Early Autumn (9 page)

Hawk looked at it and said, “What the fuck is that?”

I said, “That’s Suze’s new vehicle. For Christmas I’m getting her some foxtails and a pair of big rubber dice.”

“That’s a big ten-four momma,” Hawk said.

We went in. Susan was the only person I’ve ever seen that Hawk seemed to have any feeling about. He grinned when he saw her. She said, “Hawk,” and came over and kissed him. He gave her the two unopened bottles of champagne.

“Brought us a present,” he said. “Spenser promised supper.”

She looked at me. “What am I. Howard Johnson’s” she said.

“You’re a real looker when you’re angry” I said.

She took the champagne and went toward the kitchen, “Goddamn host of the goddamn highway” she said.

“You forgot to take my beer,” I said.

She kept going. Hawk and I went into the living room. Paul was watching a bowling show on television. Patty was sipping what looked like bourbon on the rocks.

“This is Hawk” I said. “Patty Giacomin and her son, Paul.”

Paul looked at Hawk and then looked back at the bowling show. Patty smiled and started to get up and changed her mind and stayed seated.

“Are you the other one?” she said.

Hawk said, “Yes.” He drank some champagne from the bottle.

Susan came back into the room with another bottle of champagne in a bucket and four fluted champagne glasses on a tole serving tray.

“Perhaps you’d care to try a glass,” she said to Hawk.

“’Spect ah might, Missy Susan,” Hawk said.

Susan said to Patty, “May Paul have a glass?”

Patty said, “Oh, sure.”

Susan said, “Would you care for a glass, Paul?”

Paul said, “Okay.”

Patty Giacomin said to Hawk, “I’d like to thank you for what you did today.”

Hawk said, “You’re welcome.”

“I really mean it,” Patty said. “It was so brave. I was so terrified. You were wonderful to help.”

“Spenser gave me two hundred dollars” Hawk said. “I figure it’ll show up in his expense voucher.”

“Are you a detective too?” Patty said.

Hawk smiled. “No,” he said. “No, I am not” His face was bright with mirth.

I said, “I’m going to put this beer away,” and went into the kitchen. Susan came out behind me.

“Just what in hell do you think we’re going to feed these people?” Susan said.

“Got any cake?” I said.

“I’m serious. I don’t have anything in the house to serve five people.”

“I’ll go get something,” I said.

“And let me entertain your guests?”

“Your choice,” I said. “I don’t care to have a fight though.”

“Well, don’t do this to me. I don’t simply sit around here waiting for your problems to drop by.”

“Love me, love my problems,” I said.

“Sometimes I wonder if that’s a worthwhile tradeoff.”

“There you go,” I said, “talking that education management jargon again.”

She was looking in the refrigerator. “If I want to say trade-off, goddammit, I’ll say trade-off. I’ve got some of that Williamsburg bacon. We could make up a bunch of BLTs.”

“Toasted,” I said. “And on the side, some of those homemade bread-and-butter pickles we did last fall.”

“And cut flowers in a vase, and the Meyer Davis Orchestra? You better go back in and help out on the conversation. Hawk must be ready to jump out of his skin.”

“Not Hawk,” I said. “He doesn’t mind silence. He doesn’t want to talk. He won’t talk. He doesn’t sweat small talk much.”

“He doesn’t sweat anything too much,” Susan said, “does he?”

“Nope. He’s completely inside. Come on in and talk a bit, then we’ll all transfer to the kitchen and make sandwiches and eat. There’s some cheese too, and a couple of apples. It’ll be a feast.” I patted her lightly on the backside. “Besides, we need your advice.”

“My advice to you, big fella, is to keep your hands to yourself,” she said.

I opened another beer and we went back into the living room. Hawk was stretched out in a wing chair near the fireplace, feet straight out in front of him, body slumped easily in the chair. When we came in, he took a small sip from his champagne glass and put it back on the end table near him. Patty and Paul were watching the six o’clock news. No one was talking.

I sat in a Boston rocker on the opposite side of the fireplace from Hawk.

I said, “Paul, you did good today.”

He nodded.

“Patty,” I said, “tell me what happened.”

“I came out of the supermarket and three men with guns made me get into the car. That one that came to our house was one of them.”

“Buddy?” I said.

“Yes. He sat in front with the driver and the other man sat in back with me and we drove to a pay phone in Boston. Then we drove to the bridge and they told me to get out and start walking. Other than that they didn’t talk to me at all or say anything.”

“You recognize any of them, Hawk?”

“Dude I threw in the river is Richie Vega. He used to shake down massage parlors.”

Patty said, “My God, how would Mel find people like that to hire?”

Hawk raised his head slightly and looked at me. I shrugged. Hawk let his chin settle back onto his chest.

Patty Giacomin said to Hawk, “Do you know my husband?”

Hawk said, “No. Not if he go by Mel Giacomin.”

“Well, that’s his name.”

Hawk nodded.

Patty said, “Do you know what this is all about?”

Hawk said, “No.”

“You got in a fight with three men and they had guns, and you threw one into the river, and you don’t even know why?”

Hawk said, “Yeah, that’s right.”

“And you’re not a detective or anything?”

“Nope.”

Paul was watching and listening. We had distracted him from the tube.

“A strong-arm man?” he said.

“Yeah, something like that,” I said.

The newscasters joked painfully with the weather forecaster on television.

I said to Susan, “I don’t know how much Patty’s told you since she arrived, but for your benefit and Hawk’s I’ll run through it very quickly.”

I did.

When I got through, there was silence. Hawk seemed almost asleep. Only the evening news mewled in one corner.

Susan said, “You can’t continue this way. You and your husband will have to negotiate.”

“After what he pulled today?” Patty said. “I will not talk to that man.”

“What about the law?” Susan said.

“The law has already given me custody,”

“But kidnapping,” Susan said, “Kidnapping is illegal.”

“You mean report him to the police.”

“Certainly. You can identify at least two of the men. Hawk and Spenser can testify that they had indeed kidnapped you. Surely the police could trace it back to your husband.”

Susan looked at me. I nodded. Hawk sipped champagne and put the glass back gently on the end table, He was nearly prone in the chair, his feet stretched out and crossed at the ankles.

“He’d kill me,” Patty said.

“You mean you’re afraid to tell the police because of what your husband would do?”

“Yes. He’d be furious. He’d … I can’t do that.”

“But he’s already had you kidnapped. Aren’t you already afraid of him?”

“But he wouldn’t try to hurt me. If I told, he’d … I can’t. I can’t do that.”

“So do you plan to employ me permanently?” I said.

“I can’t. I can’t keep paying you. I’m … running out of money.”

Hawk smiled to himself. I looked at Susan.

She said, “What about Paul? How can he grow up like this?”

Patty Giacomin shook her head.

We were all quiet. Paul was watching the television again. The network news was on now. Authoritative.

Patty said, “It isn’t me he wants. It’s Paul. If I told on him …”

“The heat would be on you” I said. “Instead of on Paul.”

Susan said, “That’s it, isn’t it?”

Patty shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said. “What difference does it make? I’m not going to the police. I’m not.” Her voice was shaky. “I’ve still got money. We’ll do something.”

I said, “What?”

She said, “You take Paul”

“Take him where?” I said.

“I don’t know. Anywhere. I’ll pay you,” she said.

“I hide Paul out so your husband can’t find him?”

“Yes. I’ll pay you.”

“Why won’t they just try the same swap again that they tried today?”

“I’ll go live with a friend. Mel won’t find me.”

“So why not take Paul too,” I said. “Much cheaper.”

“He won’t let me bring Paul.”

“Your friend?”

“Yes.”

“That wouldn’t be old disco Stephen, would it? The one I met when I first brought Paul home?”

She nodded.

I said, “Probably afraid if it got too crowded, his cashmere sweaters would wrinkle.”

“He’s not like that. You don’t know him,” she said.

“Well, a friend in need …” I said.

“Will you take Paul?” Patty said.

I looked at him. He was staring hard at the network news. His shoulders were stiff and awkward. He was concentrating on ignoring us.

“Sure,” I said. “It would be a pleasure.”

Susan looked at me with her eyes widened. Hawk
made a sound under his breath like a soft hog call.

“He ain’t heavy,” I said at large. “He’s my brother.”

Susan shook her head.

We ate our BLTs and drank champagne in the kitchen without much talk.

For an extra fifty dollars Hawk said he’d take Paul and his mother home and stay there till I arrived. Neither of the Giacomins looked very happy with that, but they went.

“Don’t be scared,” Hawk said as they left “Some of my best friends are honkies.”

Patty Giacomin looked at me.

“It’s okay,” I said. “He’s nearly as good as I am. In the dark maybe better. You’ll be fine.”

Paul looked at me. “When am I going to stay with you?” he said.

“Tomorrow. I’ll be home later tonight and tomorrow we’ll pack up and go.”

“He be around, kid,” Hawk said. “One thing about old Spenser, he predictable. He say he going to do something. He do it” Hawk shook his head. “Dumb,” he said.

They went out Susan and I stood in the doorway and watched them. Susan waved. Then Hawk’s Jag murmured into gear and they were gone. I closed the door and turned and picked Susan up in my arms.

“Couch or bed, little lady,” I said.

“God, you’re masterful,” she said.

“Maybe you could kick your little feet and pound prettily on my chest with your little fists?” I said.

“Be happy I don’t apply heel to groin,” she said, “after all the goddamned unannounced company.”

“You mean I’m going to have to force my attentions upon you?” I said.

“Yes,” she said. “But you may as well force them in the bedroom. It’s more comfortable.”

I walked toward the hall with her. “You smell good,” I said.

“I know,” she said. “Halston.”

The bedroom door was ajar. I pushed it open with my foot and walked in.

“You better kiss me,” she said. “Stifle my screams.”

I sat on the edge of the bed and kissed her. I kept my eyes open. In the light from the hall I could see that she closed hers. She moved her head away and opened her eyes and looked up at my face.

I said, “Lipwise you’ve still got it, baby.”

Her face was serious and still, but her eyes glittered. “You ain’t seen nothing yet,” she said.

It was late when we were through. Most of our clothing was scattered about and the bedspread was badly wrinkled. I lay on my back with my heart pounding and my chest heaving in air. Susan lay beside me. She held my hand.

“Have you overexerted?” she said.

“Your resistance was fierce,” I said.

“Umm,” she said.

From the living room there was the faint sound of the television, which Paul had left on. The image of it gesticulating to an empty room pleased me.

“Just what do you plan to do with that boy, cookie?” Susan said.

“I thought we might want to talk that out,” I said.

“We?”

“You know about kids.”

“I know about guidance,” Susan said. “There’s a difference.”

“I’ll need help.”

“You’ll need more than that. The boy is bound to be difficult. Even without knowing him one could predict that. My God, he’s chattel in a divorce settlement. What do you know about the needs of a neurotic adolescent?”

“I thought I’d ask you,” I said.

“Based on my experience with you?” she said.

“I’m not neurotic,” I said.

Susan turned her face toward me. In the half-light she was smiling. She squeezed my hand. “No,” she said, “you aren’t. You’re complicated, but you are not even a little bit neurotic”

“The kid needs to get away from his parents,” I said.

“That’s not the conventional wisdom, except in cases more extreme than this.”

“Maybe the conventional wisdom is right,” I said, “if the choice is to get into the welfare-youth services—foster-home system.”

“But not if he’s going to be with you?”

“Not if he’s going to be with me,” I said.

“You think you can make life better for him?”

“Yes.”

“How long do you plan to keep him?”

“I don’t know.”

“It’s hard enough to raise children you love,” Susan said. “I’ve seen it from the failure end, over and over, parents whose kids are just a goddamned mess. Parents who love them and have presided over the
complete botching of their lives. I think your eyes are bigger than your stomach on this one, dear heart.”

“How about that property in Maine,” I said.

Susan propped up on one elbow. “Fryeburg?” she said.

“Yeah. I told you I’d build a house on it.”

“When you got a chance, you said.”

“This is the chance.”

“You and Paul?”

“Yes.”

She was quiet lying naked beside me, on her right side with her head propped on her right elbow. Her lipstick was smeared. The intelligence in her face was like energy. It seemed almost to shimmer. That she was beautiful was only the first thing you noticed.

“Work release,” she said.

“The kid’s never been taught how to act,” I said. “He doesn’t know anything. He’s got no pride. He’s got nothing he’s good at He’s got nothing but the tube.”