Pearl River Junction Page 21

  “We’re gonna take that bank,” he’d told her, “and then I’m takin’ you and the boy away from here.”

  “Do we have to take the child?” she’d asked.

  “He’s mine, ain’t he?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then we’re takin’ him.”

  Now she watched Jeb put the last piece of her bacon into his mouth and said, “Do we really have to take Little Matt—”

  “Don’t call him that!” he snapped, slamming his first down on the table, startling her into silence. “You only named him that to try to convince Shaye he was his grandson, right? Because you wanted protection against me?”

  “I didn’t know…”

  “Yes,” Jeb said, reaching out and taking her hand, “you didn’t know what I’d do when I got here. You thought I might kill you and take the boy. But you’re the one who knows where all the guards are in the bank, honey. You’re the one who can get in there with your new boyfriend.”

  “Jeb,” she said, “you aren’t going to kill…”

  “Kill?” he asked. “Kill who? If I can help it, I’m not gonna kill anyone.”

  She seemed relieved by that, but of course he meant that he wasn’t going to do the killing, Vic Delay was. That’s what he was there for.

  Jeb took his watch from his pocket and checked the time.

  “The bank should be openin’ soon, darlin’,” he said. “Time for you to go.”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “I’ll pay the bill here and be along.”

  She nodded, stood, and left the café. Connie came out and cautiously approached Jeb with the check.

  “Thank you, sweetheart.” Jeb took the bill, looked at the price, and paid the waitress, tipping her well. “Now, is there a back door out of here?”

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  Walking back to the sheriff’s office, Thad noticed Alvin Simon, who owned the hardware store, standing in front of the bank. He also saw Belinda Davis rushing up the street and, eventually, joining Simon in front of the bank. It looked like the two of them were waiting for it to open. He turned his attention away from them and kept on to the sheriff’s office.

  “I thought you weren’t coming,” Simon said to Belinda.

  “Of course I was coming, Alvin,” she said. “This is important to me. I know you think I’m horrible to want to actually see your money, but—”

  “I’ll do whatever I have to do to get you to marry me, Belinda,” Simon said. “To prove that I love you.”

  Belinda was about to reply when they heard the lock on the door of the bank click. Then one of the employees opened the door.

  “Ah,” the older woman said, “good morning, Mr. Simon. Early for you today, isn’t it?”

  “I—that is, we—have business with Mr. Brown, Miss Hastings.”

  “Well, he’s in his office. Come in, come in.”

  As Simon and Belinda entered, the younger woman noticed the older woman giving her a look of distaste. It was the way most of the women in town regarded her and this morning it steeled her resolve to do what she had to do.

  Jeb Collier had gone out the back door of the café, finding himself in an alley that ran the length of the street. He was able to use that back alley to get down the street without passing in front of the sheriff’s office to the bank. Beyond the bank, he knew, was the Wagon Wheel Saloon. With any luck, Samms and Leslie were attracting some attention from the law. When he reached the bank, he used another alley to work his way around behind it, where he found Vic Delay and Lou Tanner waiting for him. Also there was Ben, holding the reins of five horses, one for each of them and another for Belinda.

  “About time,” Delay said. “You sure this is gonna work?”

  “I told you,” Jeb said. “She’s the one who planned it. She said she knew that if I didn’t kill her on sight, we’d be able to take this bank.”

  “Well, she better do her part.”

  “She’ll do it,” Jeb said.

  “I don’t like it that there’s no guards behind the bank,” Delay said. “I mean, if there’s so much money in there—”

  “Belinda says they keep most of the guards inside the bank, near the vault, and there’s always one on the roof, but he’s always watching the street.”

  “I don’t like it,” Delay said, “counting on a woman—”

  “Just be ready, Vic,” Jeb said. “If we have to take the guards out, we’re gonna have to move fast to grab as much cash as we can.”

  “Don’t worry,” Delay said. He was wearing a leather vest today and he pulled it back to show two knives on each side. “I can take them out quietly.”

  “So they’re just waiting in front of the saloon?” Cotton asked.

  “That’s right,” Thad said.

  “How many?” Shaye asked.

  “Two.”

  “Where are the other four?” Thomas asked.

  “That’s what I’d like to know,” Shaye said.

  “James is watchin’ them?” Thomas asked.

  “Yeah, he sent me back.”

  “Pa, if they’re waitin’ for the others, I better go and stay with James.”

  “All right, son. Watch your back.”

  “I’ll watch James’s back,” Thomas said, “and he’ll watch mine, Pa.”

  Thomas left the office, leaving only Cotton, Thad, and Shaye.

  “Thad,” Cotton said, “you’re gonna have to stay with the prisoners. If we leave the office empty, they might come and break them out.”

  “Okay, Sheriff.”

  “Take a shotgun from the rack and stay behind that desk until we get back,” Cotton instructed.

  “Yes, sir,” Thad said, “but where are you goin’?”

  “I don’t know,” Cotton said, looking at Shaye. “Where are we going?”

  “Let’s go back to the café,” Shaye said. “That’s where we left Belinda and Jeb. Maybe he’s still there.”

  From behind the desk, loading the shotgun, Thad said, “He might be there, but she ain’t.”

  “What do you mean?” Shaye asked.

  Thad looked at him and said, “I just saw Belinda in front of the bank.”

  “What was she doing there?”

  “She was with Alvin Simon,” Thad said. “They looked like they’re waitin’ for the bank to open.”

  “What?”

  “Alvin must have some business there,” Cotton said.

  “Riley, we better get over there. I think this may be it.”

  “May be what?”

  “Collier and his men need a way into the bank. This is it!”

  “You saying Alvin Simon is in on this?” Cotton asked. “That’s just crazy, Dan. I can’t see—”

  “Riley, it’s Belinda,” Shaye said. “She’s using Simon and Collier is using her! Thad, toss me that shotgun and get yourself another.”

  “Should I come—”

  “No,” Shaye said, catching the shotgun in both hands. “Stay here!”

  Shaye ran for the front door. Cotton stopped long enough to grab a rifle from the rack and then followed.

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  “Good morning, good morning, Mr. Simon,” the bank manager, Edmund Brown, greeted. “What can I do for you this morning?”

  “I’d like to talk in your office, Mr. Brown,” Simon said, “if you don’t mind.”

  “Of course,” Brown said. “This way.” Since Alvin Simon was one of the larger depositors in the bank, the manager was willing to go out of his way for him. However, when he saw that Belinda was to accompany them, he stopped short. “Ah, is this charming young woman part of our business?”

  “Miss Davis is my fiancé,” Simon said. “She is very much part of my business.”

  “Very well,” Brown said. “This way.”

  In order to get to his office, they had to pass the huge vault, which had three guards with rifles standing around it. There was a fourth guard by the front door and a fifth on the roof. They all wore blue uniforms. Belinda was happy to see that the numbe
r was what she had reported to Jeb.

  They entered his office and as Brown crossed to the desk Belinda closed the door behind them.

  “Oh, you can leave the door open, Miss—”

  “I don’t think so,” Belinda said.

  “I don’t und—”

  Belinda reached into her purse and came out with a nickel-plated .32 revolver. She pointed it at the bank manager and said, “Shut up.”

  “Belinda—” Simon said, aghast.

  “I’m sorry, Alvin,” she said. “I decided a whole bank is better than one man. Now move over there with him.”

  “But—what are you doing?”

  “Just do it!” she said. “Don’t make me shoot you.”

  “You better come over here, Alvin,” Brown said. “She looks serious.”

  Slowly, Simon walked across the room and joined Brown behind the desk. The manager started to sit, but Belinda stopped him.

  “Stay standing and put your hands on your head. Don’t go for a gun in your drawer and don’t press any buttons.”

  “Miss,” Edmund Brown said with confidence, “you can’t really think you’re going to get away with this. There are guards—”

  “Mr. Brown, if you don’t shut up right this minute, I will shoot you.”

  Brown fell silent.

  “Alvin, go to the window.”

  “What?”

  “Go to the window—that one, at the back—and open it.”

  “The window?”

  “Goddamn it, Alvin,” she snapped, “don’t keep repeating everything I say. Just do it!”

  Alvin Simon walked to the window and opened it. In seconds a leg appeared and he backed away to allow Jeb Collier to enter.

  “Oh my God,” Brown said.

  The saloon was down the street, but on the other side of the bank. Shaye didn’t feel he had time to go there and fetch Thomas and James. And even if the men waiting in front of the saloon were a decoy, they were still dangerous. As it stood now, there would be four bank robbers—five, if you counted Belinda—against the two of them and five bank guards, although he was pretty sure Jeb Collier had plans for the guards.

  Delay and Tanner followed Collier through the window and they all brandished guns.

  “Put him in a corner,” Jeb said, pointing to Alvin.

  Tanner pushed the shocked hardware store owner into a corner and said, “Stay there and keep quiet.”

  “You, Bank Manager.”

  “Yes?”

  “You’re gonna open the door and call two of the guards from the vault in here.”

  Brown, seeing this as his chance to alert the guards, started for the door quickly.

  “Slow!” Jeb said. “If you try to warn them, you’ll be the first one to die. I’ll put a bullet in the back of your head. Do you understand?”

  “Y-yes, I understand.” For the first time Edmund Brown wished he had accepted the offer of help from the sheriff.

  Shaye and Cotton reached the front of the bank.

  “Now what?” Cotton asked. “Do we rush them?”

  “We don’t know what’s going on inside the bank,” Shaye said. “If we rush in, they might start shooting and somebody will get killed.”

  As they watched, a woman approached the front door and entered. She was obviously a customer.

  “They’re letting people in,” Cotton said.

  “Okay,” Shaye said. “Let’s take a chance, Riley.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “One of us has to go inside, without a badge on, as if we’re just another customer. The badge would attract immediate attention. This way maybe we buy a valuable second or two.”

  “And the other one?”

  “Around back.”

  “Which one of us will they recognize easier?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Shaye said. “They’ve seen us both. I’ll go inside, you go around back.”

  “Maybe I should—”

  “We don’t have time to draw straws, Riley,” Shaye said. “Let’s just do it.”

  “All right,” Cotton said. “All right. Let’s do it.”

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  “I need two of you gentlemen in here, please,” Edmund Brown said from the doorway of his office.

  “Sir?” one of the guards said.

  “Two of you,” Brown said, “in here.”

  The guards all exchanged glances.

  “Sir, we’re not supposed to leave the—”

  “I have an important depositor in my office and I need two of you in here…now!” Brown snapped.

  “Yes, sir.”

  The three men exchanged another glance and then two of them broke away from the vault and moved toward the office. Brown backed away so they could come through the doorway.

  “What’s the prob—” one of them started, but he was literally cut off. Vic Delay grabbed him from behind and, using one of his knives, cut the man’s throat.

  The other guard got a gun barrel shoved up in his nose by Lou Tanner, who growled, “Don’t move.” He relieved the guard of his rifle.

  Belinda stifled a scream by placing both hands over her mouth as a torrent of blood ran down the guard’s chest. Delay caught the man beneath the arms and lowered him to the floor.

  “That’s to let you know we mean business,” Jeb Collier said, pointing down at the dead man.

  “W-what do you want?” Brown asked, finding his voice with difficulty.

  “Money,” Jeb said, “and lots of it.”

  “There are still two guards outside,” Tanner said.

  “I know,” Jeb said. “We’re goin’ out there in a minute.”

  “How are we gonna play it?” Delay asked.

  “You take the manager,” Jeb said, “and I’ll take the girl.”

  “What?” Belinda asked, surprised.

  Jeb smiled and said, “Relax, sweetie. You’re gonna be a hostage.”

  Before entering the bank Shaye relinquished the shotgun to Sheriff Cotton. Next he took off his badge and put it in his shirt pocket. Hoping he wouldn’t garner too much attention, he opened the door and entered.

  Everything looked quiet inside. Three of the five teller cages were manned. The woman who had entered before him was standing at one of them. To his left was one security guard, who gave him a hard once-over, his gaze lingering on Shaye’s gun.

  But nobody else was looking at him, so he sidled over to the guard, removed his badge from his pocket, palmed it, and showed it to the guard.

  “There may be a robbery going on,” Shaye said.

  “What?” The man took a good look at Shaye’s badge. “What are you talkin’ ’bout, Deputy. It’s quiet in here.”

  Shaye looked around again. Belinda and her beau, Alvin Simon, were nowhere in sight.

  “You know Belinda Davis? Alvin Simon?”

  “Yeah, they came in a little while ago. First customers.”

  “Where are they?”

  “In the manager’s office.”

  “How many other guards?”

  “Three at the vault.”

  “Do me a favor,” Shaye said. “Without attracting any attention, go and see if they’re all there.”

  “Where would they go?”

  “Humor me.”

  The guard, a man in his mid-thirties, said, “Okay, Deputy.”

  As nonchalantly as he could, the guard walked across the floor. He had to go behind the tellers’ cage to check on the vault, which was not visible from this part of the bank. In a few moments he came back, looking worried.

  “There’s only one man there.”

  “Okay,” Shaye said, “again, without making a ruckus, I want you to get the tellers out from behind their cages and I want all employees and customers against that wall.” He pointed to his left. That wall appeared to be the safest place for bystanders to be able to avoid flying lead. “Do it now.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Shaye put his badge back on.

  Cotton rushed up the alley, but stopped short
at the end of it. He peered around the corner and saw one man standing with five horses. He knew there was no back door to the bank. It had been built that way on purpose. But there were windows. He just couldn’t remember where they led.

  Cotton didn’t think he could take this man quietly. There was too much space between them. He was going to have to wait for something to happen before he made his move. It was in the hands of Dan Shaye, inside the bank.

  Farther down the street, in front of and across from the saloon, men were getting impatient.

  “This ain’t right,” Samms said. “Somethin’s wrong.”

  “I know,” Leslie said. “But what?”

  “We oughta go to the bank,” Samms said. “Maybe we got it wrong.”

  “I don’t know…” Leslie said.

  Across the street Thomas and James, secreted in a doorway, were feeling the same way.

  “What do we do, Thomas?” James asked. “They’re just sittin’ there.”

  “They’re not sittin’, they’re gettin’ antsy,” Thomas said. “Let’s make somethin’ happen, James.”

  “Like what?”

  “Let’s step out and let them see us.”

  “Anythin’s better than just standin’ here.”

  “Okay, then…”

  Shaye didn’t know if the vault and the single guard left there were being watched, so he couldn’t go back there. Instead, he joined the front guard behind the tellers’ positions.

  “Now what?” the guard asked.

  “Now we wait,” Shaye said. “Something’s going on, so we’ll have to let it play out. Can we see the bank manager’s office from here?”

  “Yeah,” the guard said, pointing. “That doorway over there.”

  Shaye could see the doorway, but not the whole door. He was about to change position, though, when the door opened and Lou Tanner stuck his head out.

  “Get ready,” Shaye said. “I think they’re coming out. Don’t do any shooting unless I do, understand?”

  “I understand.”

  Shaye kept his eyes on the doorway and the first person he saw come through was Belinda Davis.

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