“I don’t belong out there, Suze,” I said.
“Of course you don’t. Look at you. You are the ultimate man, the ultimate adult in some ways, the great powerful protecting father. And yet you are the biggest goddamned kid I ever saw. You would have no business in the suburbs, in a Cape Cod house, cutting the lawn, having a swim at the club. I mean you once strangled a man to death, did not you?”
“Yeah, name was Phil. Never knew his other name, just Phil. I didn’t like it.”
“No, but you like the kind of work where that kind of thing comes up.”
“I’m not sure that’s childish.”
“In the best sense it is. There’s an element of play in it for you, a concern for means more than ends. It comes very close to worrying about honor.”
“It often has to do with life and death, sweetie.”
“Of course it does, but that only makes it a more significant game. My neighbors in Smithfield are more serious. They are dealing with success or failure. For most of them it’s no fun.”
“You’ve thought about me some,” I said.
“You bet your ass I have. You’re not going to give up your work, I’m not going to stop mine. I’m not going to move to Boston. You’re not going to live in Smithfield.”
“I might,” I said. “We could work something out there, I think. No one’s asking you to give up your work, or me to give up mine.”
“No, I guess not. But it’s the kind of thing we need to think on.”
“So a firm I-don’t-know is your final position on this?”
“I think so.”
I put my hands up and pulled her down on top of me. “You impetuous bitch,” I said. Her faced pressed against my chest. It made her speech muffled.
“On the other hand,” she mumbled, “I ain’t never going to leave you.”
“That’s for sure,” I said. “Let’s go have dinner and consummate our friendship.”
“Maybe,” Susan said as we drove back to the motel, “we should consummate it before dinner.
”Better still,“ I said, ”how about before and after dinner?“
”You’re as young as you feel, lovey,“ Susan said.
Chapter 29
We rang the bell at the Shepards’ house at seven-thirty, me with a bottle of Hungarian red wine in a brown paper bag, and Hawk opened the door and pointed a Colt.357 Magnum at me.
”Do come in,“ he said.
We did. In the living room were King Powers and Powell, the stiff I had knocked in the pool, and Macey and the Shepards. The Shepards were sitting on the couch together with Powell standing by with his gun out, looking at them, hard as nails. Macey stood by the mantel with his slim-line briefcase and Powers was in a wing chair by the fireplace. Shepard’s face was damp and he looked sick. Getting beaten up tends to take a lot of starch out of a person and Shepard looked like he was having trouble holding it together. His wife had no expression at all. It was as if she’d gone inside somewhere and was holding there, waiting.
”Where’s the kids?“ I said.
Hawk smiled. ”They not here. Harv and the Mrs., I guess, thought they’d have a quiet time together, ‘fore you come, so they shipped ’em off to neighbors for the night. That do make it cozier, I say.“
Powers said, ”Shut up, Hawk. You’d fuck around at your own funeral.“
Hawk winked at me. ”Mr. Powers a very grumpy man and I do believe I know who he grumpy at, babe.“
”I figured I’d be seeing you, King,“ I said.
”You figured fucking right, too, smart guy. I got something for you, you son of a bitch. You think you can drop me into the bag like that and walk away, you don’t know nothing about King Powers.“
Macey said, ”King, this is just more trouble. We don’t need this. Why don’t we just get going.“
”Nope, first I burn this son of a bitch.“ Powers stood up. He was a paunchy man who looked like he’d once been thin, and his feet pointed out to the side like a duck’s. ”Hawk, take his gun away.“
”On the wall, kid, you know the scene.“
I turned and leaned against the wall and let him take the gun off my hip. He didn’t have to search around. He knew right where it was. Probably smelled it. I stepped away from the wall. ”How come you walk like a duck, King?“ I said. Powers’ red face deepened a bit. He stepped close to me and hit me in the face with his closed fist. I rocked back from the waist and didn’t fall.
”Quack,“ I said. Powers hit me again, and cut my lip. It would be very fat in an hour. If I was around in an hour.
Susan said, ”Hawk.“
He shook his head at her. ”Sit on the couch,“ he said.
Shepard said, ”You gonna shoot us?“ There wasn’t much vitality in his voice.
”I’m fucking-A-well going to shoot this smart scumbag,“ Powers said. ”Then maybe I’ll like it so much I’ll shoot the whole fucking bag of you. How’s that sound to you, you fucking welcher.“
”She’s not in it,“ Shepard said, moving his head toward his wife. ”Let her go. We got four kids. They never done anything to you.“
Powers laughed with the inside of his upper lip showing. ”But you did. You screwed me out of a lot of money, you gonna have to make that good to me.“
”I’ll make it good, with interest. Let her go.“
”We’ll talk about it, welcher. But I want to finish with this smart bastard first.“ He turned back to me and started to hit me again. I stepped inside and hit him hard in the side over the kidneys. His body was soft. He grunted with pain and buckled to his knees.
Macey brought out his little automatic and Powell turned his gun from the Shepards toward me.
Hawk said, ”Hold it.“ There was no Amos and Andy mockery in it now.
Powers sat on the floor, his body twisted sideways, trying to ease the pain. His face red and the freckles looking pale against it.
”Kill him,“ he said. ”Kill the fucker. Kill him, Hawk.“
Susan said, ”Hawk.“
I kept my eyes on Hawk. Macey wouldn’t have the stomach for it. He’d do it to save his ass, if he couldn’t run. But not just standing there; that took something Macey didn’t get in business school. Powell would do what he was told, but so far no one had told him. Hawk was the one. He stood as motionless as a tree. From the corner of my eye, I could see Shepard’s hand go out and rest in the middle of his wife’s back, between the shoulder blades.
Susan said again, ”Hawk.“
Powers, still sitting on the floor with his knees up and his white socks showing above his brown loafers, said, ”Hawk, you bastard, do what you’re told. Burn him. Blow him away. Right now. Kill him.“
Hawk shook his head. ”Naw.“
Powers was on his knees now, struggling to his feet. He was so out of shape that just getting off the floor was hard for him. ”No? Who the fuck you saying no to, nigger. Who pays your fucking ass? You do what you’re told…“
Hawk’s face widened into a bright smile. ”Naw, I don’t guess I am going to do what I’m told. I think I’m going to leave that up to you, boss.“
Powell said, ”I’ll do it, Mr. Powers.“
Hawk shook his head. ”No, not you, Powell. You put the piece down and take a walk. You too, Macey. This gonna be King and Spenser here, one on one.“
”Hawk, you gotta be out of your mind,“ Macey said.
”Hawk, what the fuck are you doing?“ Powers said.
”Move it out, Macey,“ Hawk said. ”You and Powell lay the pieces down on the coffee table and walk on away.“
Powell said, ”Hawk, for crissake…“
Hawk said. ”Do it. Or you know I’ll kill you.“
Macey and Powell put the guns on the coffee table and walked toward the front door.
”What the fuck is happening here,“ Powers said. The color was down in his face now, and his voice was up an octave. ”You don’t take orders from this fucking coon, you take them from me.“
”Racial invective,“ Hawk said to me.