"What the fuck?" Boots said.
"Shut up," Hawk said.
He looked at me.
"Bring him," he said, and turned and walked past the two dead men, out the front door, and toward the car parked down the hill.
52
WE WERE IN my office. We had parked illegally in the alley and come up the back way and encountered nobody. I was sitting at my desk, which always ups my sense of self-worth. Boots was in a client chair. Hawk was standing between Boots and my office door. Boots was looking silently at nothing, staring out the window behind me, maybe contemplating eternity.
"What the hell was that mumbo jumbo at the door?" I said to Hawk.
"Ukrainian," Hawk said. "I said, 'Hurry up, it's an emergency.' "
"You speak Ukrainian?" I said.
"Memorized the phrase, case I needed it."
"Like you memorized the five Ukrainians involved in shooting Luther," I said.
"Names and faces," Hawk said.
"Remind me not to annoy you," I said.
"Too late," Hawk said.
Boots continued to stare blankly. He seemed smaller than he had been, and limp. Like an uprooted weed.
Standing behind him, Hawk said, "You didn't make a break for it, so I figure you hoping to live."
Boots stared.
"You hoping to live?" Hawk said.
Boots didn't answer. Hawk cuffed him on the back of the head.
"You hoping?" Hawk said.
Boots shrugged.
"Hard being tough when you alone," Hawk said. "Easier when some of your people around."
Boots shrugged again.
"You got a chance," Hawk said. "You do what I tell you."
Boots was motionless for a moment, then nodded.
"You give me ten million dollars," Hawk said. Boots was silent for a time, and when he finally spoke, his voice sounded as if he hadn't spoken for a long time.
"I don't have that," he said.
Hawk took out his gun and pressed the barrel hard against Boots's right temple. He cocked it. The mechanical sound of the hammer going back was harsh in the quiet room.
" 'Course you do," Hawk said.
"I don't. I mean, I may be worth it, but I don't have that in cash."
"How much you got in cash?"
"Maybe five?"
Hawk looked at me.
"Marty Siegal told me, if you shop, you can get a secure three percent at the moment."
"Hundred and fifty thousand a year," Hawk said. "Think Rita will shop?"
"Somebody will," I said.
"Think one hundred fifty thousand enough?"
"Probably more than Luther made," I said.
Hawk nodded.
"How 'bout inflation?" Hawk said. "Kid's still a baby."
"Invested right, it'll grow with inflation."
"And Rita will invest it right," Hawk said.
Then he smiled and said in unison with me, "Somebody will."
During the conversation, Boots sat motionless and without affect.
"Okay," Hawk said to Boots. "Five it is. I find out you had more and you dead."
Boots nodded. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. It was the first sign of life in him.
"You gonna wire-transfer it to an account I'll give you. When the transfer is done and the money in the account, you free as a buzzard."
"I don't know how to do that," Boots said. "My accountant does that."
"Where you accountant?" Hawk said.
"State Street."
"In town here?" Hawk said.
"Yes."
"Well, then he probably still alive."
Without taking the gun from Boots's head, Hawk leaned forward and took the cordless phone from my desk and handed it to Boots.
"I don't know what to tell him," Boots said.
"Give him the paper from Rita," Hawk said.
I did.
"Routing number, account number, all that stuff," I said.
Boots was afraid to move his head with the cocked gun at his temple. He raised the paper so he could see it. Then he took in some air and dialed the number.
53
"IT IS ALL over the news," Susan said. "Says the whole town of Marshport erupted. Police came from as far away as Worcester. Governor put the National Guard on alert. Something like ten people killed; the number keeps going up and down. A fire at City Hall. The mayor is missing. The city is being run by the deputy mayor, somebody named McKean."
"The Kodiak Kid," I said.
"Who?"
I shook my head.
"I assume you know something about this," Susan said.
"Yes."
"I won't ask for details, but I need to know something."
"I'll tell you anything you want to know," I said.
"How many dead?"
"Since the beginning?"
"Yes. Since they shot Hawk."
"Counting Luther and his family, and the people did the shooting, and the Marshport numbers, maybe twenty."
"How many are you responsible for?"
"Depends," I said. "I helped Hawk set this up."
"Helped him, or watched his back while he did it?" Susan said.
I shrugged.
"Mostly the latter," I said.
"How many people did you shoot?" Susan said.
"None," I said.
"Good," she said.
It was evening. We were sitting on her front steps with Pearl, watching the action on Linnaean Street, at which Pearl was poised to bark, if there was any, which there wasn't.
"Responsibility is complicated," I said.
"Not if you shot them," Susan said. "Then it would be simple."
"So maybe sometimes complicated is better," I said.
"I think so," she said. "How do you feel?"
"Uneasy about it all," I said.
"But?"
"But I did the best I could with it."
"Yes," Susan said, "you did."
A squirrel leaped with no apparent anxiety from a high branch to a low one. Pearl's large ears pricked forward, and her shoulders tensed. The squirrel jumped from the tree to a fence, and ran along the top of it. Pearl watched closely until it disappeared and, ever hopeful, for a time afterward.
"What happened to Boots?" Susan said.
"He wire-transferred five million dollars to an account at Rita's firm. It'll be invested on behalf of Luther Gillespie's surviving child."
"Does Rita know about investing?" Susan said.
"My guess is that Rita can't balance her checkbook. She'll have one of the trust lawyers manage it, and she'll godmother it."
"What will that provide for the child?" Susan said.
"More than one hundred thousand dollars a year," I said.
Susan nodded. We watched as two women with long, gray hair, one with it braided, strolled past us toward Mass. Ave.
"Is Cambridge the long, gray hair capital of the world?" I said.
"Un-huh."
"Great look," I said.
"Un-huh. Where is he now?"
"Boots?"
Susan nodded.
"Part of the deal," I said. "Boots comes up with the five million, Hawk lets him stroll."
"Just walk away?"
"Yep."
"So he's free and alive?"
"For the moment."
"For the moment?"
"Boots won't be able to leave this alone," I said. "Eventually, he'll make a run at Hawk, and Hawk will kill him."
"You're so sure," Susan said.
"I am."
"Why did Hawk let him go?"
"Part of the deal," I said.
"But why would he need to keep a bargain with a man like Podolak?" Susan said.
"Wasn't about Podolak," I said.
"No," Susan said. "Of course it wasn't."
"Hawk let him go because he said he would," I said.
"Yes," Susan said. "I understand. I just forget sometimes."
"You don't forget a hell of a lot," I said.
"Other than that, is it over?" she said.
"Not quite."
54
MARSHPORT WAS PEACEFUL. There were still some State Police cars parked at some intersections, and in Boston the legislature was discussing forming a committee to consider authorizing somebody to think about looking into what the hell happened in Marshport. Maybe. But for the moment, the horse parlors were in business. The numbers runners were hustling. The dope dealers were their usual active selves. Cartons of highjacked cigarettes were selling well off the backs of trucks, and somewhere, probably, Icarus was falling into the sea.