“A little distant,” he said. “Eccentric maybe.”
“What do you think about your children?” I pressed on, suddenly thinking about my wife, about the children she and I would never have.
“They’re very important to me.” he said.
“More important than your writing? If someone had said thirty, twenty, ten years ago. Or today. If you had to stop writing or stop seeing your children and grandchildren, what would your answer be?”
Lonsberg lilted his head just a little to the left and said, “Irrelevant question.”
“No,” I said. “I think it’s part of the reason your son wanted to kill Adele. Want to tell the truth?”
“I’d die without my work,” he said, suddenly standing straight.
Brad Lonsberg laughed and shook his head.
“There’s your answer, Fonesca. His work over his children.”
“It’s a decision I don’t have to make,” said Lonsberg.
“I could have given you the answer,” Brad said. “He writes about love, gets into the minds and even the goddamn souls of children. He respects them, almost bleeds for them. Compassion and understanding for the children he created like Zeus from his head. More than for the ones he created with the juice of his body.”
It was Conrad Lonsberg’s turn to laugh. It wasn’t much of a laugh.
“That was a damn good comparison,” he said. “You should try writing.”
“I did,” Brad said with venom. “When I was a kid. I showed you a short story. You looked as if you didn’t want to read it. When you did, you gave it back and said, ‘Your characters don’t come alive.’ That was it. ‘Your characters don’t come alive.’”
“You don’t care if Adele destroys the manuscripts,” I said.
“I don’t give a shit,” Brad said. “I’d help her if I could. So, why would I go looking for them and kill people?”
Laura looked at me curiously. Conrad Lonsberg looked at Jefferson who was sound asleep.
“You weren’t after the manuscripts,” I said. “You were after Adele. You wanted to kill Adele.”
“Why the hell would I want to kill Adele? Dad, will you get this lunatic out of here?”
“No,” said Conrad Lonsberg.
“Then I will,” said Brad, starting to get out of the chair.
He was a big man, in good condition. He would be slowed down by his leg, but I was still no match for him.
“Best sit down again,” Ames advised.
“Get the fuck out of here. Both of you,” Brad said, starting to sound more than a little frantic.
Ames stepped forward and opened his slicker just like a cowboy in an Italian western. There was a very large gun in his belt.
“You’re going to shoot me?” Brad said with a laugh.
“He’s done it before,” I said.
“He’d kill me because you think I want to kill Adele?”
“Before you got a step away from that chair,” said Ames evenly.
“I think all of you know why Brad wants Adele dead,” I said. “Why he was looking for her. Why he wanted to find her before I did. He took a shot at me. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. You were trying to scare me off. Maybe you were just trying to frighten Flo Zink away so you could check her trunk. Did you think she was in there? Maybe at that point you were just looking for manuscripts.”
“Say it,” said Conrad Lonsberg.
“Adele is pregnant,” I said. “The baby is Brad’s.”
“You’re crazy,” Brad said, squirming.
“Adele told me about an hour ago.”
“If she’s pregnant, I didn’t do it,” Brad said, pointing at himself.
“DNA,” said Conrad Lonsberg.
“DNA,” gasped Brad, “DNA? How different is yours than mine? If she’s pregnant, you’re more likely than…”
“I used to do research for the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office in Cook County,” I said. “Your father and you don’t have exactly the same DNA. And I think you know it. You wanted Adele dead and hidden before anyone found out she was going to have a baby or could prove it was yours.”
“DNA,” Lonsberg said. “I’m leaving. I’m taking Connie and leaving. Don’t bother me again and, Dad, don’t bother calling me again.”
This time he did stand up, a little wobbly, and faced Ames.
“You going to shoot me for trying to leave?”
Ames looked at me. He would have had I given him a nod.
“If the dog did bite you,” I said, “he has your blood on his teeth. More DNA evidence. And I have the two notes you pinned on my door. The police should be able to match your handwriting.”
“Notes?” Brad Lonsberg said, looking genuinely puzzled. “I didn’t leave any notes on your door.”
I looked at him. His indignation seemed real on this one. He hadn’t left the notes on my door.
“Do either of you believe any of this?” Brad went on, looking at his father and sister.
“Before your wife died she left you when she found you having an affair with a fourteen-year-old girl four years ago. My friend with the computer found out,” I said. “She filed for divorce. Civil case. Could have been statutory rape but the police never found out or didn’t care. No evidence. Your wife died. Divorce proceedings ended. You said she died of cancer. The records show…”
“Hit-and-run,” said Laura. “Never found who did it.”
“We have an idea now,” I said. “Don’t we? This time we have a damn good idea.”
“This time?” asked Lonsberg.
“My wife died in a hit-and-run accident. I didn’t want her to. I wasn’t having an affair.”
“So this is some kind of vendetta,” said Lonsberg. “Your wife gets killed in a hit-and-run and so does mine. You blame me and you want me to pay.”
“Not for my wife’s death. Maybe a little of that too,” I said. “I have some sick ideas. I see a shrink. Do you?”
“So Brad wanted to kill Adele to keep from being charged with statutory rape?” Laura said.
“I think your brother loves his son,” I said. “Just a guess. The way he feels your father doesn’t and never has loved either one of you. You told Adele that,” I said, looking at Laura. “Whatever your father has to leave, Brad wants to go to his Connie and your girls. He doesn’t want any of it to go to Adele’s child and his. That part I figured out, but so did Adele.”
“You are out of your mind,” Brad said.
The voices of the children told us they were heading back to the house. Brad looked toward the window. Jefferson woke up and looked toward the window.
“I know that,” I said. “I told you. I see a therapist twice a week.”
“You need one,” said Lonsberg.
“That’s why I go,” I said. “But that doesn’t make me wrong. The police might find that nine-millimeter you used in your house. Simple ballistics. You didn’t throw it away after killing Corsello and shooting at me. You still need it for Adele.”
“They can look,” he said and headed for the door.
His father stepped in front of him.
“He’s right,” Conrad Lonsberg said. “I believe him. I knew she was pregnant. She told me. I told her to work it out with you. I didn’t think you’d kill people. I…”
“You’re an amazing man,” Laura said to her father, holding back tears and flashing anger. “You know so much about people who don’t exist and nothing about those closest to you who do.”
“Genetics or environment,” Lonsberg said. “Possibly a combination. Like most talent. I don’t know where it came from, haven’t spent much time trying to figure it out. So, what do we do now?”
Conrad Lonsberg was looking at me.
“You agree not to disown your grandchild and Brad goes to the police and confesses,” I said. “He says he did it to get back the manuscripts. He thought Merrymen had taken them, that Merrymen had a grudge against him. He protects Adele and your grandchild.”
“And the world finds out my manuscripts have been stolen,” said Lonsberg. “I’ll be a prisoner in my house. Or I’ll have to move again. B. Traven.”
No one asked him who B. Traven was.
“I agree,” he said. “She’s destroying my family and the manuscripts not only to get back at my son, but to get to me for not protecting her, not standing by her.”
“That’s something else she told me,” I said.