None of them seemed quite sure what to say about that.

'What would it take to make us number one on your list?' Barnes said.

'Nothing.'

'If it's a matter of money,' Brown said.

'It's not.'

'Well,' the mayor said, 'you'd consult with us.'

'Maybe,' I said.

'You don't give much, do you,' the mayor said.

'Not much,' I said.

'Will you do it?' Barnes said.

'If the price is right,' I said.

'We'll make it right,' Henry Brown said.

I looked at J. George, one of my oldest friends in Potshot, who had sat subserviently through the whole discussion without saying a word.

'What do you think, George?'

He smiled as if he'd just accidentally sold a house for cash.

'It'll be great,' he said. 'Just great.'

Chapter 13

I WENT INTO my hotel room very carefully, but Bebe hadn't returned. Maybe romance was dead. My hands were swollen from yesterday's fight. I iced them for awhile, then in the early evening, I went back out to visit Lou Buckman.

Buckman Outfitters was closed. There was a sign on the front door that read I'M AT THE STABLE. The sign was correct. When I drove over there, she was in the corral, washing one of the horses with a hose. I got out of the rental car. Being tough as nails, I did not stagger when I hit the heat.

'Hello,' I said.

The horse's lead was tied to a fencepost. He stood placidly, his dark brown coat gleaming, while the water sluiced over him. When I spoke he raised his head and looked at me with thoughtful dark eyes, and then let his head drop again.

'Hi,' Lou said.

I sat on the top rail of the fence. I didn't look right. I needed a big hat.

'I talked to The Preacher,' I said.

'And punched out two of his men.'

'Before that,' I said. 'I went up to the Dell and talked with him.'

'To the Dell?'

'Yep. Preacher says he didn't kill your husband.'

'Of course he didn't. He had it done.'

'Says he didn't have it done, either,' I said.

'Well of course he'd say that.'

'I think if he'd done it, or had it done, he'd have let me know,' I said.

Lou was scornful.

'Because he's so truthful?'

'Because he's so full of himself. He'd want me to know he could do whatever he pleased and get away with it.'

'You know him so well, already?'

'I know people like him,' I said. 'They'd be inclined to let me know they'd done it and challenge me to do anything about it.'

'Well, thank God I don't know anyone like that, and I don't believe it for a minute. Steve stood up to them. First they threatened. Steve wouldn't back down. And they killed him.'

'We'll see,' I said.

'Well who the hell else would it be,' she said.

I shrugged. Lou turned the chestnut horse loose and got another one, a darker chestnut. She hooked the shank to the fence rail and sponged him down with soapy water from a bucket.

'Have they frightened you off?' she said. 'Or paid you?'

'If they're paying me,' I said, 'I just recently bit the hand that feeds me.'

'I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that.'

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