All These Things I've Done (Birthright #1)(85)

I nodded. My heart was beginning to flutter, and my stomach felt like there was an elastic band around it.

‘Your brother, Leo, tried to kill Yuri Balanchine this morning with your father’s gun.’

I asked her to repeat what she had said. These words made no sense to me.

‘Your brother shot your uncle with your father’s gun.’

‘How did they know it was my father’s gun?’ I asked numbly.

‘Your cousin Mickey was there, and he recognized it as such. Red handle. The words Balanchine Special Dark on the side.’

If Mickey was right, it was the Smith & Wesson that had gone missing so long ago.

‘You said “tried to kill” Yuri. Does that mean Uncle Yuri is still alive?’ I asked.

‘Yes, but he’s in a serious condition. The bullet punctured his lung and he went into cardiac arrest,’ Frappe replied. ‘He’s in the ICU.’

I nodded. I didn’t know if it would be better or worse for Leo if Yuri survived. ‘Is Leo alive?’ I asked.

‘Yes, but no one knows where he is. He shot once, then ran before anyone could stop him.’

‘Is he hurt?’

Frappe didn’t know. ‘Your cousin Mickey shot defensively, but he wasn’t sure if he hit him or not.’

Poor Leo. He was probably so scared. Why had I ever allowed him to work at that place?

‘Have you any idea why your brother would have wanted to shoot Yuri Balanchine?’ the other cop asked.

I shook my head.

‘So, you’ll get in touch with us if Leo tries to contact you? I think you’ll agree that it’d be better for him if he ends up in our hands before he ends up in your family’s.’

I smiled and nodded and thought, Like hell I’ll turn Leo over to the police.

The police left, but I couldn’t move. The principal walked over to me. She placed her hand on mine. ‘Do you have anyone watching you at home? Leo was your guardian if I’m not mistaken? If there’s no one to supervise you and your sister, I’ll have to call Child Protective Services, Anya.’

‘Yes.’ And here, I stretched the truth. ‘We have a nanny. Her name is Imogen Goodfellow. She used to take care of Galina and now she watches us.’ I wrote down Imogen’s phone number for the principal. Next, I asked her if Natty and I could take the rest of the day off in case Leo tried to go back to the apartment.

‘Of course, Anya,’ the principal replied. ‘Be careful on your way home. There’re already reporters out there.’

I looked out the window. Sure enough, there was a hornet’s nest of press standing on the sidewalk outside Holy Trinity.

The principal sent someone to get Natty from class and I asked if I could use the phone while I waited. I called Mr Kipling and Simon Green. At the very least we would need a car to drive us home. I explained what had happened. For a moment, neither man spoke, and I wondered if the line had gone dead. ‘I’m sorry, Anya,’ Mr Kipling said finally. ‘This news is truly beyond comprehension.’

‘Do you think Natty and I will need protection coming home?’

‘No,’ Mr Kipling said. ‘The family likely won’t make any moves until Yuri’s condition has stabilized. And even if they did, it’s Leo they’ll want to kill, not you.’

When Natty arrived in the office, I told her about Leo. I expected her to cry, but she didn’t. ‘Let’s go light candles for Leo in the chapel,’ she said, wrapping her small hand around mine.

I agreed that it certainly couldn’t hurt anything. ‘We’ll need vouchers,’ I said.

But in my heart, I didn’t think it would help much either.

For the next several days, Natty and I were like zombies. We ate, we slept, we bathed, we went to school. We did everything we were supposed to do in order to not appear as if we lacked supervision. But really what we did was wait for Leo to contact us.

I worried that he was dead. That Mickey had hit him and Leo was bleeding to death in an alley somewhere. I couldn’t get a detailed account of what had happened because it wasn’t safe for me to contact anyone in the family. I felt so isolated. I missed Scarlet. And I decided that it wasn’t a good idea for Win to come visit either.

On the Friday after our fight, Scarlet came up to me. ‘I’m so worried about Leo,’ she said.

I ignored her. I wanted to talk to her, but I couldn’t. As a confidante, I considered her to be compromised. She discussed me with Gable Arsley, after all. And who knew who he would tell?

I went to my classes, but the only subject that occupied me was why Leo had done it. I knew he’d punched Mickey because he’d thought he’d had something to do with Nana’s death. Had Leo been going for Mickey and accidentally shot Yuri? I knew Jacks might have a few answers, but getting in touch with him wasn’t an option at the moment.

I tortured myself by thinking about all the things I might have done to prevent this. I should have found out what had happened to Daddy’s gun. I should never have let Leo go to work at the Pool. I should never have put the idea in Leo’s head that Nana had been murdered. (He was so suggestible. For God’s sake, of course she hadn’t been murdered. She was practically a corpse already when she’d died.) I shouldn’t have brought up the summer programme. I shouldn’t have put so much pressure on him about being our guardian. I shouldn’t have let myself be distracted by Win. I should have gone further to discourage Leo’s relationship with Jacks. Anyway, I went on and on with these sorts of suppositions. I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was my fault and that I had let Daddy down.