They finished their drinks and left the bar.
“Will you walk me home?”
He patted her hand in a fatherly fashion. “Of course.”
She took his arm and they walked west across Twenty-fourth Street. When they reached Seventh Avenue they turned south.
The late August breeze had chilled. Sarah shivered slightly. “Do you mind if I ask you something personal?”
“When have I ever minded?” He laughed. “And when have you ever hesitated? You are an Aries, after all. What is it?”
“How did you live with the loss of Robert?”
“One day at a time.”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked you.”
He put his arm around her shoulder. “It’s okay, Sarah. You’re family now. You can ask me anything you want to. At first it was unbearable. I couldn’t sleep or stop thinking about it. But as the months passed it became a part of me, almost as if Robert still lived in my ongoing memories and had never died. I would think about how he would respond to a situation and often found myself talking to him as if he were there with me.”
Sarah grabbed his arm tighter. “Your marriage…”
Lowell breathed in deeply. “For a long time Catherine blamed me for Robert’s death as I think you already know. It became too painful for us to be together. He was always there between us. But as the months turned into years it receded a bit into the background.”
“But you didn’t forget him.”
He shook his head. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think of him and wish he were here living out the life I know he could have created for himself. But I also finally understood that it was doing nobody any good to wallow in the sadness. Robert wouldn’t have wanted that.”
“That’s why you became a detective.”
“You think so?”
“I think you had to direct your anger and feelings of impotence into something useful, and helping those who had no other place to turn seemed like a way to do so.”
He smiled.
They were walking down Eleventh Street toward Fifth Avenue when two men approached them.
One of the men had a long scar on the side of his face that appeared to be fairly old. He stopped in front of them.
Lowell was not easily intimidated, but his concern for Sarah’s safety limited his choices. “Can I help you?”
The other man nodded silently and took out a gun.
Sarah’s body tensed.
The gunman pointed to a double-parked blue Chevy. It looked like the same car Lowell had seen on the highway, but he couldn’t be sure. “Get in the car.”
Lowell took a deep breath to center himself. “Now why would we want to do that?”
“You want to die?” The man pointed the pistol at Lowell and turned to his partner. “Grab the girl.”
The scarred man reached out and took hold of Sarah’s right wrist. She had only a second to react. She reached over with her left hand, tightly held on to the man’s hand, and twisted her right hand around, just as Lowell had taught her. Then with all of her might she pushed down on his wrist. The man went to his knees, and before he could regain his footing Sarah stepped back and kicked him in the groin with her pointed boot. He went down on the sidewalk, grabbing himself in agony.
“Ow, you bitch!”
He lay there moaning and rolling around.
As the other man was distracted, Lowell grabbed the hand holding the gun, stepping out of the way of the barrel, just as two shots rang out. The bullets flew past him, one landing into the side of a brownstone, the other going through the windshield of a white Mazda and setting off the car’s alarm.
Lowell twisted the gun from the man’s hand and threw it into the street. Then he pulled the assailant toward him and simultaneously slammed the man’s chest with an open hand, pushing him backwards onto the ground. He kicked the man in the face, and blood oozed from his mouth. Lowell grabbed Sarah’s hand and they ran down the street.
When they were a few blocks away Sarah was still trying to catch her breath.
Lowell looked back, but nobody was following. He turned to her. “Are you alright?”
She was breathing heavily, but smiling. “That was the most amazing thing I’ve ever done!” She raised her fist. “Women rule!”
“Come on, Wonder Woman, let’s get home.” He took out his cell phone and a few minutes later Andy was there.
“What happened, Boss?”
“We were attacked by two men who tried to push us into a blue sedan.”
Andy nodded. “Same car from the highway?”
“I’m not sure,” said Lowell. “But it would be some coincidence if not. We’re going to have to watch our backs now.”
Andy unconsciously touched the shoulder holster that held his revolver. “I’m ready.”
They dropped Sarah off at her building near the corner of Sixth Avenue. Lowell walked her to her front stoop. “Will you be alright alone tonight?”
Sarah’s eyes opened wide. “Why? You don’t think I’m in any danger, do you?”
“No, I just want to be careful.”
“I’ll be fine. The building is secure and the super lives right next to me.” She grinned. “He knows karate.”
“Get a good night’s sleep. I’m going to need you sharp and alert tomorrow.” He watched as she climbed the half dozen steps to her front door.
She waved and entered her foyer. Lowell entered the limo and waited for a few minutes eyeing the streets, and then Andy drove him to the townhouse.