The Hard Bounce - страница 54

“Well, yeah.”

Dog turned his head slightly to me, but he was still unable or unwilling to look at me. “You are some piece of work, Boo Malone. Really. A piece of work.” With that, he walked off.

I’d gambled on Underdog. On his support. I was a fool to do so. But it still didn’t change a thing.

As I walked back toward Haymarket and the Green T line, a movement caught my attention out the corner of my eye.

Deep in shadow, stood The Boy.

He looked up, one small hand touching the dolphin sculpture.

How the hell was I supposed to see Kelly again and not tell her what we’d seen? How could we face Barnes, much less Donnelly? “Hi. Didn’t find your daughter, but I have a video of her being raped and stuck like a piglet. Can we have some money now?”

Not to mention Emily, and all that the information on her could have represented-even though I still wasn’t positive I wanted it.

So I walked. I walked past Faneuil Hall. The evening fog swirled in the low walk lights as small groups of tourists milled about. A few couples on romantic strolls, holding hands. I was the only solo pedestrian in the area.

Being alone was a set of feelings I’d long come to terms with. But this was a new kind of alone for me. I don’t know. It hurt. It hurt me in places I didn’t know were still wired into my nervous system.

I didn’t know what I thought Underdog would say. Maybe a part of me wanted him to try and talk me out of it.

So I wandered. I didn’t feel like hanging at The Cellar. It was too easy there. I would start drinking again, and drunk was a comfortable womb I’d been finding my way into far too often lately.

Another hour and a half of wandering, and I was standing in front of the coffee shop I’d gone to after corralling Kelly home. It was almost 1 A.M. As far as ideas went, it seemed like my least stupid of the week, at least. I retraced my steps to her door and rang the buzzer before reason and common sense could lead me elsewhere. I wound up there for a purpose, though I’d be damned if I could name it.

I gave myself fifty-fifty odds that Kelly would even answer the buzzer. Something in me desperately needed to see her, to see this woman I barely knew, while another, smaller piece wanted to run away and hide in a corner.

To my surprise, the door just buzzed open and I walked in. At the apartment door, Kelly peeked out from behind the security chain. The one eye I could see widened in surprise when it saw me.

“Boo?” She said it in a hushed, curious tone. Like she was expecting someone else.

Maybe she was.

“Yeah. Sorry. Did I wake you?” She had on a pair of light blue pajamas and horn-rimmed granny glasses, so she was obviously in bed. I just didn’t have much else to say. I still wasn’t sure why I’d shown up.

She shook her head. “Uh, no.” She took the security chain off and opened the door. “I had to get up to open my door.”

“I’m sorry… I’ll go…”

I turned, but she reached out and tenderly touched my bruised face with her fingertips. “What happened?”

Until she pointed it out, I hadn’t realized I still looked as bad as I felt. “There was this pack of dingos, an orphan…”

She smirked, rolled her eyes. “Nobody likes a smartass, Boo.”

“Really? I’ve spent my life counting on somebody appreciating that quality in me.”

“Never mind. Get in here.”

“Were you expecting someone else?” I had to ask.

“Yeah. Occasional booty call. Likes to show up unannounced right about now,” she said, smirk widening a touch. She must have seen something in my face that said I wasn’t sure whether she was kidding or not. “I’m kidding.”

I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding in. “Nobody likes a smartass, Reese.”

“Heard that.”

“The way you buzzed me in, you’re lucky I wasn’t some wacko.”

“Remains to be seen. Besides, I had Spike at the ready.” She held up her left hand. A spectacular pair of modified brass knuckles engulfed her small fist. At the strike point sat four nasty, inch-long spikes. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to get hit with them, even if it was by a girl. “Present from Daddy before I moved to the big, scary city,” she said as she walked back into her bedroom.