"Don't bother, Leonard," Lorraine explained, afraid of him only for the girls. "She knows more than you think."
"Bravo!" replied the man, running his fingers through his hair, as if stretching after a long journey. "That will save us a lot of time."
"What is it you want?" Lorraine asked him. She was trying to keep the chin lifted, in the name of dignity and in order to find the courage.
"Hadn't you sold your properties and washed your hands of us?"
Leonard glared at Roxanne, who that day was wearing a beautiful emerald skirt and a white blouse, both made from the cloth acquired in that morning's barter transaction in the village.
Leonard was a hefty man. He had thick, blond hair, which he liked to boast about, just like his second in command. Despite the fact that he had already begun to go gray, he didn't look his age, for, in addition to his hereditarily received privileged set of genes, if there was something he devoted himself and his money to, it was his physical appearance.
"That's what this bum told you, right? Mr. Harris is not to be considered a reliable source of information anymore. He's turning out not to be as useful as he believes himself to be." Then, he turned and, with the back of his hand, gave his assistant an unexpected and sharp slap that somewhat altered his careful hairdo. Leonard glanced at his own hand, as if noticing the thick ring he was wearing on his middle finger, which had contributed, without seeking it, to increase the harm done on Harris's cheek. He turned around to take a look at him, even though he didn't at first intend to, just to check, out of pure curiosity, if it had really been that way.
The ring mark was obvious and bleeding.
Roxanne and Lorraine glanced at each other, wondering what the next step would be, who would be the next to experience Leonard's violence.
They only had time to catch a glimpse, from the corner of an eye, of the white dress at the top of the stairs.
Roxanne recognized the sound of the shot. Two shots.
As accurate as if she'd done it before, as perfect as if, far be it from this case, she hadn't wanted to make them suffer.
Leonard and Mr. Harris never got to see who'd killed them.
Her age and exercised maternal instinct made Lorraine be the first one to react. She ran up the stairs, jumping over the magnate's body, took the gun away from Blanche and led her back to the bedroom.
Celeste and Roxanne remained in the living-room, near the hall, where the two men lay, guarding the crime scene until Joseph's arrival.