Promised Land (22 page)

”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.

”It’s ugly,“ I said. ”Ugly talk.“

Powers said, ”Macey. Call the cops when you get out, Macey. You hear me, you call the cops. They’re going to kill me. This crazy nigger is trying to kill me.“

Macey and Powell went out and closed the door. Powers’ voice was high now. ”Macey, goddamnit. Macey.“

Hawk said, ”They gone, King. Time for you to finish Spenser off, like you started to.“

”I don’t have a gun. You know that, Hawk. I never carry a piece. Lemme have Macey’s.“

”No guns, King. Just slap him around like you was doing before.“ Hawk put his.357 under his coat and leaned against the door with his arms folded and his glistening ebony face without expression. Powers, on his feet now, backed away two steps.

”Hey, wait up, now, hey, Hawk, you know I can’t go on Spenser just me and him. I don’t even know if you could. I mean that ain’t fair, you know. I mean that ain’t the way I work.“

Hawk’s face was blank. Harvey Shepard got off the couch and took a looping amateurish roundhouse righthand haymaker at Powers. It connected up high on the side of Powers’ head near his right ear and staggered him. It also probably broke a knuckle in Shepard’s hand. It’s a dumb way to hit someone but Harv didn’t seem to mind. He plowed on toward Powers, catching him with a left hand on the face and knocking him down. Powers scrambled for the two guns on the coffee table as Shepard tried to kick him. I stepped between him and the guns and he lunged at my leg and bit me in the right calf.

I said, ”Jesus Christ,“ and reached down and jerked him to his feet. He clawed at my face with both hands and I twisted him away from me and slammed him hard against the wall. He stayed that way for a moment, face against the wall, then turned slowly away from the wall, rolling on his left shoulder so that when he got through turning, his back was against the wall. Shepard started toward him again and I put my hand out. ”Enough,“ I said. Shepard kept coming and I had to take his shoulder and push him back. He strained against me.

From the couch Pam Shepard said, ”Don’t, Harvey.“ Shepard stopped straining and turned toward her. ”Jesus,“ he said and went and sat on the couch beside her and put his arms awkwardly around her and she leaned against him, a little stiffly, but without resistance.

Susan got up and walked over and put her hands on Hawk’s shoulders and, standing on her toes to reach, kissed him on the mouth.

”Why not, Hawk? I knew you wouldn’t, but I don’t know why.“

Hawk shrugged. ”Me and your old man there are a lot alike. I told you that already. There ain’t all that many of us left, guys like old Spenser and me. He was gone there’d be one less. I’d have missed him. And I owed him one from this morning.“

”You wouldn’t have done it anyway,“ Susan said. ”Even if he hadn’t warned you about the police.“

”Don’t be too sure, honey. I done it lots of times before.“

”Anyway, babe,“ Hawk said to me, ”we even. Besides“— Hawk looked back at Susan and grinned—”Powers a foul-mouthed bastard, never did like a guy swore in front of ladies that way.“ He stepped across, dropped my gun on the table, picked up those belonging to Macey and Powell and walked out. ”See y’all again,“ he said. And then he was gone.

I looked at Powers. ”I think we got you on assault with intent to murder, King. It ain’t gonna help iron out the trouble you’re already in in Boston, is it.“

”Fuck you,“ Powers said and let his legs go limp and slid onto the floor and sat still.

”Hawk was right, King,“ I said. ”Nobody likes a garbage mouth.“

The End