An End to a Silence: A mystery novel (The Montana Trilogy Book 1) (19 page)

He shoved
the gun down the front of his baggy sweatpants and put on his jacket over his
hoodie. He pulled the hood over his head and zipped it up as far as it would
go, and then he left his room. On the stairs he passed an old man with a long
gray beard and the man said something to Troy which Troy didn’t quite catch and
he took the gun from his pants and waved it in front of the man’s face. The man
spun around and fell back onto the stairs and he put his hands over his face.
Troy smiled and said, “Yeah, you see. You see!” And he hopped down the stairs
and scurried out into the freezing cold and all the while he was smiling and
muttering to himself.

Ward
couldn’t see the door from where he sat. Couldn’t see much through the windows
either, past heads that bobbed up and down like cattle feeding from a trough.
Couldn’t see Cherry but she was probably in back picking up orders. He saw a
couple of heads turn to the door and he moved in his seat to get a better view.
He couldn’t see at first and then he saw Cherry emerge from the kitchen and she
dropped the tray she was carrying, the order spilling over the floor. Ward was
on his feet and he banged into the table where he sat and nearly fell as he
twisted himself out of the booth, almost wrenching the table from the bolts
that held it down. He heard gasps and cutlery falling to the floor and people
shrunk back away from Troy, whose head Ward could just see. The first thing
Ward noticed were the bruises he had decorated Troy’s face with. The broken
nose. The grin with gaps where three teeth used to be but had been pulled. And
then Troy came into full view and Ward saw the gun which Troy still had shoved
down the front of his pants. He’d pulled open his jacket and flashed the gun to
the diners and to Cherry. Ward reached for his gun but it wasn’t there.

Troy
shouted, “Draw,” and he pulled out the gun and waved it in Ward’s direction and
he grinned. He scratched his head like a dog with a flea.

Cherry
was frozen to the spot and Ward noticed that she was trembling. He looked at
her and willed her to look at him and she did. He nodded the smallest of nods
to say “it’s okay” and he was desperate that she remain calm.

“If you
ain’t gonna draw I might have to shoot you down dead cold-blooded,” Troy said.
His speech had a slight lisp now where his tongue poked through the gap in his
teeth.

“I’m
unarmed,” Ward said, and he held his hands out at his sides.

“Let’s
see,” Troy said.

Ward
slowly opened his jacket to show there was nothing there.

“Turn around.
You ain’t got something shoved down the back of your pants, have you?”

Ward
turned around and lifted his jacket.

“Oh,
well, that’s just too bad. Seems I got the upper hand this time,” Troy said,
and he laughed and he scratched. Ward could see that he was shaking and his
pupils were wide and wild. And he stank like something old and rotten.

Someone
by the window, an old man with a long journey etched onto his dark brown face,
said, “Now calm down, son,” and Troy spun around and pointed the gun at him and
then swung back quickly to point it back at Ward.

“Let
these people go,” Ward said. “You don’t need them here.”

Troy gave
Ward a puzzled look. “Oh? Are you in charge here, huh? That right, huh?”

“No, you
are. And I’m asking you to let these people go if you wouldn’t mind.”

“If I
wouldn’t mind? If I wouldn’t mind. If I wouldn’t mind.”

“It’s
your call but how do you know one of them hasn’t got a gun of their own
concealed on them and about to blow your head off?”

Troy
looked around the diner. “Anybody got a gun?”

A few
people mumbled “no” and a woman screamed and grabbed her young daughter and
pulled her close and said, “Please don’t hurt us.”

Troy
laughed. “Have you got a gun, missus?”

The woman
shrunk back and cried, “No.”

“Well,
then, be fucking quiet if, you, wouldn’t, mind.”

Ward
said, “
It’s
okay, ma’am, I’m a police officer,” but it
made no difference to the woman, who sobbed along with her daughter.

“Troy,
I’m asking you as the person who’s running this show to let these people go,”
Ward said. “You don’t need them here. I’m here and not going anywhere. Simplify
things for yourself. Makes no sense keeping them here.”

Troy
seemed to mull it over. He tilted his head from one side to the other with an
exaggerated puzzled look on his face. He waved the gun around at the people and
they variously ducked, gasped and screamed. “The man in charge, me, says you
all can go. Please do so in an orderly fashion. If you wouldn’t mind.” Troy was
smiling at his new favorite phrase. “Nice and orderly if you wouldn’t mind.”

The door
swung open and the cold wind blew in and people filed out quickly, keeping as
much distance as they could between themselves and Troy. The diner was empty in
seconds. Empty save for Troy, Ward and Cherry. Cherry, who all the while had
not said a word and had stood statue-still just to the side of Troy.

Troy took
a step to his left and, without taking his eyes off Ward, he scooped up a
couple of chicken wings from a plate. He dropped one and started to chew on the
other, getting the sauce smeared around his mouth. Ward and Cherry watched him
eat. Troy tossed the half-eaten chicken wing on the floor, licked his fingers
and then wiped them on his pants.

“Ain’t so
easy to eat with these missing.” He gestured toward his mouth.

“What do
you want?” Cherry said.

“I want
what’s due to me.”

“What’s
that?”

“A slice
of the profits.”

Ward
said, “If you want money, Cherry here will get you some.”

“The fuck
I will,” Cherry said. “We’re not doing this anymore, Troy. It stops here.”

Ward
looked at Cherry but she wouldn’t look at him. She stared straight into Troy’s
bloodshot eyes.

“If you
want money you’ll have to fucking shoot me first.”

Ward kept
quiet. Just watched to try and judge what Troy might do. Waited for an
opportunity. Maybe Cherry’s stubbornness might give him that opportunity. Or
maybe it would get them both killed.

“Whatever
it takes,” Troy said.

They all
heard the sirens and they all turned to look out of the window.

“Looks
like you’re out of luck,” Cherry said.

Troy
grabbed at his matted hair. “I still got me a couple hostages. But I ain’t
leaving without what’s my due.” He turned to Ward as cars screeched to a halt
and the guy Ward had never seen before who worked in the kitchen came into view
and ran out to meet them. He ducked behind one of the cars. The one which
Newton climbed out of.

“You. Get
the takings,” Troy said to Ward.

Ward
turned to Cherry.

“If you
do I’ll have that gun off him and kill the both of you,” Cherry said.

Ward
played for time. He could see them outside taking positions. Newton, Mallory,
Poynter and two other guys he couldn’t make out. “Look. He’s got a gun and he’s
asking for money. I think we should give him what he wants and then he can
leave.” Ward knew that would get a reaction.

“He gets
nothing. Everything here is mine. I’ve worked my ass off to make this work.
You’ve seen what he did to me.” She pointed at her face. “This. Remember?
Remember?”

“Hey,
whoa, whoa,” Troy said. “We don’t want a lovers’ tiff here.” And then he spoke
to Ward through his teeth. “I’ll tell you once more. Get me the fucking money,
pig.”

Ward held
up his hands. “Okay, okay.” He looked at Cherry. “Listen to me. This is how it
goes. We let him have the money, he leaves, the officers outside shoot him
dead. You get your money back. How’s that sound?”

“How
about I shoot you dead?” Troy waved he gun in front of Ward’s face and Ward
hoped his finger wasn’t as twitchy as the rest of him.

Cherry
looked at Ward and then at Troy, who both looked outside. She looked at the
cops taking aim. She heard Newton shout something but the wind took his words.

Ward
heard Newton’s words though. He had told Troy that there were armed police
outside.

“Okay.
Get him the money from the register,” Cherry said.

The short
order cook from the Honey Pie Diner had called. Someone with a gun was there.
The caller had managed to sneak out back. Newton called him back on his cell.
The guy identified himself as Richard. He told Newton it was Troy with the gun.
Newton knew. He was already in his SUV and tearing down the street. Mallory and
three others followed in two cars which lit up the town with sirens and lights.
Mallory had taken the SPR sniper rifle from the gun cabinet.

They
pulled up on the opposite side of the road to the diner and parked in a
three-vehicle V formation. By then Newton had been told that there were only
three people left inside: Ward, Cherry and Troy. Still a few of the other
customers stood around at a safe distance. Poynter ushered them back to a safer
one.

“Don’t
shoot,” Newton said to Mallory, who was checking his rifle. Mallory clicked off
the safety and took aim from behind his car door. He loosened his jacket. The
other two officers, Davenport and Wheeler, had their pistols drawn and pointed
at the diner.

“You
listening to me? Don’t shoot. He’s too close to Ward.”

“I’m just
taking aim, sir,” Mallory said, and he stroked his greasy hair back and
adjusted his sights. “I have a shot, sir.”

“Well,
don’t be taking it but on my say-so.”

“Yes,
sir.”

Newton cupped
his hands and called out across the street. “Armed police officers. Drop your
weapon.” The cold wind pinched at his cheeks. He saw the three figures looking
his way. He’d made contact.

“Okay,
easy. Easy,” he said to his men. “We’ve got Ward and the owner in there.”

Mallory
licked his thin lips and smiled.

 
Ward moved slowly.

“No funny
business,” Troy said. “Just get me my money and then we’ll all leave.”

“Okay,”
Ward said, and he went behind the counter. The cash register was at one end and
Troy kept the gun trained on him all the way.

“Keep
your hands above the counter where I can see them.”

Ward held
his hands above shoulder height. When he reached the cash register he wasn’t
sure how to open it. Cherry reached into her pocket and Troy saw the movement
and he spun around.

“Hey,
hey. What you doing?”

“He needs
a card. To get your money.” The electronic card was fastened to a retractable
cord fixed to a belt loop on her pants. She unclipped it and tossed it to Ward.
Ward caught it. Troy seemed even
more twitchy
. He
switched the gun to his other hand and then switched it back. Ward could see
that he was sweating and a smell of fresh piss wafted towards his nostrils.
There was a stain on Troy’s gray sweatpants. Ward figured it wasn’t sweat. He
tried to slow things down.

“Okay,
I’m going to open the register and get you your money.” He swiped the card.
Nothing happened.

“Is this
a trick?” Troy moved over to Ward and he craned over to see the closed
register.

“You need
a code,” Cherry said. “3, 8, 4, 9. Swipe and then 3, 8, 4, 9. That opens it.”

“Okay, do
it,” Troy said. Ward did. The cash register opened. Ward levered the clips that
held the notes down and took everything out. He handed it over to Troy.

“There’s
the money.”

Cherry
said, “My fucking money,” and Ward could see the anger in her red cheeks.

Troy took
the money with his left hand and tried a quick count with his gun hand. Ward
could see he was trembling worse now. He saw the gun fall out of Troy’s hand.
He saw Cherry’s eyes flash down. He saw her go to pick up the gun. He saw Troy
shove her back. He saw the money flutter to the ground. He saw it all in slow
motion. But he was the wrong side of the counter. And then he saw Troy bend and
come back up with the gun. He saw the barrel point at him. And then he heard
the shot.

Newton
opened the back door of his SUV. He searched for a megaphone. Wanted to set up
a dialogue with Troy. He knew Troy and he knew the boy wasn’t right.
Convictions on drug charges were one thing. Waving a gun around in a public
place was a big step up. He lifted a road sign but the loud hailer wasn’t
there. He moved a box to one side but it wasn’t there. And then he heard the
shot.

Ward
thought he was dead for a moment. He felt something like a tap on his shoulder
as if someone was trying to get his attention. He heard glass breaking
somewhere and he looked behind him and the mirror behind the counter was
shattered. He saw the hole in the diner’s front window and knew that a colleague
outside had taken a shot. He realized then that the bullet had grazed his
jacket but missed his flesh. He saw Troy holding his hand and saw blood and he
heard the clunk of the gun hitting the floor. He saw Cherry make a move towards
the gun.