Sandra grasped only one part of my statement. “How—dare—you! How dare you come in here to my house of mourning and say Bron was setting fires? Get out of my house! Get out now!”

“Sandra, you want to be alone with Freddy, you and April?”

“If he’s going to tell lies to the police about Bron, I don’t want them arresting him.” She started kicking at my calves.

“Sandra, stop! Stop! This guy broke in, he’s dangerous, we need to give him to the police. Please! Do you want him to hurt April?”

She didn’t hear me, just kept kicking me, pulling at my hair, her face red and swollen. All of her furies and griefs of the last week—the last thirty years—were spilling out of her onto me.

I moved into the corner of the workshop, trying to get away from her. She came after me, unaware of Freddy, of the broken glass, of everything but me, her old enemy. “You knew Boom-Boom slept with me,” she spat. “You couldn’t stand it. You thought he belonged to you, you—you man-woman!”

The insult pricked me in a remote way, a place that would be sore later, but not now, now when I had to focus my energy on Freddy. She was jumping around too much, and the space was too small for me to stay between her and Freddy. She whirled past me and he grabbed her, pinning her flailing arms. She suddenly went limp, sagging against him. A knife appeared in his right hand; he held it at Sandra’s throat.

“You get out of here, now, bitch, or I’m killing this woman,” he said to me.

If I shot at him, I had a good chance of hitting her. I backed out of the room. April was in the kitchen. Her swollen face was ashen, and she was having trouble breathing.

“Baby, you and I are going to go outside. You are going to take nice deep breaths. Come on.” I put on my stern coach’s voice. “Breathe in. Hold it for four. Now let it go, slowly, slowly, I’m going to count and you let it out a little bit on each count.”

“But, Ma, is he—will he—”

“April, start breathing. He’s not going to hurt her, and, anyway, the cops will be here soon.”

I hustled April down the sidewalk and into my car. I got the passenger seat back as far as it would go, to ease the pressure on her lungs. I took the door key off my ring, turned on the engine, and set the heater going full blast.

“You lock the doors when I get out. You don’t open them for anyone. I’m going around to the back to try to help your mom, okay?”

Her lips trembled and she was gasping for air, but she nodded a little.