The Brave (29 page)

AS SOON AS the telegram arrived, Diane placed a long-distance call to London. Julian Baverstock told her that her father was in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. He had cancer of the throat and lungs and it was too advanced for any kind of treatment. The doctors had given him two weeks at most.

Cal made some calls and found that the quickest way was to take the train to San Francisco and, from there, a BOAC flight to London. It was only while they were packing their bags in the cabin that Diane remembered the passports. They were locked in Ray's safe in LA. She cursed herself for a fool but didn't panic. They would simply have to travel by train to LA, she announced, go to the house to collect them, then fly to England as planned.

Cal said, years later, that he had tried to persuade Diane to let him accompany them and that he would never forgive himself for failing to insist on it. But Diane had been calm and clear and adamant about it, he said. She didn't want to call Ray in case he started playing games. No, it was better just to show up. If Ray was there, she could handle it. If he was out (and she would try to time it so that he would be), she had a key to the house and knew the combination of the safe. She would simply let herself in, get the passports and leave.

Saying goodbye to Cal when he put them on the train in Choteau was hard. He made them promise to hurry back and stood there on the platform waving his hat as the train pulled away. And they leaned out the window waving until all they could see of him was a black speck against the snow.

The journey by rail was shorter than it had been by road but it still seemed epic to Tommy. They ate and slept and read their books and stared out in silence at the ever-shifting landscape that grew harsher and more barren by the hour. There was none of the game playing or singing of their trip northward eight months before and it wasn't simply because they were both thinking about Arthur. Another kind of sadness seemed to have fallen upon them and it was all to do with leaving Cal.

"Are you and Cal going to get married?"

"Oh, Tommy, I don't know. He hasn't asked me. Anyhow, I'm still married to Ray."

"But you're gonna get a divorce, right?"

She smiled at him and stroked his hair.

"You're sounding more like an American boy every day. Yes, I'm gonna get a divorce. Would you like it if Cal and I got married?"

"Are you kidding? Of course I would."

"Then maybe, one day, we will."

"Would that mean we could always live in Montana?"

"I don't see why not."

Tommy was asleep when the train at last pulled into Union Station. When Diane woke him he thought for a moment that she was a stranger. She was wearing a headscarf and sunglasses so that nobody would recognize her. A porter loaded their bags onto his cart and they followed him through the station and found a cab. It was late in the afternoon. His eyes still blurred with sleep, Tommy stared out at the manicured streets, the avenues of palms, the elegant houses with their weedless lawns, the sprinklers making rainbows in the last of the sunshine. And he wondered how he could ever have been excited or impressed by the place for there was nothing here, not a single thing, that was real. It was all for show, entirely contrived and alien.

The gates to Ray's driveway were open and when they came in sight of the house and the rearing bronze horse there were no cars nor any sign of life to be seen. Diane asked the cabdriver to wait and told Tommy to stay there with him. She took her keys from her purse and said she wouldn't be long. Tommy watched her run up the steps to the front door. She stood there a moment listening, then put the key in the lock and stealthily let herself in.

She had been gone no more than a couple of minutes when Tommy heard a car coming up the driveway. When he looked around, his heart missed a beat. It was Ray in the Cadillac. He was peering at the cab, clearly wondering what it was doing there. He pulled up behind it. Tommy quickly turned around, lowered himself in his seat and watched the cabdriver staring in his mirror as Ray got out of the car and slowly walked up to the rear door of the cab and squinted in through the window. He was all in black and wearing sunglasses, even in the fading light. He had to take them off before he could make out who it was. Then he beamed and opened the door.

"Well, for heavensake, look who's here!"

"Hi, Ray."

"Tommy, old son, how the heck are you?"

"I'm okay."

"What's going on? Where's your mom?"

Tommy hesitated.

"She's gone inside? Well, what are you doing out here? Come on, ol' pal, let's go find her. Gee, how great to see ya!"

"She said to wait here."

"Don't be like that, come on."

He reached in and Tommy realized there was no choice. When he climbed out of the cab Ray gave him a big hug.

"Heck, Tommy, it's so good to see you. I missed you, real bad."

Tommy swallowed and forced a smile. Ray pulled his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans and paid the driver and told him to go.

"But, Diane said—"

"It's okay, son. Don't worry. Come on, now."

He put an arm around Tommy's shoulders and they walked toward the house.

"Hey, Tommy, have you grown! Man, just look at the size of you!"

As they reached the front door, Dolores came running out.

"She's back! She let herself in."

"I know, I know, it's okay. It's great. Look, Tommy's here too. They've come home."

She glanced at Tommy and switched on a cold-eyed smile.

"Hi, Tommy."

"Hi."

"Where is she?" Ray asked quietly.

"Upstairs. She's trying to get into the safe. I told her not to—"

"It's okay, Dolores. Everything's under control, ain't that right, Tommy?"

He slapped Tommy on the back.

"I tell you what, son. Why don't you go with Dolores and she'll make you one of those chocolate shakes you like? How about that?"

"I'll wait here."

"No, you go with Dolores. Do as you're told."

Tommy would always blame himself for being so weak at that moment. If he'd stood his ground, stayed in the hallway or followed Ray up the stairs instead of allowing himself to be steered off to the kitchen by Dolores, maybe what happened next might somehow have been avoided. One of the things he would later learn was that in life timing was all. A moment either way could make the difference between happiness and misery, between life and death or eternal damnation.

They went through to the kitchen and Dolores got the ice cream and milk from the refrigerator and asked him questions about where they had been while she made the shake. Tommy wasn't paying attention and didn't volunteer much by way of reply except to say they'd been to Montana. He was trying to listen, trying to imagine what was happening upstairs. He was standing by the table and Dolores told him to sit down and then again more firmly, so he did.

How long it was before Diane started shouting, he couldn't tell. Maybe five minutes, maybe less. But as soon as he heard her, he was on his feet and the chair tipped over behind him and clattered to the floor and he was off and running. Dolores called after him but by now he was in the hallway and heading for the stairs and he could hear Diane shouting upstairs in Ray's bedroom.

"Just open the safe, will you!"

"Diane, for godsake, calm down. Let's just talk for a moment."

"All I want is our passports!"

"I know, but I told you, they're not in there anymore."

"I don't believe you."

"Well, that's up to you, sweetheart."

"Let me see for myself."

"No, Diane. I'm not going to do that."

"Open the goddamn safe, Ray!"

Tommy stopped just outside the bedroom doorway and stood there a moment, listening and trying to peep in without being seen. He could see them at the far end of the room, facing each other in front of the open closet where the safe was. He took a cautious step forward. Ray had his back to him but must have noticed Diane's eyes flicker toward the door because he turned to look over his shoulder and saw Tommy and smiled.

"You go downstairs now, son. Everything's okay. Your mom and I just need to talk a few things over. Go downstairs. Good boy. Do as you're told now."

Tommy hesitated. He wasn't going to take orders from anyone but Diane. But she nodded her agreement.

"Go on, Tommy. Just wait in the hallway. I'll be down in a minute."

Tommy turned reluctantly and headed back across the landing. They were talking again, but in lowered voices now. He couldn't make out what they were saying but the tone was urgent and venomous. Dolores was at the foot of the stairs and she told him to come down and then headed off again across the hallway toward the kitchen.

He was only halfway down the stairs when Diane screamed. He turned around and ran as fast as he could back up and across the landing and into the bedroom again. And as he came in he saw Ray shove Diane back against the far wall and then step toward her and hit her twice in the face, one-two, backhand and forehand, in quick succession. Tommy yelled for him to stop but Ray ignored him and Diane screamed and leaped at him and tried to hit him back but he was too quick. She clawed at his face then grabbed a handful of his hair and wrenched it and he yelled and grasped her by the wrist and swung her around and slammed her hard against the wall. Tommy heard the breath leave her lungs in a sudden, shocking groan. She saw him at the door and tried to say something but couldn't find her voice and then Ray punched her in the stomach and she doubled up and sank to her knees.

"I said go downstairs, kid, didn't you hear?" Ray yelled, without looking at him. "Get out of here!"

The command was so fierce that Tommy almost obeyed. He actually turned and began to head out onto the landing. But then he stopped and, in a moment of perfect clarity, knew what to do. He turned one last time and headed across the room to Ray's nightstand.

Ray must have thought he'd gone. He'd taken hold of the lapels of Diane's jacket and was hauling her to her feet. As quietly as he could, Tommy slid open the drawer. Damn it, it wasn't there anymore. Ray must be keeping it in some other place. Diane was crying and pleading now, but Tommy couldn't make out what she was saying because his head was filled with the rush and pump of his own blood. Then he pulled the drawer out a little more and there it was, the dull glint of the barrel, right at the back.

The steel felt cold in his hand as he pulled the gun out. He was trying to be quick and quiet at the same time which wasn't easy because his hands were shaking so badly. But he managed to slip the safety without making a click and then, with both hands, gripped hold of the handle and raised it to eye level and lined it up on Ray's back.

It was Diane who caught sight of him first. Ray had his hand around her throat and was pinning her to the wall. Her eyes were wide and terrified. She stopped struggling and went very still and without letting go of her Ray slowly turned and saw him too.

"Let go of her," Tommy said.

"Jesus, kid. What the hell do you think you're doing? Put that thing down."

"I said let go of her."

Ray shook his head and smiled as if this were the most ridiculous and tiresome thing he'd ever seen. But he did release his hand and Diane slumped and turned to the wall and staggered sideways a little, gasping and coughing and clutching her throat.

"Tommy," she at last managed to say. "Don't be silly now, put it down."

But he didn't. He told Diane to move farther away but she still didn't seem strong enough.

"You heard what your mom said, son. Put the gun down. There's a good boy."

"Get away from her."

"That's enough, son. Come on, now. Someone's going to get hurt. Give me the gun."

He took a step toward him and Tommy shouted at him not to move. It was only the bed that separated them now.

"Open the safe," Tommy said.

Ray laughed.

"You've seen too many westerns, kid. Who the hell are we today? Billy the Kid?"

"Tommy, please, put that thing down."

"No, he's going to open the safe. Open it!"

He clicked back the hammer. From his westerns, he knew this generally helped to focus attention and it did. Ray held up his palms.

"Okay, okay."

He turned around and it looked for a moment as if he really intended to go and open the safe. But as he stepped toward the closet he suddenly lurched to one side and grabbed hold of Diane. Tommy knew what was coming. He'd seen it a hundred times on TV and in the movies. The guy was going to use her as a shield. Or maybe he was going to start hurting her again or worse. Either way, in that sliver of a second Tommy knew there was no other choice. He squeezed the trigger and fired.

Watching someone die was nothing like they showed it on TV. The bullet entered Ray's head just below his right eye and he fell back against the wall and slid slowly down until he was sitting on the floor. The look on his face wasn't of agony or even of pain, just a kind of amused surprise that this had actually happened, that this was real life and not some episode of Sliprock and that nobody was going to be calling Cut!