Hawk looked at the secretary.
'You can go now, missy,' he said.
'I ain't no missy,' she said, and looked at Husak.
He nodded. And she went out. I closed the door behind her. Then I sat. He spoke into the phone again.
'Got a coupla guys here I need to listen to,' he said. 'I'll buzz you back in a while.'
He hung up and tipped his chair back and put his feet up.
'So whadya need in such a hurry?' he said.
'Name of the people hired you to represent Bohdan Dziubakevych,' Hawk said.
'Who?'
'Bohdan Dziubakevych,' Hawk said.
I was impressed.
'Never heard of him,' Husak said. 'Who the hell are you?'
'Me and my faithful honkie be members of the Ukrainian Royal Family.'
'What the fuck are you talking about?' Husak said. 'I got shit to do. I got no time to be flapping my gums with you.'
Hawk stood and walked past Husak and opened the window behind him.
'What are you doing?' Husak said. 'It's fucking freezing out.'
'It is,' Hawk said. 'Isn't it.'
He took hold of Husak's hair and yanked him out of his chair and spun him around. He shifted his grip to the back of Husak's shirt and the crotch of Husak's pants and picked him up and stuck him headfirst halfway out the window. Husak began to scream-short screams, one coming right after another, quietly so as not to make Hawk lose his grip. His body was rigid, but he didn't dare struggle. In slow desperation, he reached carefully back, trying to find something to hold on to. Hawk shook him a little, as if he were dusty.
'I don't like you,' Hawk said to him in a reasonable voice. 'I got no reason not to let you go unless you got something you can tell me that I might want to hear.'
Husak kept up the short soft screaming. Hawk brought him in and held him with Husak's head still out the window and his chest resting on the sill. Husak's short screams morphed into gasping.
'Royal Ukrainians don't fuck around,' Hawk said calmly. 'Who hired you to represent Bohdan?'
Husak kept gasping.
'You go out again,' Hawk said. 'I let go.'
'Boots,' Husak gasped.
The pulse in his neck was beating visibly.
'Boots who?' Hawk said.
'Boots Podolak,' Husak said.
Hawk looked at me. I nodded. Hawk pulled Husak off the window and stood him up and sat him in his chair. He left the window open. Husak sat rigid in the chair. His face was pale. He was trembling.
'He hire both of you?' Hawk said.
'Not him personally, but a guy said he was from him,' Husak said. His voice was hoarse, but the gasping had slowed. 'Paid us in cash. Up front. Me and Duda both.'
'He want you to give them the best defense you could?' Hawk said.
'He wanted to make sure Bohdan didn't roll over.'
Husak was limp. There was no snap left in him. He was eager to answer questions. The only danger in someone like that was that he'd figure out what you wanted to hear and tell you that. Tell you anything. Ten stories is a long way down. The unpleasant secretary knocked on the office door.
'Mr. Husak? Is everything all right.'
'Tell her yes,' Hawk said gently.
Husak raised his voice.
'Fine, Nancy, everything's fine.'
'You the one told Bohdan not to testify?' Hawk said.
'No…'
Hawk glanced at the window.
'I did,' Husak said. 'We both did. Bohdan had family back in Ukraine. If he testified, they were all going to be killed.'
'You told him that.'
'Yes.'
