Don't Look Behind You Read Free Page B

outing.
    Glancing past him into the living room, I saw Mom seated on the sofa, talking with a man who appeared to be in his early forties. As we entered the room, they turned to face us, and a chill of apprehension shot through me as I saw the expressions on their faces.
    â€œUncle Max!” I exclaimed. “It’s been such a long time!”
    â€œHello there, April,” said Max. “You’re looking prettier than ever.” The fact that he wasn’t smiling increased my nervousness. In every memory I had of him, Max had a smile on his face, wide and white, almost blinding in its intensity. Dad told me that as boys growing up in Pittsburgh, he and Max had lived in adjoining duplexes. In bed at night, Dad would rap on the paper-thin wall that separated their bedrooms, and Max would smile and rap back at him. “I’d feel that grin come straight through the wall,” Dad said, laughing. “It was like being hit by a double bolt of electricity.”
    Without that smile, Max’s face was much less attractive and etched with lines I had previously not been aware of.
    â€œLorelei,” said Mom, “I’m sure you remember Max Barber. He and George have known each other since childhood.”
    â€œI also recall he’s an FBI agent,” said Lorelei. “From the vibes in this room, I gather this isn’t a social call.”
    Instead of responding directly, Max glanced at Mom.
    â€œI’ll tell them myself,” she replied to the unspoken question. She paused as though trying to decide how to word her disclosure. “Children, something frightening happened this morning. Somebody in the courtroom fired a gun at your father.”
    In the silence that followed, the impossible statement just hung there, the words too incomprehensible for any of us to grasp.
    Finally I managed to whisper, “You mean Dad’s been shot?”
    â€œNo!” exclaimed Mom. “Of course not! I’m sorry.… The shot was off target, and Dad wasn’t hit. Max drove down from Washington to break the news to us. He didn’t want us to see it on the evening news.”
    Bram’s face was so white that his freckles stood out like polka dots. “Why would anybody want to shoot Dad?” he asked shakily.
    â€œTo keep him from testifying in court,” Max told him. “I promise you from now on he’ll be heavily guarded.”
    â€œYou captured the gunman, of course.” Lorelei phrased it as a statement.
    â€œI’m sorry to have to tell you this, but we didn’t,” Max said. “Incredible as it seems, nobody actually saw what happened. Court had just been adjourned for lunch, and the aisles were jammed. The person who fired the shot was using a silencer, and since George wasn’t hit, he didn’t react immediately. By the time the security people got the exits blocked, most of the spectators had already left the courtroom.”
    â€œI don’t understand,” I said. “Why would anyone think Dad—”
    â€œWe’ll discuss that later,” said Mom, cutting me off. “I want you to go up now and pack your overnight bag. We’re going to go away for a couple of days.”
    â€œWhere are you taking them?” Lorelei asked, turning to Max. “Surely it isn’t safe for them to be with George.”
    â€œI have no intention of taking them to Washington,” Max told her. “That’s the last place George’s family ought to be right now. I don’t think they’re in any real danger here in Norwood, but to be on the safe side, it would be best to get them out of the house.”
    I tried again. “But what can Dad possibly tell them—”
    â€œApril, please don’t ask questions,” Mom said. “There just isn’t time for that. Go up to your room and put some things in a suitcase. Max is going to put us up in a hotel tonight.”
    Feeling as though I had