Promised Land by Robert B. Parker

look.
    ”That’s cause you are stupid, Powell,“ Hawk said. ”He is tough, he may be damn near as tough as me. But you want to try him, go ahead.“
    Powell reached down and grabbed me by the shirt front. Susan Silverman inhaled sharply.
    Hawk said, ”Don’t kill him, Spenser, he runs errands for me.“
    Powell yanked me out of the chair. I went with the yank and hit him in the Adam’s apple with my forearm. He said something like ”ark“ and let go of my shirt front and stepped back. I hit him with two left hooks, the second one with a lot of shoulder turned into it, and Powell fell over backward into the pool. Hawk was grinning as I turned toward him.
    ”The hayshakers are all the same, aren’t they,“ he said. ”Just don’t seem to know the difference between amateurs and professionals.“ He shook his head. ”That’s a good lady you got there though.“ He nodded at Susan, who was on her feet holding a beer bottle she’d apparently picked up off another table.
    Hawk got up and walked to the pool and dragged Powell out of it negligently, with one hand, as if the dead weight of a 200-pound man were no more than a flounder.
    The silence around the pool was heavy. The kids were still hanging on to the edge of the pool, staring at us. Hawk said, ”Come on, let’s walk out to my car and talk.“ He let Powell slump to the ground by the table and strolled back in through the lobby. Susan and I went with him. As we passed the desk we saw the manager come out of his office and hurry toward the terrace.
    I said, ”Why don’t you go down to the room, Suze. I’ll be along in a minute. Hawk just wants me to give him some pointers on poolside fighting.“ The tip of her tongue was stuck out through her closed mouth and she was obviously biting on it. ”Don’t bite your tongue,“ I said. ”Save some for me.“ She shook her head.
    ”I’ll stay with you,“ she said.
    Hawk opened the door on the passenger’s side of the Cadillac. ”My pleasure,“ he said to Susan. If Hawk and I were going to fight he wouldn’t pick a convertible for the place. I got in after Susan. Hawk went around and got in the driver’s side. He pushed a button and the roof went up smoothly. He started the engine and turned on the air conditioning. A blue and white Barnstable Township police car pulled into the parking lot and two cops got out and walked into the motel.
    Hawk said, ”Let’s ride around.“ I nodded and he put us in gear and slipped out of the parking lot.
    ”Where the hell did you get him?“ I said to Hawk as we drove.
    ”Powell? Oh, man, I don’t know. He’s a local dude. People that hired me told me to work with him.“
    ”They trying to set up an apprentice program?“
    Hawk shrugged. ”Beats me, baby, he got a long way to go though, don’t he?“
    ”It bother you that the cops are going to ask him what he was doing fighting with a tourist, and who the tourist was and who was the black stud in the funny outfit?“
    Hawk shook his head. ”He won’t say nothing. He dumb, but he ain’t that dumb.“
    Between us on the front seat Susan Silverman said, ”What are we doing?“
    Hawk laughed. ”A fair question, Susan. What in hell are we doing?“
    ”Let me see if I can guess,“ I said. ”I guess that Harv Shepard owes money to a man, probably King Powers, and Hawk has been asked to collect it. Or maybe just oversee the disbursement of funds, whatever, and that things are going the way they should.“ I said to Susan, ”Hawk does this stuff, quite well. And then surprise, I appear, and I’m working for Shepard. And Hawk and his employer, probably King Powers, wonder if Harv hired me to counteract Hawk. So Hawk has dropped by to inquire about my relationship with Harv Shepard, and to urge me to sever that relationship.“
    The Caddie went almost soundless along the Mid-Cape Highway, down Cape, toward Provincetown. I said, ”How close, Hawk?“
    He shrugged. ”I have explained to the people that employ