revolver, use as many as you want—plead
you
criminally stupid, for which we’d get the thanks of the regiment
and
the Nobel Peace Prize,
plus
, all we pay for then is some bereavement settlement, and we’re all off to the Ramada for blabbermouth soup. But
noooh!
Our Beau must have his jest! And
another
opportunistic scumsack limps straight to a lawyer, and
bingo
—we find ourselves up to our earrings in alligators!”
Beau sat up and raised a hand.
“Now, Vanessa, if you’re gonna get into that thing, the guy from Deer Lodge last year? I did shoot to kill on that one. It’s just that when you’re being shot at, it affects your concentration. And everybody was screaming and running around.”
“It was the Hilltop Mall, Beau! Of
course
people were running around.
And
screaming. Not to mention, it was a
County
call you should have left to the Yellowstone guys.”
“I was
shopping
, for God’s sake. I was off duty.”
“And you got involved anyway. You could have ducked it.”
“He was endangering the citizens, Vanessa. I’m supposed to stop that kind of thing. Anyway, I’m just making a point.”
“I agree. And
my
point is, if you’d just plain
killed
him, then there’d have been nobody around to sue us for excessive force. He didn’t have any relatives.”
“So why’d you let ’em settle?”
“Beau, nine times out of ten, the County settles out of court, and the County settles because it’s just plain
cheaper!
”
“Even when the plaintiff is a paroled con committing an armed robbery? Even when he’s firing on a law enforcement officer?”
“I’ve seen worse. And you fired first.”
“Jeez, Vanessa! What do I do—give him a free one? I’m
supposed
to fire first! That’s how it works!”
“Beau, read the papers. Everybody has rights except those who really need them. It’s the American way. You used your firearm in a crowded mall. The guy said he was just trying to get away, that you provoked the exchange.”
“You actually
believe
that?”
“What I believe and what I can prove in an action are different things. The law isn’t about belief. It’s about advantage and disadvantage, about technical distinctions between separate realities.”
“Well, that asshole was sure as hell trying to separate me from
my
reality. With a Delta ten-mill, too.”
“That was real for then. It wasn’t real for later.”
“So what was I supposed to do?”
“Learn to shoot straighter.”
“So I should have killed Joe Bell?”
She sat back in Meagher’s leather wing chair and swiveled back and forth in silence, looking across at Beau. The lieutenant leaned against the wall and tapped a finger on his brass buckle.
“No … look, Beau, I’m sorry to come on so hard here. The County barely has enough money to run a decent court system as it is. You guys are still hung up in Helena trying to get twoofficers in a car for night patrol. And you need three more troopers we can’t give you. Over in Big Horn County, we have two troopers on administrative leave while we sort out what looks like a police chase that didn’t have to happen and got a young Crow girl and her baby killed. Indian Affairs is onto us for
that
one. Now Joe Bell’s talking to Dwight Hogeland about another lawsuit.
This
we don’t need.”
“You mean Harper and Greer?”
“I do.”
“What happened there, anyway?”
“A woman named Mary Littlebasket was killed, along with her newborn baby. Her uncle—Charlie Tallbull, Eustace, you know him, don’t you?—he’s in Sweetwater General with internal injuries. The whole thing was just one overreaction after another. We’re going to—hey! Don’t try to change the subject, Beau. I’m saying we didn’t need another law enforcement sideshow right now.”
“We didn’t need Pompeys Pillar blown all the way to Bozeman, either. I did what I had to do to stop him.”
“What happened to the robbery guys, Beau?”
“They, ah, sorta slipped away.”
“Sorta
you
criminally stupid, for which we’d get the thanks of the regiment
and
the Nobel Peace Prize,
plus
, all we pay for then is some bereavement settlement, and we’re all off to the Ramada for blabbermouth soup. But
noooh!
Our Beau must have his jest! And
another
opportunistic scumsack limps straight to a lawyer, and
bingo
—we find ourselves up to our earrings in alligators!”
Beau sat up and raised a hand.
“Now, Vanessa, if you’re gonna get into that thing, the guy from Deer Lodge last year? I did shoot to kill on that one. It’s just that when you’re being shot at, it affects your concentration. And everybody was screaming and running around.”
“It was the Hilltop Mall, Beau! Of
course
people were running around.
And
screaming. Not to mention, it was a
County
call you should have left to the Yellowstone guys.”
“I was
shopping
, for God’s sake. I was off duty.”
“And you got involved anyway. You could have ducked it.”
“He was endangering the citizens, Vanessa. I’m supposed to stop that kind of thing. Anyway, I’m just making a point.”
“I agree. And
my
point is, if you’d just plain
killed
him, then there’d have been nobody around to sue us for excessive force. He didn’t have any relatives.”
“So why’d you let ’em settle?”
“Beau, nine times out of ten, the County settles out of court, and the County settles because it’s just plain
cheaper!
”
“Even when the plaintiff is a paroled con committing an armed robbery? Even when he’s firing on a law enforcement officer?”
“I’ve seen worse. And you fired first.”
“Jeez, Vanessa! What do I do—give him a free one? I’m
supposed
to fire first! That’s how it works!”
“Beau, read the papers. Everybody has rights except those who really need them. It’s the American way. You used your firearm in a crowded mall. The guy said he was just trying to get away, that you provoked the exchange.”
“You actually
believe
that?”
“What I believe and what I can prove in an action are different things. The law isn’t about belief. It’s about advantage and disadvantage, about technical distinctions between separate realities.”
“Well, that asshole was sure as hell trying to separate me from
my
reality. With a Delta ten-mill, too.”
“That was real for then. It wasn’t real for later.”
“So what was I supposed to do?”
“Learn to shoot straighter.”
“So I should have killed Joe Bell?”
She sat back in Meagher’s leather wing chair and swiveled back and forth in silence, looking across at Beau. The lieutenant leaned against the wall and tapped a finger on his brass buckle.
“No … look, Beau, I’m sorry to come on so hard here. The County barely has enough money to run a decent court system as it is. You guys are still hung up in Helena trying to get twoofficers in a car for night patrol. And you need three more troopers we can’t give you. Over in Big Horn County, we have two troopers on administrative leave while we sort out what looks like a police chase that didn’t have to happen and got a young Crow girl and her baby killed. Indian Affairs is onto us for
that
one. Now Joe Bell’s talking to Dwight Hogeland about another lawsuit.
This
we don’t need.”
“You mean Harper and Greer?”
“I do.”
“What happened there, anyway?”
“A woman named Mary Littlebasket was killed, along with her newborn baby. Her uncle—Charlie Tallbull, Eustace, you know him, don’t you?—he’s in Sweetwater General with internal injuries. The whole thing was just one overreaction after another. We’re going to—hey! Don’t try to change the subject, Beau. I’m saying we didn’t need another law enforcement sideshow right now.”
“We didn’t need Pompeys Pillar blown all the way to Bozeman, either. I did what I had to do to stop him.”
“What happened to the robbery guys, Beau?”
“They, ah, sorta slipped away.”
“Sorta
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