of the way, and turned left toward the river on Arlington Street. I went along too. We crossed the pedestrian overpass to the esplanade and began to stroll west along the river. If Kevin showed up I wasn't sure what to expect. I was ready. I had a gun on my belt, and a sap in my hip pocket, and if that didn't work, I could always bite him. Still, he seemed less monstrous when Kate talked of him than he did when Valerie talked of him. I was pretty sure I wasn't getting the whole story. I was used to it. I hadn't gotten the full story in Lamarr, Georgia. I never got the full story. There was probably something deeply philosophic going on. Maybe there was no full story. Ever.
We crossed a little footbridge over the lagoon and walked near the water. If anyone noticed that Kate was pushing an empty carriage they didn't show it. Bostonians are so reserved. There were a number of dogs being run by their owners, and a number of babies being strolled, and then there was a stalker. I didn't see him approach. He was just there all of a sudden, beside Kate, a big man wearing a tank top. His hair was in a crew cut shaved high on the sides. There were tattoos on each bicep. He took her arm. He was loud. And intense. As I closed on them I could hear him.
'I don't give a fuck about that. I need to see you. I love you.'
I stopped beside them. He looked at me.
'Who the fuck are you?' he said.
He was fair-skinned and sunburned. He'd never tan darkly, but you could tell he was out-of-doors a lot.
'I'm with her,' I said. 'We need to talk.'
'You need to take a fucking walk, pal.'
He was sober, which was good news, since it was about eleven in the morning. There was no smell of booze, no slurring, none of the look around the eyes that drunks so magically achieve.
'Nope,' I said. 'The three of us. We'll sit down over there on that bench and we'll sort everything out.'
Beside me Kate was like a rabbit, very still, quivering with-what? Expectation? Fear? Readiness? The guy was big and strong and had probably won most of the fights he'd had. But if experience made him confident, it also gave him perspective. I could see by the way he looked at me that he wasn't sure.
'You a cop?'
'Private,' I said.
He snorted. I took it as an expression of contempt.
'Sort what out?' he said. 'It's that bitch she works for that needs sorting out.'
'How so?' I said.
'How so? Bullshit how so,' he said.
Anger got the better of perspective, and he took a swing at me. It was a pretty good swing. He didn't lead with his right. He didn't loop the punch. But he got out in front of his feet, and it made him put too much arm into the punch, and not enough body. I picked it off with my right forearm. He followed with a right that I picked off with my left forearm. It didn't deter him, so I feinted at his belly with my right. He flinched, his hands came down, and I nailed him on the jaw with a left hook that turned him half around and put him on the ground.
Kate screamed 'Stop it!' and jumped in front of me and wrapped her arms around my waist and tried to push me away from Kevin. Bells were ringing for Kevin. He got halfway up and sat back down.
'He'll be all right,' I said. 'He's just been jarred a little. But it would be better if we left it at this. Why don't you talk with him.'
She turned toward Kevin, who was sitting upright on the ground, blinking his eyes. She dropped to her knees beside him, and put her arms around him.
'Stop it, Kevin. Please,' she said. 'For me. This man doesn't want to hurt you, or me. He'll help us, I know he will, if you'll talk with him. Talk with him, for me.'
Kevin looked confused, but he let her help him to his feet and he walked pretty steadily with her toward the bench. When they weren't looking, I rubbed my knuckles. Every time I hit somebody my knuckles hurt. Tomorrow they'd be a little swollen, and a little sore. Occupational hazard. I couldn't go around all the time with my hands wrapped. The two of them sat on the bench. Kevin's eyes began to focus.
'Okay,' I said. 'We'll be friends, and I'll ask some questions, and you'll answer them and maybe we can work something out.'
Neither one said anything. The hinges of Kevin's jaw were going to be very sore tomorrow.
'Don't feel bad,' I said to Kevin. 'You're a tough guy, but there's always somebody tougher.'
'She didn't beg me,' Kevin said, 'we'd still be at it.'
'Sure,' I said. 'Now, do you, Kate, love him, Kevin?'
'Yes.'
'Do you, Kevin, love her, Kate?'
'For crissake, what's it look like? Of course I do.'
'You ever hit her?' I said.
'Once.'
'Hit her once, or on one occasion hit her a number of times?'
'Just once, total,' Kevin said.
He didn't want to look at me. He didn't like me knocking him on his kazoo in front of his girlfriend.
'That right, Kate?'
