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"What mean you," he said coldly, "that you beat my people to pieces and grind
the faces of the poor?"
Silence held,- then, said as a sneer: "The life of man: solitary, poor,
nasty, brutish, and . . . short."
It was the deliberate stress given the last word that broke the boy, and his
powerful right arm, with the paper-wrapped bottle now at the end of it, shot
automatically out toward the old man's head. Kate threw herself against the
arm before it made contact, but the impact swept all three of them into the
girl Angela, against the wall behind her, and then tumbled them to the
pavement in a heap. The raging boy flung his girlfriend off and was first to
his feet, and if three men from the audience had not managed to drag him off,
Kate would have had considerably more damage than three oval bruises on her
shoulders and shins where his boots had hit home. She scrambled upright and
shoved her police ID into his face, holding it there until it and her repeated
shouts of "Police officer! I'm a police officer!" finally got through and she
saw his muscles relax. The boy shook off the restraining hands but made no
move to continue the assault.
The raucous gathering had finally attracted official attention, and several
short coughs of a siren signaled the arrival of the local uniforms. The two
men climbed out of the patrol car and moved their authoritative bulk into the
center of activity, but Kate did not take her eyes from the young man until
the uniformed officers had acknowledged her identity and were actually
standing next to her. Only then did she turn and help Erasmus to his feet. He
brushed himself off as if checking that he was in one piece, then, while Kate
was making explanations that downplayed the entire episode, he went over to
his staff, freed it from the newspaper box, and tucked it into his right
shoulder. The effect was bizarre, like looking at a two-headed being, and Kate
had to tear her eyes away.
The two uniformed officers were telling the crowd, what remained of it, to
move on, and while the younger one dealt with the young man, the older one
took Kate to one side.
"Inspector Martinelli, can you tell me what your interest is in the Brother
there?"
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"At this point, I don't know what my interest is," she admitted. "He's
somehow involved in the cremation homicide in Golden Gate Park, but whether as
a witness or something more, I just don't know."
"The reason I ask, he's a nice old guy, but he's like a magnet for trouble.
Not always, or we'd move him on, but this is the third time, and once last
fall we didn't get here fast enough. He got beat up pretty bad. I just thought
if he was a friend or a relative, well . . . You know?"
"Would that have been in November?"
"Around then, yeah."
"I heard about that. I'll talk with him, see what I can do, but he has his
own agenda, if you know what I mean, and self-preservation doesn't seem to be
very high on it."
The crowd having dispersed, the two patrol officers turned their attentions
to the young man and delivered a warning that even he seemed to find
impressive (though, truth to tell, even before they began, he looked ill and
without interest in beating up old men). When they had finished, he gathered
Angela up and would have walked away, but Erasmus put out a gentle hand to
stop him.
"Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth," he said quietly. The boy nodded and
would not look at him, but Angela did, and to her, Erasmus said in a heartfelt
exclamation, "Queen and huntress, chaste and fair," and then, with the
emphasis of a judgment, told her, "None but the brave" (and here he pointedly
ran his eyes over the boy) "deserve the fair."
The boy tugged at her and they moved off, but after half a dozen steps,
Angela shrugged off the confining arm and the two of them continued side by
side.
The two patrolmen suggested firmly that it was time Erasmus moved on. Kate
reassured them that she would deal with it, and when another call came for
them, they climbed back into the car and drove off. Kate waved her thanks. As
soon as they had left, she turned on Erasmus.
"You could have been hurt, you stupid old man," she declared furiously. He
did not seem to be listening as he watched the two young people go off down
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the street. He shook his head in sorrow. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]