Jocelyn Colby. She took it and stood up, and kept hold of my hand. The old woman came out of the back room.
'Police coming,' she said.
'
'Course they really going to do it right,' Hawk said.
'Shoulda walked in and opened up.'
He put the Magnum away under his coat. He looked out at the empty street and shook his head.
'Drive-bys are sloppy,' he said.
The old woman had a push broom and was carefully sweeping the broken glass into a pile in the middle of the room. She moved implacably and slow, as if movement had always hurt her and she had always moved anyway. Jocelyn continued to cling to my hand, standing very close to me.
'Were they trying to kill me?' Jocelyn said.
Hawk grinned without comment.
'Maybe not,' I said.
'Maybe they were trying to kill me.'
CHAPTER 15
A close-up company was power-screwing plywood panels over the shattered window. The crime scene people were through digging slugs out of the woodwork and had departed. Everyone else had made a statement and gone home, except the old lady who was in the back room making phone calls. DeSpain sat on one of the stools, his elbows resting on the counter behind him.
'So what were you two guys doing up here?'
'Drinking coffee,' I said.
'Eating donuts.'
'Just like real coppers,' DeSpain said.
'You still working on the murder?'
'Yeah.'
'What's Hawk doing here?'
'Helping,' Hawk said.
'Helping what?'
'Helping the investigation.'
'Hawk.' DeSpain looked tired.
'You don't fucking investigate.'
Hawk smiled.
'What you talking to the broad about?' DeSpain said.
'The murder. I'm trying to talk with everybody about the murder.'
'Counter kid says she came in after you.'
'Sure,' I said.
'She knew I wanted to talk with her, saw us here, came in.'
DeSpain nodded.
'And Hawk was here in case she got outta hand. Who you figure fired thirty rounds or so through the window at you?'
'What makes it us?' I said.
'Who else was sitting in the window. You hadn't hit the deck, you'd have been dead.'
'And nobody else with a scratch,' I said.
DeSpain grinned.
'And they didn't hit the deck,' he said.
'Sort of suggestive?' I said.
'So,' DeSpain said, 'say they were after you. Who might they have been?'
I spread my hands.
'Everyone loves us,' I said.
DeSpain looked around the room, the back wall pocked with bullet holes, the window nearly boarded up.
'Some more than others,' he said.
'Ain't that always the way,' I said.
