“It was reported on in the paper for that area, a few months ago. I have a copy of the article on my laptop. I had to take the picture with my phone so it’s not the best. Do you want to see it?”

Natalie shook her head. “I’ll believe you.”

“After the article there was a reaction to Hookline. Some public gatherings, anger, some backlash against the money lender. Hookline left. No telling if he was made to, fired, or if he wanted something easier. Ended up at Cedar Point.”

“And the other one? Kitchen Sink.”

“One of a couple who worked under Beast of Burden, who was crime boss for New Haven. Sink handled collections for the protection racket.”

“Any serious crimes?”

“He trashed one business in a way that made it very clear his power was at use. He creates semi-random items and flings them around, and the business had a lot of semi-random items flung around, shelves trashed, windows broken.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

“I have no idea,” I said. “Victim didn’t pursue anything. Authorities aren’t going to do anything if the victim isn’t talking.”

Natalie’s forehead wrinkled. It was a weird contrast for someone who had a whimsical pixie cut with a curl at the front and oversized glasses, to seem as joyless as she did. She didn’t seem to like her meal, and she seemed interested but not excited or engaged by this.

I ate more of my bagel sandwich, letting her think. It would have been so much better if it was salmon, but it wasn’t. The olives were mushy and lacked bite, which made me wonder if they were old, scavenged, imitation, or if they’d lost something in transport. The worst thing was the bagel—I’d eaten here before and it had been better then.

“You assaulted and battered two individuals,” Natalie said.

“Let me get my laptop out.”

“They didn’t make the first move, by your own admission.”

“Their intent was clear. They had weapons. I’ll show you the video.”

“Please.”

I fished my laptop out of my bag, packed up my bagel and set it aside, and set the laptop down so Natalie could see. It was a bit warm from being in my bag and being left on low-energy mode, but the boot-up was fast. I already had the pertinent files and videos in a folder.

“First video, overhead view. Do you have headphones?”

“I do.”

I waited until she had them out. She put them on, and I plugged in the jack. I hit the spacebar to start the video. She watched, putting her arm up and over the top of the screen, to shield it from the sun. I offered my own arm to help. The video came in at an angle, zooming in, and showed most of the conversation, followed by Hookline and Sink’s retreat.