"Some of us are beginning to suspect a connection," he said.

"You suspect me on that kind of flimsy evidence?" I said.

"Sort of."

I nodded. "They jumped me. They didn't say why. I was jogging along, minding my own business."

"Carrying a loaded gun?" Quirk said.

"Carrying a loaded gun, and these two guys attempted to shoot me."

"And succeeded," Quirk said.

"And I returned fire in self-defense," I said.

"You know either one of them?"

"No."

"Eddie is with Joe Broz… Was." Quirk said. "Roger, we don't know yet. We're still looking into him."

I nodded.

"And, small world, you were just recently sitting in my office reading the OCU file on Joe Broz."

I nodded.

"You care to comment on that?" Quirk said.

"No," I said. My leg felt hot and sore. I felt it with my right hand. It was heavily bandaged. The more I woke up, the sorer it felt. Maybe I would wait till tomorrow to go home. Quirk walked across the room and closed the door.

"How come I'm in a private room?" I said.

Quirk pointed at his own chest.

"I tried to get hold of Susan," Quirk said. "But she's not around."

"She's in Washington," I said.

Quirk rested his butt on the windowsill, folded his arms, and looked at me.

"Okay," he said. "Here's what I think. I think you were bothering Joe Broz and he sent Eddie and Roger out to kill you and they weren't quick enough. If two guys had to go down, they're not a bad choice. I don't know Roger, but I know Eddie. Eddie was a scumbag. I'm willing to bet Roger was pretty much the same. A day in which you shoot a scumbag like Eddie DiBernardi is a day well spent."

"Makes a nice hobby," I said.

"On the other hand," Quirk said, "I am not employed by the city to go around saying 'Way to go' when somebody blows up a couple of citizens in a public park. Even if the citizens are scumbags." I nodded.

"You see my position," Quirk said. I nodded some more.

"When you put your mind to it," Quirk said, "you can be an all-world pain in the balls. And you think you're smarter than you are, and you think if you want to do something it must be the right thing to do."

"I'm not as sure of that as I used to be," I said.

"Me either," Quirk said. "But, on the other hand, you haven't done too many things since I've known you that I wouldn't have done if I was you."

"Maybe we're both wrong," I said.

"Probably," Quirk said, "but I don't think there's much we can do about it." He stood up and unfolded his arms and put his hands back into his hip pockets. "Anyway. I don't see a reason to charge you at the moment, but I want some information. Eddie and Roger are not the last two guys that Broz can hire. If he wants you in the ground, he can be persistent. If he succeeds, I want to be able to nail him for it."

"You sentimental bastard," I said.

"Off the record," Quirk said, "what the fuck is going on?"

I told him. All of it.

When I got through Quirk said, "The guy's wife isn't worth it."

"Ronni Alexander?" I shrugged. "She's worth it to Meade."

"Meade ain't the one got shot in the leg," Quirk said.

I didn't say anything.

"You going to keep squeezing Broz?" Quirk said.

"I can't think of anything better," I said.

Quirk nodded. "Okay. I'll do this," he said. "I'll put the word out that I'm, ah, monitoring your well-being on this. It'll get back to Joe. I'll let him know that if you get killed, I'm going to make a mess of his life."

"That'll help," I said.

"Yeah. It will. Joe's very practical. But I don't know. This is family. I don't know if it will help enough."

"Maybe Joe will notice that I'm not easy to hit," I said. "Didn't work out too well this time."

"That was this time," Quirk said. "If he has to, he'll send Vinnie Morris. It's a lot harder to be too quick for Vinnie."

"True," I said.

Quirk got his topcoat from the back of the chair where it lay, neatly folded. "Anyway, that's your problem," he said.

"Also true," I said.

Quirk shrugged into the topcoat. "I called your little buddy down at the Harbor Health Club," Quirk said. "Cimoli. Told him someone had tried to kill you. He said he'd send someone over to comfort you."

"Thanks," I said.

Quirk nodded and opened the door to leave. As he went out, Hawk came in. They passed each other without expression or comment.

There was a phone in the room and I called my apartment and got Paul and told him I wouldn't be home till tomorrow. I didn't tell him why.

He said he and Paige were going to Quincy Market for the afternoon and that night they were going to see a performance by a dance company I'd never heard of. He said he had enough money and I told him there was no such thing as enough money and we hung up.

Hawk was sitting in the visitor's chair reading a copy of The Ring magazine with his feet up on the windowsill. He had removed his down-filled leather jacket and put it on a hanger in the closet. A.357 magnum in a shoulder holster hung under his left arm. He had on a turtleneck sweater, designer jeans, and snakeskin boots.

"Man, you still fighting," Hawk said. "You be rich. They need a great white hope so bad, they'd rank you."

"Maybe it's not too late," I said. "Given what's out there, maybe we could fight for the title."

"You got a plan?" Hawk said.

"To fight for the title?"

"No, to take care of business. Quirk sorta implied to Henry, people might keep trying to shoot you. You got a plan for taking care of that?"

"Why," I said. "You in?"

"Un-huh."

"As soon as I can get out of here I want to see Joe Broz. If we can make it easier for him to go along with me than to kill me, I think we can deal."

"What kind of deal we after?" Hawk said.

I told him, as I had Quirk. All of it. Hawk's face was beaming when I finished.

"Hot diggity," he said. "You actually trying to squeeze Joe Broz? Goddamn."

"What other choice?" I said,

"Tell the congressman to keep his old lady at home," Hawk said. "Or kick her out."

I said, "No."

Hawk grinned.

"I didn't think so," Hawk said. "Just testing to see if your head still soft."

"Quirk says he'll let Broz know that he's interested too."

"Help," Hawk said. "Broz don't want Quirk on his ass."

The same small nurse came in and asked if I was hungry. I said yes and she gave me a meal order menu.

"I'll come back in a little while and pick it up," she said. If she noticed Hawk and his.357, she didn't show it.

Hawk watched her go, his lips pursed. When the door swung shut behind her Hawk said, "Broz probably don't want me and you on his ass either, when you come down to it."

"And I'm betting he doesn't want his kid embarrassed and maybe arrested," I said. "I bet he'll go along."

Hawk shrugged. "We could make sure," he said. "We could kill him. And his kid."

"Have to kill Vinnie Morris too," I said. "Vinnie's like family with Joe."

Hawk shrugged again. "Okay. Joe and the kid, and Vinnie."

"The films might still go public. I don't even know where they are."

Hawk grinned. "She good-looking?"

"Yes."

"Want me to review them? Check for technical accuracy?"

The nurse came back and took my order slip. She still paid Hawk no attention. Must be the training. Hawk was not easy to pay no attention to. Even without the gun under his arm. He weighed 205 and stood six two and had a twenty-nine-inch waist. His skin was densely black and his shaved head gleamed in the hospital fluorescence. When she went away again I said, "The film is accurate."

Hawk shrugged and went back to his magazine.

Lunch came and I shared it with Hawk. After it had digested I got out of bed and tried walking. I could do it with a hobble and a little support from Hawk.