think that will be necessary. No need to get your nice clothes
dirty.
Just squeeze yourselves together in a tight little circle. That's
fine, just fine, ' he praised once again.
'The safe's open, sir, ' one of the others called out.
'Go to it, son, ' he called back.
The man in charge turned to the desk, and she saw his eyes clearly.
They were brown with golden streaks through them, like marbles, cold,
unfeeling. The man named Bell was coughing, and the leader turned away
from her to look at his accomplice.
'Why don't you lean against the railing and let the others take care of
filling up the bags. My friend's feeling poorly today, ' he told the
captives.
'Maybe he's got the influenza, ' Malcolm suggested in an
eager-to-please voice.
'I'm afraid you might be right, ' the leader agreed. 'It's a pity
because he so enjoys his work, but today he isn't up to entertaining
himself. Isn't that right, Mr. Bell? ' 'Yes, sir, ' his cohort
said.
'Are you about finished, Mr. Robertson? ' 'We got it all, sir. '
'Don't forget the cash in the drawers, ' he reminded him.
'We've got that too, sir.
'Looks like our business is almost finished here. Mr. Johnson, will
you please make sure the back door isn't going to give us any
trouble?
' 'I've already seen to it, sir.'
'It's time to finish up, then.' She heard the others moving back into
the lobby, their heels clicking against the floorboards with the
precision of telegraph equipment. One of them was snickering.
The man in charge had turned away from her, but she could see the
others clearly now. All of them stood behind the circle of captives.
While she watched, they removed their bandannas and tucked them into
their pockets. The leader took a step forward, then put his gun away
so he could carefully fold his bandanna and put it in his vest
