Page 70 - Demo

Clay Pigeons (continued from preceding page)
“She likes you as a friend, Ken,” Sonny said. “You win!”
Ken looked down at the table, and Sonny noticed he didn’t look too happy with winning Rhonda, so he looked at her for an explanation.
“I like Ken as a friend,” she explained, “but I like Sid in a different way, a grown-up way. I have deeper feel- ings for Sid.”
“Sid’s an asshole dentist,” Sonny said.
Sonny sat listening to Ken and Rhonda talk about their day shooting, noticing that they never men- tioned his role in their day. He was sure there was someone sitting in the booth behind them, too, listen- ing to everything, but he didn’t want to turn around and find out that it was empty.
Two Los Angeles County Sheriff deputies casually entered McDonald’s and pulled Sonny out of the booth and handcuffed him, while Rhonda demanded that they not hurt him and Ken stood up and backed away to let the deputies do their job. Sid wandered in and watched the deputies as one put Sonny in a sepa- rate booth, while the other opened the cash box and counted the money inside.
“It’s all here,” the younger deputy said, closing the box.
“That’s mine,” Sonny said.
“Where did you get this?” the older deputy asked.
“I took it from Mr. Lindsay because he didn’t pay me enough.”
“So it belongs to Mr. Lindsay at the range, right?” “No,” Sonny said. “It belongs to me now.”
“Put him in the car,” the older deputy said, as Sonny was led outside. The older deputy turned on Rhonda. “Did you guys know he robbed that old guy?”
“We just found out,” Rhonda said. “He’s disabled, you know.”
“Yeah, well, that doesn’t mean he can commit armed robbery.”
“Armed robbery?” Sid said. “Pulled a shotgun on him.” “Shit,” Ken muttered.
The deputy asked several questions about their being with him immediately following the robbery and what they knew and when they knew it and concluded they were not involved and left them.
Sonny was sitting in the back of the Sheriff’s car, when the older deputy emerged from McDonald’s and
spoke to the other deputy. Then the older deputy got in the Sheriff’s car and looked at Sonny over the seat through the metal screen that separated the front from the back seats.
“You all right back there?”
Sonny didn’t reply. Sitting there alone, he remem- bered from watching cop shows on TV that he should be silent, and he was angry with himself for not being silent in McDonald’s when he told them where he got the cash box.
The deputy said, “The lady—Rhonda—she wanted me to tell you goodbye and that she’s sorry they didn’t help you more.”
“She’s dumb. And the other guys are assholes. They drive that Volvo over there and you can’t trust people who drive those stupid, ugly cars.”
“That’s not very nice to say,” the deputy said. “And they’re a very safe car.”
“Where are you taking me?”
“We’ll book you here in Valencia and then you’ll be transferred to a detention center.”
“What kind of pistol do you carry?”
The deputy looked away, started the engine, and then looked back through the screen. “I carry a nine mil- limeter.”
“Beretta? SIG?”
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