Curtis stood in the middle of the room, looked at the ceiling, and gestured, palms up. Diane was afraid the gun would go off accidently.
‘‘Is everybody in here stupid?’’ he said.
He went over to Mrs. Wilson and stared at her, nose to nose. She cringed back in her seat.
‘‘Look, you dumb old woman, I didn’t say he
‘‘Stop calling my grandparents names,’’ said Henry. ‘‘They’re smarter than you are.’’
‘‘Yeah? Well if they’re so smart, how come I’m the one here holding the gun? Tell me that.’’
‘‘What money are you talking about?’’ said the sher iff. ‘‘What money could a college student get his hands on that’s got you boys so riled up and raring to go?’’
Curtis looked at him for a long moment. ‘‘It’s in a bank. The kid knows how to get the account numbers and passwords off a computer,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s a lot of money, and Gage and me’s going to get it, with the help of Caleb and the Fallon woman. Now, are we all on the same page here?’’
‘‘Caleb won’t help the likes of you,’’ said Mrs. Wil son. Apparently the presence of the sheriff and other people was making her more courageous.
Curtis walked over to Henry and patted him on the cheek. Henry shrunk back away from his hand.
‘‘We know Caleb will do anything to keep his little brother safe. Anything.’’
His voice was suddenly very calm, and it frightened Diane more than when he was yelling.
‘‘Where is Caleb?’’ asked the sheriff.
‘‘He’s out on a date,’’ said Mrs. Wilson. ‘‘A girl in one of his classes.’’
‘‘When will he be getting back?’’ said the sheriff.
‘‘He doesn’t have a curfew,’’ said Arlen Wilson. ‘‘He’s a grown man now. I don’t know when he’ll be in.’’
‘‘Why are you guys here?’’ said Gage, apparently just now thinking to ask.
‘‘The same reason you are,’’ said Diane. ‘‘We’ve been trying to get into the mayor’s computer. We know Caleb is good with computers so we thought we would ask him if he could break the code.’’
‘‘Oh, he can break it all right,’’ said Curtis. ‘‘He probably wrote it.’’
‘‘Caleb doesn’t do things like that,’’ said Mrs. Wilson.
‘‘Why don’t you allow Mrs. Wilson and me to make some coffee?’’ said Diane. ‘‘It looks like we might be here a while.’’
Curtis thought a moment. He looked at Gage, who shrugged.
‘‘All right. But I’m going to stand in the doorway and watch. Don’t try to get a knife or anything,’’ he said.
‘‘We’ll just put on some coffee,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Try ing to make things a little easier, that’s all.’’
‘‘Tell you what, Curtis,’’ said Gage. ‘‘You watch young Henry, and I’ll watch them in the kitchen.’’
‘‘Whatever,’’ said Curtis. He went over and sat down in the chair vacated by Gage Shipman.
Diane helped Mrs. Wilson into the kitchen. Shipman followed and stood close to Diane. He grinned at her, and Diane could see he was just dying to get even with her for the incident on the third-floor overlook.
But they needed her. When Caleb came, it would be her, Henry, and Caleb that they needed—Henry to be a hostage to make Caleb do the work, and Diane to get the computer.
Frank and the others would be just excess baggage then. Diane had no doubt they would shoot Frank, the sheriff, and the Wilsons when Caleb got there. The thought terrified her.
She or Frank or the sheriff would have to do some thing before then. Unfortunately, she couldn’t think of a thing to do. The best she could come up with so far was to split them up and give Curtis fewer targets if Frank tried something. Perhaps Frank and the sher iff would come up with a plan. The problem was Henry. He was too close to Curtis.
Shipman put a hand on the back of Diane’s hair and flipped it. She brushed him away as she rinsed out the coffeepot. It was clean, but she was trying to waste time. Mrs. Wilson seemed to understand. She slowly laid out coffee filters, a measuring spoon, and several cups.
Shipman put his fingertips on Diane’s neck, then her cheek. She brushed his hands away. She filled the pot with water and turned off the faucet. He reached up to tickle her ear and she turned to him.
‘‘Did you never get out of third grade?’’ she said.
‘‘I’m just being nice,’’ he said, grinning. ‘‘Doesn’t your accountant boyfriend ever touch you like this?’’ He reached for her ear again, sticking out his tongue.
‘‘What kind of coffee?’’ Mrs. Wilson said. ‘‘We have some chocolate raspberry that’s good and some va nilla. We have the regular kind too.’’
‘‘Chocolate raspberry sounds just fine,’’ said Shipman. ‘‘I bet you like chocolate raspberry,’’ he said to Diane. She slapped his hand away again and he laughed. ‘‘We might have a long night ahead of us.
entertain ourselves We’ll have to find something to with.’’
Diane had the coffeepot filled right hand. It had weight to it. One good hit and she with water in her could knock the gun from his hand just as she had with the rock and Harve Delamore’s gun.
‘‘Don’t go thinking about trying anything with that pot,’’ said Shipman. ‘‘You’d just make me mad.’’ He laughed and for a moment Diane wondered how she telegraphed her intentions.
‘‘I wouldn’t dream of it,’’ she said. ‘‘If we all stay calm, we can all get what we want.’’
