Vie nodded approvingly. He was studying my face.
'You used to fight,' he said.
'Yeah.'
'Tough way to make a living.'
'Had its moments,' I said.
'Yeah,' Vie said in his soft rasp, 'It did. Who you looking for?'
I took out my picture.
'Name's Anthony Meeker. Been gone about a week. He may have dated one of your waitresses.'
Vie and the bartender both looked at the picture. Then they looked at each other.
'Yeah,' Vie said.
'That's Anthony.'
'Tony the Phony,' the bartender said.
'Tell me about him,' I said.
'You know who his father-in-law is?' Vie said.
The waitress who was serving the forms guys yelled 'Vie.'
Vie turned easily, rolling against the bar so he was looking at her.
'This jerk was grabbing my tits,' the waitress said, nodding at a long-haired kid in cement-stained white overalls. He and his four friends were laughing, secure in their numbers.
Vie walked slowly over from the bar toward the boy.
'That's like the only rule in this joint,' the bartender said.
'You can't touch the waitresses. You start letting them touch the waitresses and they'll be fucking them on the floor in a half hour. Place would turn into a zoo, wasn't for Vie.'
'Think he'll need some backup?'
'Vie? Naw. Watch.'
Vie stopped about three feet from the table, and spoke in his soft rasp.
'Look all you want, don't touch. Capeesh?'
'Hey, Vie,' the kid said, playing to his friends, 'she's flapping them hooters in my face, you know? Hard not to take a bite.'
Vie nodded.
'You kids are new here. You didn't know. Now you do. You touch one of the waitresses again, you gotta leave.'
'What if we don't want to leave?' the kid said.
Vie said something too softly to be heard. The kid leaned forward in his chair.
'What was that?' he said.
Vie hit him a nice left uppercut that looked like it didn't travel more than six inches. It knocked the kid out of his chair and sprawling backwards on the floor. Vie stepped maybe a step back, and stood balanced easily, hands hanging loose near his hip. The kid lay on the floor a moment, dazed. The other three were frozen in their seats. They were probably tough enough kids in their neighborhood. But this wasn't how fights started in their world.
First there would be some smart remarks and then some threats and then one guy would push another guy and some other guys would usually break it up, and maybe one time in ten a few punches were thrown, and then someone broke it up.
'You think I can't take all four of you?' Vie said in his soft rasp.
I couldn't see his face. But the forms guys could and it told them something. None of them said anything. The long-haired kid on the floor was sitting up now, his forearms on his knees, still listening to the bells ringing. Vie turned and walked back to the bar. v 'He's the one hired me,' I said.
'Phony Tony's father-in-law?'
'Yep.'
'Julius Ventura?'
'Yep.'
'Why's a guy like him hire a guy like you?'
'Hero worship,' I said.
The long-haired kid got his legs under him finally and wavered over toward Vie.
'You sucka-punched me, you sonovabitch,' he said.
Vie looked at him without interes't.
'You wanna try that when I'm standing up facing you?'
