Birdy: “Hold it. I never said you could have my computer. I need to make a living.”
Pi: “Damn right. And what are you going to pay us? We aren’t just going to give you Birdy’s equipment and you go home. Maybe we should just call the sheriff after all.”
Ennis: “You shut the fuck up, lady. You’re playing in the big leagues, and you don’t even know it.”
Illoway: “Don . . .”
Pi: “You don’t have any intention of paying us, do you?
You’re going to do something to us so we don’t talk.”
Ennis: “Tell me what you saw in the photos.”
Pi: “Not until you tell us what you’re planning to do.”
Ennis: “Shane, remember what we discussed on the drive over?”
Suhn: “You want me to do it here? Now? If somebody looked in the window they could see us.”
Ennis: “I don’t give a shit. She won’t shut up.”
Illoway: “Look, how much do you want for the computer? Give us a number.”
Ennis: “You’re spending my money, Illoway.”
Illoway: “Give us a number.”
Suhn: “Maybe we ought to see the pictures first. Maybe there’s nothing on them. Maybe it’s just a bunch of us having a fun time on the river, and somebody falls in. That won’t prove anything.”
There was a long silence. Joe was tempted to inch the curtain back to see what was taking place.
Illoway: “Shane’s right, Don. The photos may not prove a thing.”
Ennis: “Fire up that computer and let’s have a look at them.”
Birdy said, “It’s on,” and Joe could feel the terror in his voice.
When would Tassell decide he had heard enough, Joe wondered, and come out? How far would Tassell let Pi and Birdy go, searching for photos that didn’t exist on the computer?
Ennis: “Where are the photos?”
Birdy: “Give me a minute. The computer was sleeping and it’ll take a second to boot up.”
Ennis: “What’s that?”
Birdy: “It’s asking for my password.”
Ennis: “Hurry up, goddamnit.”
Then Pi spoke. Her voice was strong, challenging. “What are you guys thinking?” she asked. “Are you thinking that you can’t see when Don here cuts the straps of her life vest?
Or that you can’t see it when he shoves her out of the boat just as you enter the whitewater? Or that you can’t see when he hits her with his oar to keep her from crawling back in the boat?”
Ennis: “I never hit her with my fucking oar!”
Now, Joe thought. Tassell needs to come out now.
Pi: “Maybe it was Pete Illoway, the eating consultant, who was whacking at her with his oar. I’m not sure.”
Illoway: “We’re fucked, Don.”
Suhn: “Okay, you two, step away from the counter.”
“There’s no need for guns here,” Pi said frantically, shouting out the word guns. “We can work something out.
Really, we can.”
Ennis: “It’s too fucking late for that, girlie.”
Joe was about to rip the curtain aside and hurl himself into the shop when he heard the office door open and Tassell say, “HANDS ON THE COUNTER! All of you! NOW!”
Joe didn’t have a weapon, so he stepped aside so Trey could push through the curtain with his Beretta drawn. Joe saw Ennis look up, his face pinched and white. Illoway was looking at the door. Shane Suhn had a semiautomatic pistol pointed at Pi.
“Drop that,” Tassell hollered at Suhn, who quickly lowered the weapon and dropped it with a clunk on the floor.
“I thought you were never going to come out,” Pi said angrily.
“Keep your hands in view on top of the counter,” Tassell said.
“Including us?” Birdy asked.
“Step away from them,” Tassell said, and Birdy and Pi scrambled out of the way.
“You set us up, you bastard,” Ennis said finally, glaring at Tassell. Ennis had two black eyes and white tape across his nose. Joe had done more damage the night before than he realized. When Ennis saw Joe, the developer’s eyes narrowed further.
