demoted me. It was just a way to irritate them. I didn’t even keep the money. I gave it away — small cash donations to good causes.”
“Penance?” I asked. “Or avoiding the attention of Internal Affairs?”
“Please,” Bret said quietly. “Nothing he has to say makes any difference.” Cook glared at him, but Bret went on. “He can’t excuse what he did. Even he knows that. That’s why he came in here.”
Cook dropped his gaze.
“Take off the helmet and Kevlar vest,” Samuel ordered.
“Slowly,” Frank said. Cook reached up for the helmet, dropped it to the floor. Began unfastening the vest.
“Cecilia and Gus and Bear thought I’d have to be forced to come down here and rescue you, Frank,” Cook said. “They were wrong. This will end years of hell.”
“You aren’t rescuing anyone,” Frank said angrily.
“I can’t believe you’d try to make yourself out to be a hero.”
“Why not?” he said, swiftly pulling a gun out from beneath the vest. He aimed it directly at Samuel. “Drop it, son.”
Samuel flinched at the word “son,” but then he smiled.
“Don’t even think about it,” Cook said, glancing at Frank, who had moved slightly closer to him.
“Bret?” Samuel said.
“Yes?”
“Give Julian my love.” He pulled the trigger.
The loud report of the shots came almost at the same time, Cook’s a fraction of a second later, with Bret’s scream. The lobby filled with the acrid stench of gunpowder.
Frank ran to Samuel, saying, “No—”
I glanced at Cook, looked away from what was left of his head as I took the gun out of his hand. I made myself feel for a pulse. I’ll admit I didn’t regret not finding one.
Bret was bent over Samuel, clinging to him, making sounds of misery and grief. I looked at Frank, who shook his head. He had taken Samuel’s gun from him but simply set it aside, out of Bret’s reach. I put Nathan Cook’s gun next to it.
Frank sat next to Bret, holding on to him. His face reminded me of his face in the photo. I stood next to him, reached down, stroked my fingers through his hair. He reached up and took my hand, held on to it.
The phone was ringing. Frank glanced up at me. I didn’t let go of him — I used my free hand to answer it.
“Cassidy?”
“Irene? We heard gunfire. Anyone need an ambulance?”
“No. Cook’s dead. Samuel, too.”
I heard him sigh. His voice was unsteady as he said, “The rest of you?”
“We’re all okay. Tell them we’re all okay. But — give us some time.”
“I can hear Bret,” he said.
“Yes. The doors are still armed, but I don’t think Bret’s going to hurt us. We just need to give him some time.”
“He may not want to hurt you, but I can’t tell you how dangerous he is right now — to himself especially, but maybe to you and Frank, too. Those two boys had what amounts to a suicide pact. Don’t let him out of your sight. Where are the weapons?”
“Out of reach.”
“Good. Make sure it stays that way, all right?”
“Yes.”
“We’ve got to talk to him, get him to look at things differently.”
“I don’t think he’s ready—”
“No, not right this second. Of course not. But I don’t want any further harm to come to him, Irene.”
“I know you don’t, Cassidy.”
I’m not sure how long we stayed there, huddled together on the floor. When it seemed to me that Frank was ready to hear it, I whispered some of Cassidy’s concerns to him. Frank nodded, broke open the guns, took out the remaining bullets, and pocketed the weapons. Bret seemed oblivious of anyone other than Samuel.
When exhaustion finally began to slow Bret’s grief, Frank gently pried his fingers from Samuel’s shirt. Known for being afraid of blood, Bret was now bathed in it but seemed not to notice. We stood him between us and, putting our arms around him, walked back to the basement. He was in a state of total numbness by then, I think. We helped him wash up, but he just stared blankly into space. Frank found a stage outfit in one of the trunks and asked Bret if he wanted to change clothes.
Bret didn’t answer but took the clothes and went into the bathroom.
“Maybe we shouldn’t let him alone even to do that,” I said.
“There’s nothing he can harm himself with in there,” Frank said. “I didn’t even hand him a belt. But if he’s not out in a few minutes, I’ll check on him.”
