Page 32 of One Last Night

She is trembling on her feet, and tears stream from her eyes, which she aims everywhere but mine. She knows something, or at least suspects it.

“Luann,” I say gently but no less sternly for my gentleness. “Someone just detonated explosives on your grandmother’s property. Had they miscalculated, they could have destroyed your house and possibly killed you and your family. Had any of you been outside for any reason, you could have died regardless of his calculations. Or hers. What if your grandmother wanted to show Sean the vineyard? That was the first thing she did when I arrived.”

She sniffs and hugs her arms across her chest but remains silent.

I drop the sternness and remain gentle. “Luann. If you know anything, you need to tell me. Whatever this is, it’s gone too far. Someone’s going to get hurt. Is that what you want?”

She takes a shaky breath, then shakes her head.

“Then tell me. Who did this?”

“I don’t know.”

“But?” I press.

She takes another unsteady breath and says, “But Kevin told me that he overheard his dad arguing with my dad on the phone the other day. He said when they hung up, his dad said, ‘Fuck this. We need to do something drastic. This baby shit isn’t working.’”

A tremble runs through me. I try to conceal it and hope I do well enough that Luann doesn’t notice. “When did he tell you this.”

She shrinks back and replies in a small voice, “Yesterday.”

“So you two have been seeing each other still.”

She nods. “He’s been sneaking over here on Friday nights instead of me coming to see him.”

“And you’re sure Kevin had nothing to do with—”

“No!” she insists. “I promise you, he didn’t! He wouldn’t do that to me!”

“Keep your voice down.”

She flinches and looks at the stairwell in terror. “Are you going to tell them?”

“I have to tell them. Your family is in danger.”

“No! Mary, please!”

“Your family is indanger, Luann,” I repeat.

"Well, don't tell them that I'm still seeing Kevin. Please. I'll get in so much trouble. And don't tell them, Kevin told me."

My first instinct is to be angry with her for being more concerned with her and her boyfriend getting in trouble than with the fact that her family was nearly gravely injured. But after all, she is still very young. Death isn’t real to a child unless they’ve seen it firsthand. Getting in trouble with their parents, especially for dating the child of their parent’s sworn enemy, is very real.

Still, this is more serious now. I can’t make a promise I can’t keep. “I’ll do what I can, Luann. But as I told you before, your safety matters more than anything else right now.”

She lowers her head and nods miserably. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. This is a terrible situation.”

She nods again. “I’m going to bed. Good night, Mary.”

“Good night.” Something occurs to me, and I add, “Don’t text Kevin. If you warn him, the police can trace that message, even if you delete it. It can look like you were an accomplice to any crime he may have committed.”

She pauses with her door halfway open. She doesn’t say anything and enters the room a moment later.

I sigh and shake my head. Those poor children. This has gotten so much worse for them.

And it now falls to me to make sure it doesn’t get even worse.

---