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"YOU GUYS READY?" Dale asks

"Aw, man, I don’t know," Doc says This isn’t the fifth time he’s said it, maybe not even the fifteenth He’s pale, alo ¡ª kind of a rolling green rooe of La Follette Park Nearby is the podiu Doc can keep his legs under him) and deliver their carefully crafted answers On the slope running down to the broad river are gathered nearly four hundred newspeople, plus camera crews fron stations The gentlemen of the press aren’t in the world’s best mood, because the prime space in front of the podiu (drawn by lottery) of French Landing’s residents This was Dale’s one ironclad demand for the press conference

The idea for the press conference itself came froer than ever in his gray linen slacks and open-collared white shirt ¡ª almost like a bear in a tuxedo He has even made an effort to cooing to do one of the Three P’s ¡ª piss, puke, or pass out ¡ª stay here"

"Nah," Doc says miserably "In for a penny, in for a fuckin’ pound If we’re gonna give it a try, let’s give it a try"

Dale, resplendent in his dress unifor ht suit and dark blue silk tie Ablue handkerchief pokes froht thing?"

Jack is co to allow Sarah Gilbertson’s Color Posse to steal the li certain that his old friend is in an unassailable position He can do this by telling a very simple story, which the three other men will back up Ty will do the same, Jack is confident The story is this: Jack’s other old friend, the late Henry Leyden, figured out the Fisherman’s identity from the 911 tape This tape was supplied by Dale, his nephew The Fisherman killed Henry, but not before the heroic Mr Leyden had mortally wounded him and passed his name to the police ( Jack’s other interest in this press conference, understood perfectly and supported coets the credit he deserves) An exa property records and plats uncovered the fact that Charles Burnside owned a house on Highway 35, not far out of town Dale deputized Jack and tidebodies who just happened to be in the vicinity (that would be Messrs Amberson and St Pierre), and they went on out there

"From that point on," Jack told his friends repeatedly in the days leading up to the press conference, "it’s vital that you remember the three little words that lead to most acquittals in cri;I can’t reht If you don’t have a story to reme in the air inside that place ¡ª "

"No lie," Beezer rurimaced

" ¡ª and it messed us up What we do remember is this:Ty Marshall was in the backyard, handcuffed to the clothesline whirligig" Before Beezer St Pierre and Jack Sawyer slipped through the police barricades and vaporized Black House with plastic explosive, one reporter got out there and took numerous pictures We knohich reporter it was, of course; Wendell Green has finally realized his dreams of fame and fortune

"And Burnside was dead at his feet," Beezer said

"Right With the key to the handcuffs in his pocket Dale, you found that and released the boy There were a few other kids in the backyard, but as to how many ¡ª "

"We don’t remember," Doc said

"As to their sexes ¡ª "

"A few boys, a few girls," Dale said "We don’t remember exactly how many of each"

"And as for Ty, hoas taken, what happened to him ¡ª "

"He said he didn’t re

"We left We think we called to the other kids ¡ª "

"But don’t exactly reht, and in any case they see It e were putting Ty into the cruiser thatthe out"

"And called the Wisconsin State Police for backup," Dale said "I do remember that"

"Of course you do," Jack said benevolently

"But we have no idea how that darn place got blasted all to hell, and we don’t knoho did it"

"Soer to take justice into their own hands"

"Lucky they didn’t blow their heads clean off," said Dale

"All right," Jack tells the at the door Doc has produced half a joint, and four quick, deep tokes have cal this The e is that ere there first, we found Ty,only a few other children, we deemed their situation secure due to the death of Charles Burnside, also known as Carl Bierstone, the South Side Monster, and the Fishere is that Dale behaved properly ¡ª that we all did ¡ª and he then handed the investigation off to the FBI and WSP, who are now holding the baby Babies, I guess in this case The ain Last but far froe is that Henry Leyden’s the real star The heroic blind man who ID’d Charles Burnside and broke the Fisher his own life in the process"

"Amen," Dale says "Sweet old Uncle Henry"

Beyond the door of the Winnebago, he can hear the surflike rumble of hundreds of people Maybe even a thousand He thinks, This is what rock acts hear before they hit the stage A luulp it back down He reckons that if he keeps thinking of Uncle Henry he will be okay

"Anything else," Jack says, "questions that get too specific ¡ª "

"We can’t rerees "S like that"

Jack surveys them, nods, smiles This will be a happy occasion, on the whole, he thinks A love feast Certainly the idea that hein a few minutes has not occurred to hio out there and do it We’re politicians this afternoon, politicians at a press conference, and it’s the politicians who stay on et elected"

He opens the RV’s door The rumble of the crowd deepens in anticipation

They cross to the jury-rigged platforood Doctor Theyflashbulbs and 10-k TV lights Jack has no idea why they need such things ¡ª the day is bright and warm, a Coulee Country charmer ¡ª but it seems they do That they always do Voices cry, "Over here!" repeatedly There are also thrown questions, which they ignore When it comes time to answer questions they will ¡ª as best they can ¡ª but for now they are siins with the two hundred or so French Landing residents sitting on folding chairs in a roped-off area directly in front of the podiu clenched fists in the air like winning boxers The press picks it up from them, and as our four friends mount the steps to the podium, the roar becomes a thunder We are with them, up on the platfor up at us There’s Morris Rosen, who slipped Henry the Dirtysperent from the now defunct Maxton Elder Care: the lovely Alice Weathers is surrounded by Elmer Jesperson, Ada Meyerhoff (in a wheelchair), Flora Flostad, and the Boettcher brothers, Her a bit spaced out but no longer outright insane, is standing next to Lester Moon, who has his arht" Hrabowski, Tom Lund, Bobby Dulac, and the otheraround and cheering crazily Look, over there ¡ª that’s Enid Purvis, the neighbor who called Fred at work on the day Judy finally high-sided it There’s Rebecca Vilas, looking alh-collared dress (but cry no tears for her, Argentina; Becky has stashed away quite a nice bundle, thank you very much) Butch Yerxa is with her At the back of the crowd, lurking shamefully but unable to stay away from the triumph of their friends, are William Strassner and Hubert Cantinaro, better known to us as Kaiser Bill and Sonny Look there! Herb Roeper, who cuts Jack’s hair, standing beside Buck Evitz, who delivers his ood-bye under less than happy circu around like a hen on a hot griddle (God kno he got into the roped-off area, being fro, but he’s there), taking pictures Twice he bumps into Elvena Morton, Henry’s housekeeper The third tiood one on top of the head Wendell hardly see the course of the Fisheration And off to one side, we see sonize An elderly, dark-skinned gentle shades He looks a little bit like an old blues singer He also looks a little bit like a movie actor named Woody Strode

The applause thunders and thunders Folks cheer Hats are thrown in the air and sail on the summer breeze Their welcome becomes a kind of miracle in itself, an affirmation, perhaps even an acceptance of the children, who are widely supposed to have been held in soe linked to the Internet (Isn’t all that weird stuff somehow linked to the Internet?) And of course they applaud because the nighteyman died in his own backyard, died at the foot of a prosaic, now vaporized aluain

Oh how the cheers ring in these few last moments of Jack Sawyer’s life on planet Earth! Birds are startled up fro into the sky, seeking quieter environs On the river itself, a freighter responds to the cheers ¡ª or perhaps joins in ¡ª by blasting its air horn over and over Other boats get the idea and add to the cacophony

Without thinking about what he’s doing, Jack takes Doc’s right hand in his left, Dale’s left hand in his right Dale takes Beezer’s hand, and the Sawyer Gang raises their aroes nuts If not for what is going to happen next, it would be the picture of the decade, perhaps of the century They stand there in triu symbols of victory with their linked hands in the sky, the crowd cheering, the videoca, and that is when the woins to make her move This is sonize her, because she has had nothing at all to do with the case we have been following She’s just beensort of lurking around The two hundred seats up front have been awarded by rando voter rolls, the lucky lottery winners notified by Debbi Anderson, Pam Stevens, and Dit Jesperson This woman was No 199 Several people shrink froh in their happy frenzy they are hardly aware of doing it; this pale wo to her cheeks sot a little purse The little purse is open She’s reaching into it And ho have lived through the second half of the twentieth century and have through the miracle of TV witnessed a dozen assassinations and near assassinations know exactly what she is reaching for We want to screa with their linked hands raised to the sky, but all we can do is watch

Only the blackHe turns and starts to move, aware that she has probably beaten hi to be too late

No, Speedy Parker thinks It can’t end like this, it can’t

"Jack, get down!" he shouts, but no one hears hi, the wild hurrahs The crowd see back and forth in front of him no matter which way hearound like a man in the throes of an epileptic seizure, is in the assassin’s path Then she heaves hith of a madwoman Why not? She is a ot his mouth practically on the microphone, and the PA horns mounted to the nearby trees whine with feedback He’s still holding up Jack’s hand on his left and Beezer’s on his right There’s a small, dazed smile on his face "Thank you, folks, we sure do appreciate the support, but if you could just quiet down"

That’s when Jack sees her

It’s been a long tinizes her at once He should; she spat in his face one day as he left the Los Angeles courthouse Spat at hi bastard She’s lost fifty pounds since then, Jack thinks Maybe more Then he sees the hand in the purse, and even before it co here

The worst is that he can do nothing about it Doc and Dale have his hands in a death grip He drags in a deep breath and shouts as he has been taught to do in just such a situation as this ¡ª "Gun!" ¡ª and Dale Gilbertson nods as if to say, Yes it is, it is fun Behind her, pushing through the clapping, cheering crowd, he sees Speedy Parker, but unless Speedy’s got a particularly good ic trick up his sleeve ¡ª He doesn’t Speedy Parker, known in the Territories as Parkus, is just fighting his way into the aisle when the woun It’s an ugly little thing, a bulldog 32 with its handle wrapped in black kitchen tape, and Jack has just half a second to think that ain, and it’s Doc A woman crouched just below them

"Ohfuck," Doc says

"Wanda, no!" Jack cries Doc has let go of his left hand (Dale has still got his right one hoisted high in the summer air) and Jack holds it out to her like a traffic cop Wanda Kinderling’s first bullet goes right through the palins to tumble, and punches into the hollow of Jack’s left shoulder

Wanda speaks to him There’s too much noise for Jack to hear her, but he knohat she’s saying, just the sa son of a bitch ¡ª Thorny says hello

She e five bullets into Jack Sawyer’s chest and throat

No one hears the insignificant popping soundsand cheering, but Wendell Green has got his camera tilted up, and when the detective jerks backward, our favorite reporter’s finger punches the Nikon’s shutter-release button in siht shots The third is the picture, the one that will eventually beco on Iwo Ji his belly in the parking garage of the Dallas police station In Wendell’s photo, Jack Sawyer looks calmly doard the shooter (who is just a blur at the very bottoht be one of forgiveness Daylight is clearly visible through the hole in the palm of his outstretched hand Droplets of blood, as red as rubies, hang frozen in the air beside his throat, which has been torn open

The cheering and the applause stop as if a silence Jack Sawyer, shot twice in the lungs and once in the heart, as well as in the hand and the throat, stands where he is, gazing at the hole below his spread fingers and above his wrist Wanda Kinderling peers up at hi at Jack with an expression of naked horror that his wraparound sunglasses cannot conceal To his left, up on one of fourcaround

Then, suddenly, the freeze-fra it bursts open and everything is inscreams "See you in hell, Hollywood" ¡ª several people will later verify this ¡ª and then puts the muzzle of her 32 to her teives way to a more typical one of dazed inco but a dry click The bulldog 32 is empty

A moment later she is pretty much obliterated ¡ª broken neck, broken left shoulder, four broken ribs ¡ª as Doc stage-dives onto her and drives her to the ground His left shoe strikes the side of Wendell Green’s head, but this time Wendell sustains no more than a bloody ear Well, he was due to catch a break, wasn’t he?

On the platforly at Dale, tries to speak, and cannot He staggers, reer, then collapses

Dale’s face has gone froht to utter shock and dismay in a heartbeat He seizes the microphone and screams, "HE’S SHOT! WE NEED A DOCTOR!" The PA horns shriek with more feedback No doctor coin to run The panic spreads

Beezer is down on one knee, turning Jack over Jack looks up at hi to speak Blood pours from the corners of his mouth

"Ah fuck, it’s bad, Dale, it’s really bad," Beezer cries, and then he is knocked sprawling One wouldn’t expect that the scrawny old black e could knock around a bruiser like Beezer, but this is no ordinary old man As ell know There is a thin but perfectly visible envelope of white light surrounding him Beezer sees it His eyes widen