Beach Road (26 page)

But he’s up next, and he’s got no choice. He pulls his right hand from behind his thigh and lunges at me
with the knife.

Like a slow punch, I see it coming all the way. I’ve got all the time I need to turn and grab his wrist and
throw him up against the second brother. Now I’m beating the shit out of Shamrock at the same time I’m
using his body to shield me from the brother. When he goes limp, I snatch the homemade blade out of his
hand, and with the courtyard mob stomping their feet like this is a prizefight, I turn it on the one guy left
standing, who, big as he is, freezes, suddenly in no hurry to get closer.

They already got me for three homicides, one more isn’t going to make any difference, but something
makes me hesitate-maybe the fact that there’s a little bit of Raiborne in his eyes-and that’s when a
fourth
guy, the one I never saw because he’s standing outside the cage, sticks his arms in through the mesh.
He slices my throat from behind.

“That’s from Macklin,” says the voice behind me.

Once the hot wet comes flooding down my neck, I know it’s over.

I drop to my knees and then onto my back, wondering what’s the last thought I’ll have, the last thing I’ll
see. I don’t need a priest or anybody else to hold my hand. I saw Kate stand naked on the beach in the
moonlight. I played hoops in the NBA. I got to Paris.

The sun gets brighter and brighter and breaks into a thousand white dots before the dots dissolve and a
huge black rectangle fills the sky. From behind it comes a horrifying clamor of metal rubbing against
metal, and then the rectangle splits in half and becomes those two huge doors,
The Gates of Hell.

Then, as the last drops of blood drain out of me, the doors screech open and welcome me home.

Kate
I PARK JUST off Beach Road, and as soon as I open the door, Wingo bolts out of the car and sprints onto
the vast white beach. His entire canine being is beaming with happiness. The empty expanse of water and
sand makes me feel better too. That’s why I’m still coming out here every day, even on a mid-December
afternoon like this with the temperature barely in the forties.

I walk half a mile down the beach until I find a flat, sunny patch against the cliffs, somewhat protected
from the biting wind, and I stretch out my blanket.

The rhythmic collapse of the breaking waves calms me down and helps me concentrate, and I need all the
help I can get. It’s been months since I got back from Paris, but it feels like yesterday, and I still don’t have
a clue about what I’m going to do to start up my life again.

An exhausted Wingo curls up beside me, and I take out my radio and tune in to the end of the Miami
Heat-Boston Celtics game. After winning a special lottery at the end of the summer, the Celtics signed
Dante to a twelve-million-dollar, three-year rookie contract, and he rewards them with twenty-two points,
eleven rebounds, and four blocked shots. For his all-around performance this afternoon, Dante is
interviewed live at courtside, and even Wingo’s ears prick up as Dante’s excited voice comes out of my
tinny little transistor.

“I just want to give a shout-out to my grandmom Marie,” says Dante. “And to my homegirl, lawyer, and
agent, Kate Costello. I love you both, and I’ll see you soon.”
“You hear that, Wingo? I just got my first shout-out from the FleetCenter,” I say, and then I nuzzle my
sweet, faithful dog.

In the distance, a couple steps onto the sand and starts to walk toward us along the tide line. They move
slowly, leaning into the wind, and when they get closer, I see it’s Macklin and Marie.

Wingo and I get up to welcome them, but something’s wrong and Marie’s face is streaked with tears.

“What’s wrong?” I ask before they even get up to me.

“Tom’s dead,” she says. “He was murdered in jail this morning, Kate. Mack doesn’t understand why I’m
crying, but maybe you will.”
I’m not sure I understand it either, but suddenly I’m crying too, hard, as if someone threw a switch, and as
Marie and I cling to each other, Macklin looks at the sea and stamps the sand uncomfortably.

“What’s with you two? The guy was a lying, drug-dealing piece of scum, and a cold-blooded killer. He had
it coming ten times over.”
“I know that,” says Marie, staring straight into my own crying eyes and dabbing at my tears with her
handkerchief. “But still. He helped Dante. He did one good thing.”
“Right, after he framed him,” says Mack, but no one’s listening.

Marie invites me to her place, but I need to be alone. Despite my tears, a heavy weight is suddenly gone,
and for the first time in months, I can think clearly about the future.

Wingo and I sit back down on the blanket in the sun, and by the time we get up and trudge back to the car,
I think I know what I’m going to do.

I’m going to move to Portland or Seattle, where no one knows or cares who I am. I’m going to buy a little
house with a porch in front, and maybe a stream running through the backyard, and I’m going to put a
satellite dish on the roof so I can watch all of Dante’s games.

And then, when Wingo and I are settled into our new neighborhood and I have the place set up just like I
want it, everything warm and cozy, I’m going to get my name on a list to adopt a baby. I don’t care if it’s
white, black, brown, or yellow, or if it’s from Albania, Chile, Korea, or Los Angeles, but there’s going to be
one stipulation that’s not negotiable. The baby has to be a girl. Because even though I know that Tom
Dunleavy wasn’t an example of anything other than his own twisted self, Wingo and I have about had it
with human men.

“Isn’t that right, Wingo?”