The instant Alexis’s Saab scraped the curb, I was out and running. Lauren’s front door was wide open, and I was so intent on getting inside I almost knocked Anne Heywood onto the foyer floor. The room was a wreck, gouges in the walls, wood and plaster strewn about, the free standing mirror shattered.

“Matty, where the hell have you been?” Lou’s voice was calm, but his breathing labored.

“I went for a long ride with Alexis,” I answered numbly, staring at the chaotic hall. Too long.

Lauren, her lips drawn, stood in a quilted housecoat right in the middle of the mess. Anne moved to the corner looking very tired and very resigned.

I heard Alexis walk up the porch stairs, turned and saw a line of horizontal bullet holes straight across the middle of the front door.

“It was a gorgeous night for the convertible,” Alexis said on entering. “Jesus!” she exclaimed. When she noticed Anne fretting in the corner, her voice swelled with alarm. “Where’s Dad? Where the hell is Dad?

“Coming, Allie,” Paul called emerging from the kitchen shadows. “Nothing to get upset about, we weren’t here. No one was touched. But where the fuck have you been?” he added. “It’s the morning!”

“Riding around with Matt,” she replied. “But what difference does that make?”

“No one knew where you were,” he said, shifting wary eyes between me and Lou.

Every synapse felt trapped inside a pinball machine leaning dangerously close to TILT. “Will someone tell me something?”

Lauren’s exhausted voice cut through the tension. “Some assholes sprayed the door with bullets. Real bullets. A few hours either way and someone might have been killed!”

A tear rolled down her trembling cheek. “You could have been killed,” she choked, staring directly at Lou. She took a few deep breaths in an attempt to hold it

together. Paul stepped between them then backed away. Anne remained frozen in the corner, her eyes riveted to the back of Paul’s silver head. Alexis rubbed her forehead and stared at the door.

Lou took Lauren’s hand and reeled her in. Eventually she made it to shore sobbing quietly.

“Listen,” Paul snapped at Lou, “no one got hurt. That’s the bottom line.”

His words offered little comfort, but Paul stubbornly refused to leave bad enough alone. “I’m sure if they’d seen lights, nothing would have happened. You weren’t in any real danger.”

Despite my earlier sympathy toward him at the party—now just a dim memory—I railed, “How the hell do you know if anyone was in danger?”

I sensed Alexis’s head spin so I tried to cool off. Beating up on Paul Brown was no guarantee I’d wind up feeling any better. Maybe worse.

“I don’t know what you’ve been smoking,” Paul said grimly hostile. “It was a bunch of stupid punks.”

“These days it’s easier for kids to buy guns than fucking cigarettes,” Alexis added.

Maybe she was trying to soothe her mother. Maybe Paul was doing the same. But if they were, it wasn’t working. Wasn’t working for me either.

“Alexis,” Lauren retorted, “if your father said the sky was falling, you’d look for the pieces. In my life a shooting is a big deal.”

“Lauren, back off! The kid didn’t mean it that way.” Paul stepped between them. “You heard Biancho.”

“Ted Biancho is a snot-nose kid with a know-it-all attitude.”

“Ma,” Alexis said, “Teddy is a terrific cop. He’ll catch whoever did this, and I’m sure he’ll have people guarding the house.”

Lauren reluctantly nodded her agreement.

I’d begun to drift, but the Chief’s name yanked me back. “What exactly did the cops say?” I asked, my anxiety snapping to.

“Chief Biancho told us there had been similar incidents in nearby towns,” Lou wheezed.

“How recent? Which towns?”

“He didn’t go into the details...” Lou began.

“Paul, I want to go home,” Anne interrupted querulously. “How many times do we have to listen to the same story?” Anne glanced around the room and added lamely, “I’m sure everyone could use a little sleep.”

Paul started to object but thought better. “There’s nothing we can do about the door until later in the day,” he said, shutting and testing the two locks.

Lauren gathered herself. “You’re absolutely right, Anne. I’m sorry for dragging the two of you out of bed.”

Anne ushered Paul out in front of her. “I didn’t mean to sound cranky,” she apologized. “It’s been a long, long night.”

“It sure has,” Lauren agreed, shutting the door.

As the four of us stood in another awkward silence with my long night kicking my gut. I couldn’t control a quick glimpse toward Alexis, but was met a sardonic smile and challenging eyes. Lauren noticed, though she hid any reaction with a large sigh as she leaned back into Lou.

“Anne was right,” she said. “We really ought to sleep.”

“Annie is a bitch, pure and simple,” Alexis retorted angrily. “She couldn’t stand seeing Dad worry about you.”

Dad has a strange way of worrying, I thought, my own anger looking for a bone.

“Well, bitch or not, I’m taking her advice,” Alexis announced. “I’m scheduled all day long and need to freshen up.”

Alexis turned to me, “Teenage carnage aside, thanks for the company, Matt. There aren’t too many more nights left for a top down drive. It’s been a while since I last lost track of time. You have a fine son-in-law, Lou. If he didn’t have strings, I’d snatch him right up.”

I felt like a shocked monkey while everyone waited for a human response. “It’s been a hell of a night,” I finally said. “I don’t think I’ve ridden in a convertible since”...Chana and Becky died in her Volkswagon rag-top, I painfully realized. “...not for a very long time.” This had become a homecoming from hell.

“Let me walk you to your car,” I said, trying desperately to finish on a coherent note.

“No need.”

“I plan to look around the house anyway.” I was barely treading water, but there was one mystery I had to solve.

Alexis hugged Lou, kissed Lauren on the cheek, and followed me out the door. “What are you looking for?” she asked.

“I don’t know. I’m sure the police covered everything, but there’s no harm in taking another pass. Maybe they missed something.”

Alexis stopped our slow walk. “I meant what I said inside. Ted Biancho is an excellent Police Chief. Smart, tough, and very up-to-date.”

“I’m sure he is, but I gotta make sure.”

Alexis restarted her slow pace. “If Teddy thought that anyone was in the slightest danger he’d have had them stay somewhere else.”

“Maybe they ought to get out of here.” Possible stalking, a trashed car, and now someone had shot at the fucking house.

Alexis interrupted my thinking. “You won’t be able to drag my mother anywhere. She’d sooner hire an army. Anyhow, Teddy and Dad won’t let anything happen. You ought to stay out of it and let the police do their job.”

Alexis leaned her head forward to kiss my cheek, adding a sharp nip with her teeth before stepping away. I rubbed the side of my face as she hopped into the car. The engine roared to life so I pushed myself off the fender and rapped on the passenger window.

When it opened, I poked my head inside. “Alexis, why the remark about strings? Were you trying to put their minds at ease?”

Alexis tilted her head, staring right into my eyes. “Are you kidding? They aren’t chains, but you got them, sweetheart. And I knew it the moment I laid eyes on you.”

She smiled and winked, “Give me a call.”

I pulled my head out of the car and stared at the Saab’s rear end as Alexis wheeled around the corner. My hard-on was back and the couch was calling. It was almost time for dope and depression.

But when I turned and saw the bullet-ridden door, the angry detective dumped the guilt-ridden depressive. I’d lost too many people and damn sure didn’t want to lose any one else.

So many shots hit the mark that the splintered area resembled a cutout for an oversized mail slot. I walked the width of the house, carefully hunting for stray bullets without any luck. I scoured the door, its frame, and the wall along the inside of the porch, finding nothing but the ugly slash.

I was on my hands and knees fruitlessly searching under the flimsy porch furniture when the door swung open and I heard Lou shout, “His car is still here.”

“We didn’t know where you went,” Lauren said in a soft voice, walking onto the porch. “Out here, Lou,” she called. “Did you find anything?”

“No,” I said standing, noticing my soreness. Now that the adrenaline had subsided, my body felt battered. I also felt the onslaught of a hangover, the perfect way to cap a wonderful early morning.

“The police were thorough, Matty.” Lou had joined us on the porch. Puffy bags hung beneath his kind bloodshot eyes. “They searched the property and picked into all the walls.”

Something else I should have thought of but hadn’t. I’d been acting like a dumb dick, not a detective. And not very successful at that either. “Let’s go inside and I’ll check the plaster one more time.”

Lauren groaned, “Please don’t. Believe it or not, my fatigue is greater than my fear. All I can think about is sleep. I can’t even clean up the mess.”

“I’ll do it,” I offered. “I’m planning to hang here for a while anyway.”

A smile lifted Lou’s bags. “That’s generous of you, Boychick...”

“But totally unnecessary,” Lauren interrupted. “I’m sure Teddy is taking care of everything. I was just panicked before.”

“Why not be extra cautious?” I asked. Something about the physical scene nagged at me but I couldn’t quite catch it. “If you add the drive-by to your car and your feelings about being stalked, Biancho’s theory loses some juice. Also, be pretty easy to break in with the door in that shape.”

“Please Matthew, no more. I’ve had enough for one night,” Lauren pleaded. “Nobody is going to break in especially since Teddy promised to patrol.”

“Look,” she said pointing, “there’s a police car now.”

As if on cue, a blue-and-white rushed to the front of the house. Lauren signaled her okay and the car slowly pulled away.

“I don’t particularly like Ted Biancho,” Lauren added, “but he’s careful and efficient. I need the Hacienda to myself, to ourselves,” she corrected. “Do you understand?”

I recalled the other times throughout the night I’d been asked that same question. Remembered the different tone in which it had been asked, and felt my tension grow. “Why run any risk?”

“Lou,” Lauren said, “make him listen. I don’t care if he moves in, just not today.”

Lou was torn, but looked at me and made a face. “We’ll be fine, Matty. If anything unusual catches my attention, I’ll ring you right up.”

“A telephone call can’t get me here fast enough.”

“Boychick, I’ll call you later today.”

He wasn’t gonna give, so I did. Didn’t like it, did it anyway. Lauren looked dizzy with exhaustion and Lou wasn’t far behind. We didn’t make with a long goodbye, but his last question boxed me around the ears. “Are you going home or to Shoes?”