'He is very proud,' Chantel said. 'He got this whole Dwayne Woodcock thing he got to live up to and protect and be, and it cost him a whole lot to do that all the time.'
'You grow up with him, Chantel?'
She shook her head. 'No, he from Brooklyn; I grew up in Germantown. You know, Philly. Met him here, freshman year.'
'Damn lucky thing for him that you did,' I said.
'Why you say that?' Chantel said.
'Because you are a woman and a half, Chantel. What's your last name?'
'deRosier,' she said. 'Chantel deRosier.'
'What would you like me to do, Chantel?'
Her gaze was steady and unembarrassed on my face.
'I want you to help us,' she said.
'Chantel, I will help you do anything you want forever,' I said. 'Where would you like me to start?'
She shook her head. 'They are bad people he's with,' she said. 'They don't care about him. They call him 'big guy' and they tell him how terrific he is and they pretend to be scared of him cause he's so big and so good. But they aren't scared. And they don't think he's a man like them. They think they've got this here poor nigger boy by the nose.'
Chantel's eyes were shiny, maybe a little damp.
'And they have,' I said.
She nodded. 'Yeah, they have, and he doesn't know it. He think they the cat's ass. They got cars, they got money, they take us to restaurants and clubs, and give us clothes.'
'They treat you good?' I said.
'They treat me like I'm Dwayne's piece of ass,' she said softly. 'And Dwayne don't seem to notice.'
I stood up from my chair and turned and looked out the window for a moment, down at Boylston Street and the people moving by. I looked across at the trees in very early flower outside the building that used to be Bonwit's and was going to be Louis'. Right below me a young man in a tuxedo passed carrying a cluster of balloons that read HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE KROCK. He crossed Boylston with the balloons and headed on down Berkeley toward the river.
I turned back around and looked at Chantel. She was crying, though not very much.
I said, 'Whatever comes out of this, Chantel, I'm going to do three things. I'm going to save Dwayne's ass, I am going to see to it that no one involved will treat you like anyone's piece of anything, and I'm going to make the bastards wish they hadn't treated you like that to start with.'
'I'm not, you know,' she said.
'Dwayne's piece of ass?'
'Yeah. He loves me. I love him. We got each other. We got a space nobody can come in. When we sleep together that's making love, it's not no piece of ass thing.'
'I know,' I said.
'How you know that?' Chantel said.
'Because that's the kind of woman you are,' I said.
She nodded, the movement of her head barely perceptible.
'How you going to save him?' she said.
'Like I said, I'm going to go after Bobby Deegan.'
'You get them it going to get Dwayne in trouble.'
'I know, that's the part I haven't figured out yet,' I said. 'Be nice to get some feedback from Dwayne.'
Chantel shrugged and looked at her lap. 'How much they paying him?' I said.
'I don't know. Dwayne never talks about that.'
'Who's in on it with him?'
'On the team?'
'Yeah.'
Chantel looked down and shook her head again.
'Don't know, or won't say?'
'Won't,' Chantel said.
I nodded. 'Okay,' I said. 'We figure it's Danny Davis.'
Chantel didn't move.
'You know anything that will help?'
'Mr. Deegan got a friend named Gerry,' she said.
