onto the ground, just before his beer glass hit the floor. It shattered, sending shards of glass and splashes of beer everywhere. He tried to push himself up, but caught a quick shot to the ribs with the guy’s foot.
“Hey,” Donne heard someone yell. “Break it up!” Probably the bartender.
Donne took another shot to the ribs and rolled onto his back. Looking up, he saw the guy lift a barstool over his head. He slammed it down on top of Donne, and Donne was barely able to lift an arm to block it. It shattered, and some of the wood scraped across Donne’s face.
When Donne looked at the guy, everything moved in slow motion. He reached into the waistband of his pants, pulled out a large gun, and aimed it at Donne. He began to squeeze the trigger.
Donne braced himself for the inevitable shot, but then heard a large clack and everything snapped back into reality.
“I said, break it up.” The bartender was aiming a pump-action shotgun at Donne’s assailant.
“Yo, man,” the asshole said, putting his gun away. “I’m getting the fuck out of here.”
“Good idea,” the bartender said.
The bastard jogged out the back door. The door slammed shut behind him, and for a moment there was silence. Then three gunshots, quickly followed by the squeal of tires.
Donne pushed himself to his feet and felt the bar sway around him. He would have been better off with the fourth beer.
“You okay?” the bartender asked. “Yeah,” he said.
“What did you say to him?”
“Not a word.”
“You assholes can’t be doing that sort of thing,” he said. “I could lose my liquor license. There are only a few of those in Montclair, and they’re expensive as hell.”
Donne grunted and walked toward the door. He had to concentrate to walk straight. The pain in his arm and across his face slowed his step. He opened the door slowly, in case the guy was waiting for him, and peeked out. His car had its back windshield shot out, and the back two tires had been blown to shreds.
“Hey,” the bartender said. “You’re going to have to pay for these damages.”
Donne pulled the door open fully and hobbled to his car. He had to rest when he reached it, put his hand on the trunk. His stomach tightened, and he had to fight to keep the beer down.
He didn’t hear the bartender open the door.
“The police are on their way,” the bartender yelled.
“Good,” he said before the world tilted beneath him and black asphalt raced toward his face.
Donne blinked, spit, and coughed water. His body throbbed, and he had two new cuts on his hands from when he fell to the asphalt.
“Wake the fuck up,” the bartender said, holding a bucket that dripped a few drops of water. “This is the last thing I need. I can’t have you passed out in the parking lot.” He looked at the flashing lights parading up the street.
Donne pushed himself into a sitting position. His wet clothes stuck to his skin and to the ground. With the stiffness in his beaten body, pushing himself up felt like it took forever. Two police cruisers pulled into the lot and stopped short in front of him. A major sign he should at least attempt to stand. Donne used his bumper, the shocks sagging under his weight, and got to his feet. Two officers got out of the cars.
“What the hell happened here?” one of them asked.
Donne told him. The bartender was talking to the other cop near the cruiser, his arms waving in the air, looking at him every once in a while. He was much more animated than Donne was.
“We’re going to have to impound your car for evidence,” the first officer said after Donne was finished. “You might want to get to a hospital.”
“I’ll be fine.”
He didn’t seem convinced. “Then are you going to be able to find yourself a ride?”
Donne nodded, thinking about calling Artie but knowing he wouldn’t be able to get away from work. He thought about calling Carter or Susan, but decided there was someone else he wanted to talk to. Someone who hadn’t believed his story earlier.
***
Detective Mike Iapicca picked Donne up an hour later. He wasn’t happy about it. Donne didn’t think the detective thought he’d ever call him, and Iapicca was going to take any opportunity he had to talk to Donne.
“Get the fuck in,” he said from his Chevy Impala.
Donne limped around the car and sat in the passenger seat. “You look like shit,” Iapicca said.
“The guy who killed my aunt and uncle yesterday just kicked the shit out of me.”
“I see.” He took Valley Road away from Montclair. Donne was woozy and wondered if Iapicca would actually take him back to New Brunswick or to East Rutherford. “This black guy dressed in gang colors? He just happens to show up in a bar in Montclair that you’re drinking in?”
“Yeah.”
“How much did you have to drink?”
“Two beers.”
“Everyone says one or two.”
“I would have had three, but the punch to the face kept me from finishing it.”
Traffic slowed near a shopping area. They got caught at a red light. People sat outside a Starbucks sipping coffee. A few others stared at mannequins in a GAP window. Donne felt the drowsiness in his eyes, and he leaned back in the passenger seat.
“You think I’m going to let you sleep in my car? Jesus, you probably have a concussion and you can’t think straight.”
Donne couldn’t help it. His eyelids drooped and he fell asleep.
***
Bryan Hackett answered his cell phone. It was Delshawn. “I beat the shit outta that motherfucker.”
“Is he dead?”
“Nah, fuckin’ bartender had a shotgun. So I shot the motherfucker’s tires and windows out.”
“Good. How bad is he hurt?”
“I hit him with a stool. He was bleeding all over the bar. I don’t know if he was knocked out or whatnot, but he was hurtin’.”
Hackett rubbed his chin. Donne was only momentarily out of the picture, which meant he couldn’t slow any of this down. And while Carter might not be willing to pay up, Hackett was pretty sure he could break Carter’s wife. Hackett was glad Delshawn had listened and didn’t kill Donne. This was turning into a game.
