'The Dell,' I said.
'No. The Dell? No, I don't know anything about that.'
'I'm telling you,' J. George said. 'Steve Buckman didn't have an enemy in the world.'
'He had one,' I said.
'He did?'
'George,' Bebe said. 'Somebody shot him.'
'Oh, yes, sure thing. I'm starting to slow down, I guess.'
Again I saw Bebe smile at her private joke.
'How was the marriage?' I said.
'Far's I know solid as a rock,' J. George said. 'You know about his marriage, Bebe. You're friendly with Lou.'
He was getting jolly again. Old J. George, looked fat and jolly. Probably light on his feet. Probably a ton of laughs at Rotary Club. Probably steal your children in a real estate deal.
'Lou?' I said.
'Lou Buckman,' J. George said. 'His wife. Didn't she hire you?'
I smiled. Enigmatic.
'They get along?' I said to Bebe.
'Like George and I,' she said.
'That well,' I said.
'Oh sure,' J. George said. 'Been together for, well never mind.' He laughed. 'Don't want to give our age away. We got married when she was nineteen.'
'Wow,' I said. 'Twenty years.'
Bebe smiled almost genuinely.
'How gallant,' she said. 'Why are you asking about Lou?'
'Just doing the drill,' I said. 'A spouse dies, the surviving spouse is automatically suspect.'
'Cherchez la femme,' Bebe said, and pleased with herself.
'Oui,' I said.
'You going to be in town long, Mr. Spenser?' J. George said.
'Awhile,' I said. 'Could you tell me any people that Buckman was close to in town? People I might talk with?'
'Bebe could do that for you. She really knew him better than I did.'
I'll bet she did.
'Want to give him a list, Bebe?' J. George said. 'Just so you are, you know, circumspect and… I wouldn't want people we know to be pestered.'
'I'll try not to pester,' I said.
'I don't know why you need this stuff,' J. George said. 'It was some thug from the Dell, anyway.'
'No doubt,' I said. 'But which one? I'm just looking for information.'
Bebe got out a sheet of paper and thought and wrote and thought and wrote. J. George and I sat silently while she wrote, both of us watching her as if it were interesting. When she was through she handed it to me.
'I'm sure it's not everybody,' she said. 'But it's who I could think of.'
'Thank you,' I said.
'Anything I can do,' she said.
I nodded. The words had an ulterior ring to them, as if they meant more than they seemed to.
'Well anything you need. Bebe and I know pretty much everything goes on around here.'
'Except who shot Steve Buckman,' I said.
'Except that,' J. George said.
He stood. He was taller than I'd thought. Maybe because he was wearing tan snakeskin cowboy boots. Authentic. I stood and shook hands with him. Bebe stood when I did.
'Sit still, George,' she said. 'I'll walk him to the door.'
She did. When I stepped out onto the covered porch, the heat rammed into me like a physical thing. Bebe stepped out with me.
'Do you get used to the heat?' I said.
'I like heat,' she said.
