'We'll just toast those old waffles up in the caff,' Rusty said. 'Yum! Tasty!'
'Yeah, while we've still got some electricity to toast em with,' Twitch muttered. 'After that we can poke em on forks and cook em over the incinerator out back.'
'You can't do this!'
Barbie said, 'Let me be perfectly clear: unless you do whatever it is Rusty wants you to do, I have no intention of letting go your Eggos.'
Chaz Bender, who had a Band-Aid on the bridge of his nose and ianother on the side of his neck, laughed. Not very kindly. 'Pay up, Doc!' he called. 'Isn't that what you always say?'
Boxer turned his glare first on Bender, then on Rusty. 'What you want has almost no chance of working. You must know that.'
Rusty opened the Sucrets box and held it out. Inside were six teeth.'Torie McDonald picked these up outside the supermarket. She got down on her knees and grubbed through puddles of Georgia Roux's blood to find them. And if you want to have Eggos for breakfast in the near future, Doc, you're going to put them back in Georgia's head.'
'And if I just walk away?'
Chaz Bender, the history teacher, took a step forward. His fists were clenched. 'In that case, my mercenary friend, I'll beat the shit out of you in the parking lot.'
'I'll help,' Twitch said.
'I won't help,' Barbie said, 'but I'll watch.'
There was laughter and some applause. Barbie felt simultaneously amused and sick to his stomach.
Boxer's shoulders slumped. All at once he was just a little man caught in a situation too big for him. He took the Sucrets box, then looked at Rusty. 'An oral surgeon working under optimum conditions might be able to reimplant these teeth, and they might actually root, although he would be careful to give the patient no guarantees. If I do it, she'll be lucky to get back one or two. She's more likely to pull them down her windpipe and choke on them.'
A stocky woman with a lot of flaming red hair shouldered Chaz Bender aside. 'I'll sit with her and make sure that doesn't happen. I'm her mother.'
Dr Boxer sighed. 'Is she unconscious?'
Before he could get any further, two Chester's Mill police units, one of them the green Chief's car, pulled up in the turnaround. Freddy Denton, Junior Rennie, Frank DeLesseps, and Carter Thibodeau got out of the lead car. Chief Randolph and Jackie Wettington emerged from the Chief's car. Rusty's wife got out of the back. All were armed, and as they approached the main doors of the hospital, they drew their weapons.
The little crowd that had been watching the confrontation with Joe Boxer murmured and drew back, some in its number undoubtedly expecting to be arrested for theft.
Barbie turned to Rusty Everett. 'Look at me,' he said.
'What do you m - '
'Look at me!' Barbie lifted his arms, turning them to show both sides. Then he pulled up his tee-shirt, showing first his flat stomach, then turning to exhibit his back. 'Do you see marks? Bruises?'
'No - '
'Make sure they know that,' Barbie said.
9
It was all he had time for. Randolph led his officers through the door. 'Dale Barbara? Step forward.'
Before Randolph could lift his gun and point it at him, Barbie did so. Because accidents happen. Sometimes on purpose.
Barbie saw Rusty's puzzlement, and liked him even better for his innocence. He saw Gina Buffalino and Harriet Bigelow, their eyes wide. But most of his attention was reserved for Randolph and his backups. All the faces were stony, but on Thibodeau's and DeLejsseps's he saw undeniable satisfaction. For them this was all about payback for that night at Dipper's And payback was going to be a bitch.
Rusty stepped in front of Barbie, as if to shield him.
'Don't do that,' Barbie murmured.
'Rusty, no!' Linda cried.
'Peter?' Rusty asked. 'What's this about? Barbie's been helping out, and he's been doing a damned good job.'
Barbie was afraid to move the big PA aside or even touch him. He raised his arms instead, very slowly, holding his palms out.
When they saw his arms go up, Junior and Freddy Denton came at Barbie, and fast. Junior bumped Randolph on his way by, and the Beretta clutched in the Chief's fist went off. The sound was deafening in the reception area. The bullet went into the floor three inches in front of Randolph's right shoe, making a surprisingly large hole. The smell of gunpowder was immediate and startling.
Gina and Harriet screamed and bolted back down the main corridor, vaulting nimbly over Joe Boxer, who was crawling along with his head tucked and his normally neat hair hanging in his face. Brendan Ellerbee, 'who had been treated for a mildly dislocated jaw, kicked the dentist in the forearm as he stampeded past. The Sucrets box spun out of Boxer's hand, struck the main desk, and flew open, scattering the teeth Torie McDonald had so carefully picked up.
Junior and Freddy grabbed Rusty, who made no effort to fight them. He looked totally confused.They pushed him aside. Rusty went stumbling across the maim lobby, trying to keep his feet. Linda grabbed him,: and they sprawled to the floor together.