'We used to that,' Hawk said.
'And the damn woman is at the center of it.'
'We sort of used to that too, ain't we?'
'Yeah but she's also our employer.'
'She your employer, Bobo. You're my employer.'
'You're such a stickler,' I said.
'Chain of command, boss.'
Vinnie had the cylinder open on one of the.357s and was studying it, using his thumbnail to reflect light into the barrel. Then he nodded to himself and gently closed the cylinder.
'Vinnie should have been a father,' Hawk said.
We watched Vinnie for a minute.
'Something bothering me,' Hawk said.
'Only something?'
'Mary Lou and her hubby come out here on their summers off and run this little horseback gig,' Hawk said.
'Until he got fired from coaching,' I said. 'Then they moved out here full-time.'
'Who the fuck gonna come out here for summer vacation?'
I nodded.
'That is bothersome,' I said. 'Maybe it was because that's the only time they had off.'
'Maybe,' Hawk said.
'Or not,' I said. 'And why here?'
'Maybe you and me need to figure out what's up out here, 'fore we charge up to the Dell and shoot everybody's ass?'
'What's the most important thing in the desert?' I said.
'Iron Horse Champagne,' Hawk said.
'Next to that,' I said.
'Water.'
'Our client was a geologist whose job it was to find new water sources.'
'And she was boffing the chief of police.'
'Yep.'
'And Ratliff the producer.'
'Yep.'
'And she had enough money to hire you to find out who clipped her hubby.'
'And they all come from L.A.,' I said.
'Where some bad man tries to chase you off the case.'
'And back in Potshot, I prevail over a couple of stiffs from the Dell, and the town fathers treat me like Charlemagne.'
Vinnie had the magazine out of the BAR and was feeding shells into it.
'Costing a lot of money,' Hawk said. 'Support you and me and five tough guys.'
'They could get the Sheriff's Department to clean out the Dell for zip,' I said.
' 'Cept they afraid to testify.'
'So why aren't they afraid to hire us? You think the Dell won't know?'
'So maybe they ain't so scared,' Hawk said.
'Or maybe they are,' I said. 'But there's something at stake that's worth the risk.'
'Which they couldn't get if the cops came in,' Hawk said.
Vinnie put the full clip back in the BAR, worked the action once, caught the ejected shell in midair, took the magazine out, and reloaded the shell.
'Works good,' he said.
Chapter 43
BOBBY HORSE TOOK Hawk and me slowly up the back slope of the hill behind the Dell. It was steep and littered with shale and spiky with dry desert growth. We took two and a half hours to get to the top and another half-hour to reach the rim where the hill dropped off perpendicularly and formed the back wall of the Dell.
