''Tell me now 'fore it too late'?' he said.
'So I was a little schmaltzy,' I said.
'Schmaltzy,' Hawk said. 'Man, you embarrassing me in front of the brothers.'
'They're not schmaltzy?' I said.
'Good point,' Hawk said. 'How long you think he hold on 'fore he panic?'
'Hard to say,' I said. 'If he doesn't panic quickly we'll go to plan B.'
'Plan B,' Hawk said. 'Man, you a hightech thug.'
31
Lehman was tougher or slower or more full of illusion than I had thought. We waited three days and he didn't do anything to help us, so we went to plan B.
Hawk came up with a late-model Cadillac sedan with doctored plates. I didn't ask him where he got it and he didn't say. We drove it mit to Chestnut Hill and parked it at the foot of Lehman's drive. We both wore ski masks. Hawk was in the driver's seat. I was in back with the windows down, and when Lehman's limousine slowed to turn into his yard I put my Smith & Wesson pump out the window and blasted three rounds of # 6 birdshot into the trunk and rear panel of the limo. Then Hawk slipped the Caddy into gear and we drove off,
The birdshot would mess up the paint and scare Lehman without much risk of killing anybody and unless he knew more about pellet weight and muzzle velocity than I thought he did, he'd think someone tried to do him in.
We left the Cadillac in the parking garage near Filene's in the Chestnut Hill Mall and climbed into my Subaru and headed back to Boston. To await developments. When we got to my office the developments had arrived already. There was a message on my answering machine that said I should call Perry Lehman whenever I got in, no matter what time. I could call him at his home or at the club, and both private numbers were on the tape.
'Perry sound a little shaky,' Hawk said.
'If you thought Mr. Milo was having you killed wouldn't you be a little shaky?' I said.
'No,' Hawk said.
'True,' I said. 'I withdraw the question.'
''Sides,' Hawk said, 'I believe Mr. Milo is in fact trying to have you killed. You shaky?'
'Only when no one's looking,' I said.
I dialed Lehman's home number. He answered himself.
'Spenser,' I said. 'You called?'
'Jesus Christ, Spenser. They did it. They tried to hit me, all over a fucking banker, for crissake. It's a banker, named Warren Whitfield.'
'You okay?' I said.
'Yeah, they missed, but you gotta let Mr. Milo know, Spenser. You gotta tell him you know it's Warren Whitfield.'
'Then he'll try to kill me instead of you,' I said.
'Man, it was your idea. You know how to do this kind of shit.'
'What bank does Warren work for?' I said.
'He don't work for a bank, for crissake, he's the president. DePaul Federal. You gotta tell Mr. Milo.'
'And tell him how I know?'
'Jesus, no, for fuck sake, why do you want to kill me?'
'Okay,' I said, 'then you just sit tight and in a while the pressure will be off.'
'What are you going to do?'
'Sit tight,' I said, and hung up.
Almost immediately the phone rang again. I mak it off the hook and broke the connection and left it off the hook. I looked at Hawk.
'Warren Whitfield,' I said. 'President of DePaul Federal.'
'Told you we in the bigs,' Hawk said.
'We are in fact,' I said.
'Now what,'. Hawk said.
'I suppose we got to talk with Warren,' I said. 'Ask him about Ginger, ask him if he knows where April is.'
'You wonder why Mr. Milo's interested in protecting the president of a bank,' Hawk said.
'They're both capitalists,' I said.
'You awful cynical for a romantic,' Hawk said.
'I'm not romantic about Mr. Milo,' I said.
