'He's right,' Beaumont said. 'It's why we had to come here and hide. It's why I couldn't let you tell anyone at all. Not even your kid.'
'Richard,' she said, 'we better go away then.'
'We're all right here,' Beaumont said. 'No one knows we're here.' He looked at us. 'Do they?'
'No,' I said. 'No one followed you?'
'No.'
'You're sure?'
'Yes.'
'Richard, we can't stay here,' Patty said. 'They might find you.'
'How'd you find us?' Beaumont said.
'A charge purchase from Lenox,' I said.
Beaumont looked at Patty. 'I told you cash,' he said. 'No charges.'
'What harm? It was for us, like our honeymoon. Just that one time is all,
Richard. I didn't know.'
'What harm? For Christ's sake, Patty, they found us.' He tossed his chin at
Paul and me. 'What if it had been Gerry?'
Who.
Beaumont made a dismissive wave with his hand.
'Is Gerry the one you took the money from?'
'Yeah.'
'Richard, let's go somewhere else.'
Beaumont started to shake his head and then stopped and turned his gaze slowly toward Patty.
'Why?' he said.
'It's too close. They might find us.'
'What's going on, Patty?' Beaumont said. 'Why might they find us?'
Patty had both hands pressed against her mouth now. She shook her head soundlessly.
'Ma,' Paul said, 'if you know something you have to say, this is-' He didn't finish.
Patty kept shaking her head with her hands pressed against her mouth.
'You told somebody,' Beaumont said. 'Goddamn you, you told somebody.'
With her head still down and her hands still pressed, she was able to squeeze out the word 'Caitlin.'
'Caitlin Martinelli? You told her?'
She nodded and took her hands away. 'I was so excited,' she said, 'about buying our house…' She wanted to say more and she couldn't.
'Who told her brother,' I said, 'who told Joe.'
Beaumont nodded and turned and went out of the room. He came back almost at once wearing one of those fleece-lined cattleman's jackets that you can buy in a catalogue and carrying a blue and red Nike gym bag with a shoulder strap.
'I'm out of here,' he said. 'If you want to come, Patty, come right now. No packing, just come.'
As he turned toward her I could see that he had a white-handled automatic stuck in his belt.
Patty looked at Beaumont and then at Paul, and then at her living room with all its fresh-from-theehowroom- floor furniture.
'I…' she said and stopped. 'I don't…'
'Patty, damn you, decide,' Beaumont said, moving toward the back door.
In the big mirror over the fireplace I saw a dark blue Buick sedan pull up behind my car on the gravel roadway. Another car, a white Oldsmobile, pulled in right behind it.
'They're here,' I said. 'Beaumont, take Paul and Patty. Get the hell out of here. Paul, when you get safe, call Hawk.'
Eight men got out of the cars. Four from each. One of them had a shotgun.
I knelt by the front window and knocked a diamond pane out with the muzzle of the Browning.
Paul looked at me and then at his mother and didn't say a word. He took her arm and dragged her out through the sliders where Beaumont had already gone.
Outside somebody yelled, 'Window to the left of the door!'
I thumbed back the hammer and shot the first guy up the walk in the middle of the chest. He went over backwards and fell on his back. The others dashed for cover behind the cars. Carefully I shot out the tires on each car. Two tires per car, so the spare wouldn't help. I'm a good shot, but
