Persuader

touched her cheek with the back of his forefinger. Elizabeth Beck didn't move. Just stared straight ahead. He tucked a stray wisp of hair behind her ear.
    "I enjoyed our visit last night," he said.
    She shuddered again. Like she was deathly cold. He moved his hand. Dropped it to her breast. Cupped it. Squeezed it. She sat still for it. I used the button on my side. Her glass buzzed up. Then it stalled against Paulie's giant arm and the safety feature kicked in and it came back down again. I opened my door and slid out. Rounded the hood. Paulie was still squatting down. He still had his hand inside the car. It had moved a little lower.
    "Back off," he said, looking at her, talking to me.
    I felt like a lumberjack confronting a redwood tree without an ax or a chainsaw. Where do I start? I kicked him in the kidney. It was the kind of kick that would have sent a football out of the stadium and into the parking lot. It would have cracked a utility pole. It would have put most guys in the hospital all by itself. It would have killed some of them.
    It had about as much effect on Paulie as a polite tap on the shoulder. He didn't even make a noise. He just put both hands on the door frame and slowly pushed himself upright.
    Turned around to face me.
    "Relax, Major," he said. "Just my way of saying good morning to the lady." Then he moved away from the car and looped right around me and unlocked the gate. I watched him. He was very calm. No sign of a reaction. It was like I hadn't touched him at all. I stood still and let the adrenaline drain away. Then I looked at the car. At the trunk, and at the hood. To walk around the trunk would say I'm scared of you. So I walked around the hood instead. But I made sure to stay well out of his reach. I had no desire to give some surgeon six months' work rebuilding the bones in my face. The closest I got to him was about five feet. He made no move on me. Just cranked the gate all the way open and stood there patiently waiting to close it again.
    "We'll talk about that kick later, OK?" he called.
    I didn't reply.
    "And don't get the wrong impression, Major," he said. "She likes it." I got back in the car. Elizabeth Beck had closed her window. She was staring straight ahead, pale and silent and humiliated. I drove through the gate. Headed west. Watched Paulie in the mirror. He closed the gate and headed back inside the lodge. Disappeared from sight.
    "I'm sorry you had to see that," Elizabeth said quietly.
    I said nothing.
    "And thank you for your intervention," she said. "But it will prove futile. And I'm afraid it will bring you a lot of trouble. He already hates you, you know. And he's not very rational." I said nothing.
    "It's a control thing, of course," she said. It was like she was explaining it to herself. It wasn't like she was talking to me. "It's a demonstration of power. That's all it is. There's no actual sex. He can't do it. Too many steroids, I suppose. He just paws me." I said nothing.
    "He makes me undress," she said. "Makes me parade around for him. Paws me. There's no sex. He's impotent." I said nothing. Just drove slow, keeping the car steady and level through the coastal curves.
    "It usually lasts about an hour," she said.
    "Have you told your husband?" I asked.
    "What could he do?"
    "Fire the guy."
    "Not possible," she said.
    "Why not?"
    "Because Paulie doesn't work for my husband." I glanced at her. Recalled telling Duke: You should get rid of him. Duke had answered: That's not easy.
    "So who does he work for?" I said.
    "Somebody else."
    "Who?" She shook her head. It was like she couldn't speak the name.
    "It's a control thing," she said again. "I can't object to what they do to me, just like my husband can't object to what they do to him. Nobody can object. To anything, you see.
    That's the point. You won't be allowed to object to anything, either. Duke wouldn't think to object, of course. He's an animal." I said nothing.
    "I just thank God I have a son," she said. "Not a daughter." I said nothing.
    "Last night was very bad," she said. "I was hoping he would start leaving me alone. Now that I'm getting old." I glanced at her again. Couldn't think of anything to say.
    "It was my birthday yesterday," she said. "That was Paulie's present to me." I said nothing.
    "I turned fifty," she said. "I suppose you don't want to think about a naked fifty-year-old, parading around." I didn't know what to say.
    "But I keep in shape," she said. "I use the gym when the others aren't