Rescue

of which I recognized.
    Pettengill waved to a waitress, who called him by his first name, then aimed us toward a booth. Sitting on his side of it, he said, “You ought to try one of the taps, you like that sort of stuff. Best selection in the county.“
    “It won’t bother you, my drinking?“
    “Good for me, actually. Brings home that one with lunch isn’t worth the ten with dinner that’d follow.“
    The waitress came right over with laminated menus. She reeled off the drafts, and I ordered a Catamount lager from Vermont . While I looked at the menu, Pettengill ordered a Dr. Pepper.
    I said, “Made up your mind?“
    “About what?“ s
    “About what you’re having.“
    “Don’t need to. Always order the same thing here.“
    “Which is?“
    “The French-dip roast beef and potato salad.“
    “Let me guess. The best in the county.“
    “It is.“
    When the waitress brought our drinks, we both ordered the beef. After she’d gone for the kitchen, I tried the beer. >
    Pettengill said, “How is it?“
    “Just right.“
    “Told you.“
    I took another mouthful, then put down the mug. “I appreciate your taking me around like this.“
    “Might want to hold off on the thanks till after the next stop.“
    “Why is that?“
    “Eddie’s folks might not be as helpful as old Oz.“
    Like Old Oz had been a fountain of information. “That why you’re kind of dancing me around them?“
    “Partly.“
    “What’s the other part?“
    Pettengill sipped his soda. “You know much about being a small-town cop, Cuddy?“
    “Some.“
    He nodded, like I’d agreed with what he was thinking. “Most of the time most of the days, it’s almost embarrassing. I mean, the good citizens pay you to be there, but you’re not really doing much. Answering phone calls that should be going to the electric company or the Fish and Game. Some times just talking with people who don’t have anybody else to talk to while you’ve got your feet up on the desk and the sidearm sagging on your belt.“
    I said, “But then there are the other times some of the days.“
    Pettengill nodded again. “You ever faced a drawn gun?“
    “Yes.“
    “Back when you were in uniform yourself?“
    “And since.“
    Another nod. Pettengill was in love with them. “When I was going through the academy, one of the instructors told us something about facing a gun. He was an old state trooper, grizzly bear of a man, had some French-Canadian in his English. He says to us one class, ‘I’m gonna tell you something, you never forget it. Somebody holds a gun on you, don’t matter it’s a man or a woman, you watch they eyes, now. If they use to guns, they shoot you without closing them. But if they ain’t use to them, they gonna squeeze those eyes shut just before they shoot. They can’t help it. They afraid of the noise more than they afraid of you. But if they know they guns, then they don’t. They got use to the noise, and they don’t think about it, and you gonna be dead. But if they close they eyes, that’s when you move, and you ain’t gonna have but the one chance, and you be sure you use that to kill them. Three bullets, chest.“
    “From what I ever learned about it, the instructor gave you good advice.“
    This time I thought Pettengill would nod, but he didn’t, “‘stead he made little rings on the tabletop with the bottom
    his soda glass. “Trooper said the last part just that way, fhree bullets, chest,’ like a doctor giving you a prescription of some kind of fancy pills.“
    I waited for Pettengill to get to it.
    A sip of Dr. Pepper. “Couple years ago, when I was still drinking, these two subjects from Haverhill —specialized in robbing convenience stores, I later found out. These two decide to drive up the Interstate, hit a little store off it, just to extend their horizons some. Only the one behind the wheel took the Elton exit, and the distance was enough that they were pretty well out of patience by the time they got to the edge of town.“ Pettengill gestured southeast. “So they didn’t just rob the seventeen-year-old working the cash register. When the take from the drawer wasn’t much, it being only four in the afternoon, one of the guys—you don’t need names, let’s just call him the taller one—the taller one shot the kid. Just like that. Twice standing, twice on the floor. Left him there, lying in his own blood behind the counter.“
    More Dr. Pepper. “I was stopping off for some milk and bread