The Executioner's Song (35 page)

Now, Martin Ontiveros came up to Vern and said, “Gary did it.,’ Vern said, “Gary who?” The kid said, “Gilmore.” Vern said, “How

you know Gary did it? Did you see him do it?”

“No,” said Martin Ontiveros.

“Then, how do you know I didn’t do it?” Vern asked.

see it happen.”

Vern said, “Go tell an officer. If you think it was him, go

Ontiveros now said Gary had just been up at the station, and was blood all over his pants. Vern thought, “Well, it has to bear looking into.” He grabbed.! cop who was married to a niece of Ida’s, Phil Johnson, and to check. Some talk went back and forth on a police radio. Then

came back and said, “It must have been him, Veto:”

“Do you think he did it?” asked Ida.

“Yeah, he did it, the stupid shit,” said Vern.

Glen Overton, who owned the City Center Motel, had just ished listening to the TV news when Debbie called. He lived in dian Hills at the other end of Provo and came over fast in his BMW, running every red light on the way.

When he arrived, the street was in chaos. Nothing but police spectators jamming the sidewalk and all over the road. There was unheard sound in the air like everybody was waiting for a Glen didn’t know if it looked like a disaster or a carnival.

Before he even tried to get into the office, he saw Debbie stand ing all alone outside her apartment. She seemed to be in total shock. He put his arm around her and held her. She kept asking, “Is Ben going to die?” Since they didn’t want to let her back in the office, Glen finally asked her to wait outside a minute.

After Glen identified himself and got in, he watched the paramedics working over Ben. The police were making chalk marks on the carpet, and photographing an empty cartridge on the floor. When he saw a paramedic giving Ben heart massage right there, the heel of the man’s hand thumping in brutal all-out rhythm against Ben’s chest, he knew Ben was dead, or near it. Heart massage was a last resort.

Now a detective asked Glen to count the receipts and estimate the loss. Glen told them straight out that they never kept much more than one hundred dollars in the cash box. Any greater amount would be concealed in the apartment.

At this point, the medics got ready to take Ben to the ambulance. Glen Overton found Debbie and as soon as the ambulance took off, he put her in his BMW and followed.

On the drive, Glen sat behind the wheel trying to digest the irony that Ben had wanted this job because it would safeguard his life.

On the day Glen first interviewed him, Ben had said he was working in Salt Lake but hated the drive. Said he had the feeling he was going to be killed on that drive. Somehow, Glen felt Bushnell’s conviction. There had been a number of good applicants at Ben’s level, but the intensity of his feeling that he had to get off the road got him the job. Glen didn’t regret it. In fact, he had never known a manager who was so anxious to do more. Ben had kept talk ing to him about getting his life in order. Didn’t know when he’d be leaving. It obsessed Ben a little that he hadn’t finished college yet and a new baby might be on the way.

Ida was on the phone to Brenda. “Honey, somebody shot that dear Mr. Bushnell next door.” Ida started to cry. In between sobs, she said, “Somebody seen Gary running away. They’ve identified him.”

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“Oh, Mom.” Brenda had been walking around all evening with a sense of disaster.

Ida said, “He’ll come to you. He always does.”

Brenda knew the police dispatcher in Orem, so she called, and said, “This is nothing more than a suspicion, but I think I’m going to need help with my cousin. Catch Toby Bath before he goes off duty.”

Toby was her neighbor. It was like having your own private police force.

Bishop Christiansen looked at her, mad whispered gently. She didn’t hear it. She kept looking at his silver hair. The doctor said that if Ben had lived, he would have been a vegetable. That thought went all the way in. That thought cleared her head. Debbie said, “If Ben had lived, he would have been warm, and I could have fed him and taken care of him.” She had never felt more certain about what she knew. “At least,” she said, “I would have had him with me.”

Then they locked the doors, and Johnny got out his . rifle. They had no more than done this, when the phone rang. It was Gary. “Brenda,” he said, “is Johnny home? Can I talk to him?” Brenda

thought, “That’s different. He usually wants to talk to me first.” “Johnny,” he said, “I need some help.” “What’s the matter?”

“I’ve been shot,” said Gary. “I’m hurt real bad, man. I’m over at Craig Taylor’s, and I need your help.”

At the hospital Glen Overton was trying to keep Debbie’s on other things, so he got her to call her uncle in Pasadena. seemed to give her a desire to inform other people, for when and David Caffee walked in with Benjamin, Debbie asked Chris off to contact Ben’s bishop, Dean Christiansen. That took doing.

There were a slew of Christiansens in the ProvoOrem book, and they all had different spellings. It was one su name. Besides, Chris didn’t know if Dean was the first name or title.

She had met Ben at the Mormon Institute at Pasadena City College when she was twenty-one. She had never dreamed of going out with him. He was big and very good looking with a high pompadour of nice dark hair, and she was just a pint-sized ex-tomboy with a big broad turned-up nose and a slightly receded chin. SOIl, she made a point of sitting behind him. She wanted to keep her eye on him.

It took a while for Ben to ask her out, but on Christmas Eve of I97a, he did, and they went to church. Debbie didn’t remember any of the Bishop’s talk, she just sat by Ben. They saw each other every night after that. Took their happiness from looking, at each other. They hadn’t been going together a week before they decided to get married.

Glen Overton happened to be with Debbie when they brought her in to see Ben. That was the hardest part of the evening for Glen. He was looking at a person he had spoken to three hours previously. Now that person was stretched out, face blue, mouth open. Glen had seen a boy killed in an avalanche. This was worse.

They finally put Debbie in a little office. She sat there she had to believe in something. So she kept thinking Ben was to be all right. Then she realized that the doctor had come into room with Bishop Christiansen, and they had both been sitting Why wasn’t the doctor with Ben? Then another doctor came in. were all sitting there. It came in on her slowly. They were get up their nerve.

A sheet covered Ben up to his neck, but Debbie walked forward, put her arms around him and hugged him. She really threw her arms around him. They had to sort of pull her away. She held on. They let her stay for thirty seconds more before they asked her to come out. Then they had to pull her away after all.

A doctor took Chris Caffee aside. “Would it be all right ff Deb-hie went home with you? She doesn’t have anyone in Provo.”

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Chris said, “Well, yeah, if the police’ll check my house every minute on the minute all night long.” They certainly hadn’t found the mur derer yet.

On the way out of the hospital, a nurse followed them to the car and handed over a paper bag with Ben’s bloody clothes, his valuables and his watch. The nurse said, “Do you want his wedding band?” Debbie looked at them and asked, “Do I want it?” David said, “Well, why don’t you take it?” Chris said, “If you decide you don’t want it, you can have it put back on him.” They stood there waiting while the nurse went in, and came back out, and said, “We can’t get his ring off. He’s too fat. Do you want us to cut it off?” She was terrible. They said, “Leave the ring.” Debbie was getting wimpy now. She crying hysterically or anything, but she kind of collapsed.

Julie Taylor had come home from the hospital that day, and sleeping with Craig in their double bed, when the knock came. went to the window and looked. Gary was standing on the porch. like that he said, “I’ve been shot.” He made a point of showingt bleeding hand to Craig, and said he was in a lot of pain.

Gary didn’t ask if he could come in the house and Craig feel exactly ready to let him in. Didn’t know why, just didn’t want ask him. Julie being out of the hospital he didn’t want blood over the house, and her having to clean it.

Gary, however, didn’t seem to care. Just said he needed help. had to have a set of clothes. He wanted Craig to take him to the port.

“I’ll take you to the hospital if you like,” Craig told him. “No,” Gary said from the other side of the screen door, “I that.” He wasn’t the least bit boisterous. Just moved his mouth, said, “Call Brenda, then.”

When Craig heard her voice, he passed the phone out the dow to Gary on the porch. Julie was really tired. From the his eye, Craig could see that she had already gone back to sleep.

ARMED AND DANGEROUS

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While Johnny was talking to Gary, Toby Bath and his partner, Jay Barker, drove up and motioned for Brenda to come out. Just as she reached the patrol car, she heard an AllPoints Bulletin on their radio. A voice said, “Gilmore is considered armed and extremely dan gerous. Be prepared to shoot on sight.”

She started to bawl. “Come on in,” she managed to say, “Gary’s on the phone.”

Johnny needed a pencil to write down the address that Gary was giving him; so he handed the phone to Brenda. She got herself together and said, “How are you doing, Gary?”

He told some story about a man robbing a store and there was he getting shot in the attempt to prevent it. It was a shitty story and he was a shitty liar. He really was.

“Will you come to me?” Gary asked.

“Yeah,” she said, “I’ll come to you. I’ve got some codeine and I’ve got bandages. Where are you?” He gave the address. She said it out loud for Johnny to write down. Toby Bath and Jay Barker stood there in their uniforms and also wrote it down. ‘

It hardly improved matters that Gary was at Craig Taylor’s. Craig had a wife and two children. Brenda could see the shootout. But as soon as she hung up, the cops proposed that Johnny go in his truck. They would hide in the back.

If Gary discovered he had brought the cops with him, everybody was going to get wasted. Johnny found himself lighting one cigarette right after putting the previous one, just lit, in the ashtray, and he said, “I don’t want to go over.” It was about as good a fear as Johnny ever felt. On reconsideration, the police agreed it was too risky.

Brenda said, “I’ll go. I don’t think Gary will hurt me. Just let me take care of his hand.”

Johnny said, “You’re not going.”

The cops said no. Flat-out.

Brenda didn’t know if she were relieved or miserable.

Johnny went down to Orem Police Headquarters with Toby Bath and Jay Barker to see what the plans might be. Meantime, the Orem Police Chief called Brenda and said, “Stall Gilmore as much as you

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can. We need time.” They agreed that Brenda would communicate with the police through her CB, and so be able to keep her telephone line open for Gary.

Before long, Craig was calling again. He said, “Hey, Gary’s get ting kind of nervous. How long has Johnny been gone?”

“Tell Gary,” Brenda said, “that as usual, Johnny’s out of gas again.” This might pacify him for a few minutes. Johnny was famous as the family character who always delayed everybody while he got gas. On the street outside her house, police cars were screaming around the corners.

Craig called again. Brenda told him she hadn’t heard from Johnny but he’d probably gotten lost. People who lived in Orem, she explained, only had to deal with a checkerboard arrangem,e.nt for their streets and that was easy. It got them spoiled. They didn t know what to do with the weirdly curved roads in Pleasant Grove Fourth North didn’t mind getting its ass skewed around Third

She called the police to tell them that Gary was getting tient. Brenda felt like a traitor. Gary’s trust was the weapon she using to nail him. It was true she wanted to nail him, she told but she didn’t want, well, she didn’t want to have to betray him to it.

ARMED AND DANGEROUS

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Gary said he had friends in Washington State, and he believed he would go underground. He mentioned Patty Hearst. Said he could connect with her old network. Craig didn’t know if Gary really knew her, or was bragging. Craig asked once more if he wanted to go to the hospital. Gary said he was an ex-con, and the hospital wouldn’t un derstand.

They sat out there half an hour. Gary spoke about April. Said she was a slick chick. Said she was “Real nice.” The longer they sat out there, the calmer Gary got. He almost got despondent. Then he said that when he was settled, he would send Craig a painting. He also said, “I’ll write you my new address. You can mail my clothes and stuff.” He had brought his paintings, his poems, his manila enve lope full of snapshots and his other belongings over from Spanish Fork. He said, “Send me all them things when I get settled.”

To himself, Craig kept saying, “Come on, Johnny, you son of a bitch, get here.”

Craig had gone outside to be with Gary. They sat out in the on the bungalow porch. Having been asleep, Craig didn’t know any killings this night. He was still worrying over last night’s, didn’t feel ready to ask Gary outright. Did say, “Gary, if I knew had anything to do with that fellow Jensen’s murder, I’d turn youl right now.”

Gary said, “I swear to God I didn’t shoot the guy.” Looked straight in the eye. He had a powerful knack of staring right

Again, Gary asked him to call. Craig went inside, picked up phone, talked to Brenda once more. She was nervous. Craig more or less sense she had called the police. She didn’t say such to Craig, she just asked if he and his family were all right, Gary was being decent, and Craig said, “We’re all right. He’s