard. A moment later, Frank scrabbled to his feet and took off.
Carl pushed himself up from the pavement slowly. Blood was trickling from the side of his mouth.
Megan laid a restraining hand on his shoulder. “Let the police catch him.”
“Like hell.” Carl started after Frank. Megan followed. She realized she must be seeing Carl’s police training in action. It rose to the surface even when Carl wasn’t consciously thinking about it. He was fast, too. In no time at all, he’d left her far behind.
Carl caught Frank just before he crossed the neighbor’s yard. He wrapped himself around Frank’s legs, knocking him to the ground. Before the man could recover, he rolled Frank onto his back and sat on him, pinning his arms back. “Go ahead,” Carl said. “Resist. Please.” Frank’s teeth were clenched; his face was smeared with dirt and grass stains. He drank in the cold hard look in Carl’s eyes-and did not resist.
A phone call later, two police officers came running to the scene. “Nice work,” one of them said to Carl as he snapped the cuffs around Frank’s wrists. “Thanks for the assist.”
“Anytime.”
Carl pushed off Frank’s prostrate body, then walked over to Megan. “Well, that was fun. Maybe I’m not totally washed up after all.”
Megan smiled. “I’m certain of it.”
“Did you mean what you said before? About me spending Christmas with-” All at once, his face darkened. “Tommy!”
“What about him?” Carl slapped himself on the side of the head. “I’m such an idiot. In all the confusion, I lost track of him. He was so terrified when his mother was pointing that gun at us. Then he ran inside and-” His eyes darted to one side, and then his voice disappeared.
Megan laid her hand on his shoulder. Carl? What is it?”
His hand rose, trembling, and pointed to the place on the grass where Bonnie had been tackled. “The gun,” he said, barely getting the word out. “I kicked it over by the hedge.”
“Yeah. So?”
“It’s gone.” He turned to face Megan, his eyes wide with fear. “And so is Tommy.”
23
Megan tiptoed carefully up the stairs of the house. Tommy’s room was at the top and the door was closed.
She stepped carefully toward his door. She stood to one side and knocked gently. “Tommy?”
“Don’t come in!” he shouted from inside. The words seemed to pour out of him, like water from a fountain. “I’ve got a gun! I’ll shoot!”
Well, that solved that mystery. Tommy had the gun. And he was holed up in his room, thinking heaven only knew what, trying to keep the monsters at bay.
“Tommy, listen to me. I’m your friend.”
“You’re my mother’s friend!” the boy shouted through the door. “You helped her take me away from my dad!”
She pressed her hand against her forehead. This was going to be harder than she imagined. Carl was searching downstairs; she thought about getting him, making him do this. But the truth was, whoever turned that doorknob was putting his or her life in danger. And more than anything else, Tommy needed to have a father, alive, not in the hospital and not in jail, when Christmas Day rolled around.
She touched the doorknob. “Tommy, I’m just going to step inside. And you’re not going to fire that pistol.”
“I will!” There was a desperate urgency in his voice, a pronounced note of panic. She didn’t doubt for a minute that he was capable of pulling that trigger. “I’ll shoot anyone who comes through the door!”
“Tommy, listen to me. There’s no reason to be angry. I know there are people who’ve hurt you. But the police have taken the bad people away.”
“I’m tellin’ you-don’t open that door!” Tommy’s voice trembled as he spoke. “If you do, I’ll shoot!”
Megan felt for the boy so strongly her heart ached. He was frightened to death. And who could blame him? He was only seven years old, after all. He’d seen his father acting like a crazy man, his mother pointing a gun at him, her boyfriend beating him within an inch of his life. Who wouldn’t be scared? And confused. And ready to do anything to prevent it from starting all over again.
“Tommy, listen to me.”
“I won’t! I’ll shoot! Don’t think I don’t know how to fire this gun. I do!”
Megan crouched down on the floor and peered through the crack between the door and the jamb. It was just wide enough for her to see a tiny sliver of the room inside.
She gasped, then pressed her hand against her throat. Tommy was holding the gun backwards, so the barrel pointed at himself. If he pulled the trigger, he’d blow a hole in his chest the size of a canyon.
“Tommy, listen to me! You can’t fire that gun. You might hurt yourself. Or even-”
“I will! I’ll fire if you turn that doorknob!”
“Tommy, no!” Megan could feel her own panic rising. She had to beat it down, keep her wits about her. “Tommy, please listen to what I have to say. There’s no reason to be scared. Frank is in custody and he’ll never be able to lay a hand on you again. You’re absolutely safe. I’m a lawyer, Tommy. Trust me. The law will protect you.”
“That’s what they all say!” Tommy replied. He was screaming now; he sounded as if he was about to lose control altogether. “I won’t believe you. I won’t!”
Megan took a deep breath and slowly released it. Her palms were sweating, but somehow, she had to remain calm. If she was going to talk him out of this, it clearly wasn’t going to be as a lawyer. There had to be another way.
“Tommy, please relax. I’m not coming in. I’m not even near the door.” She waited for a moment, didn’t hear anything. With any luck, he was calming a bit. “Tommy, I’m not just a lawyer. I’m also a priest. Do you know what a priest is?”
There was a long pause before he answered. “Like-sort of a preacher?”
“That’s exactly right, Tommy. Now listen to me-you know what day today is, don’t you?”
“’Course I do. I’m not stupid. It’s Christmas Eve.”
“That’s exactly right.” Megan glanced at her watch. Only a few minutes till the big day itself. “Now, Tommy, do you know what Christmas is? Do you know why we celebrate this day?”
“I know what they say. S’posed to be when Jesus was born. ’Cept it prob’ly isn’t.”
“Well, you’re right, Tommy. It probably isn’t. But that’s not the point. The point is that we have a special day when we remember who Jesus is. What he did.” She paused, then crept a bit closer to the door. “Have you heard any stories about Jesus?”
His voice was totally noncommittal. “Yeah. Some.”
“Well, then, you’ve probably heard the stories about when Jesus was a baby. He had a tough Christmas Eve, too, you know. His parents had to go on a big trip. No one would give them a place to stay. He was born in a barn and had to sleep in a pig trough.” She paused. “I bet he was scared, too.”
Tommy’s voice seemed quieter. “Yeah. Maybe so.”