The Preacher's empty eyes held on me.
'No,' I said.
He nodded slowly.
'We like what we got,' The Preacher said. 'We can live off this town forever, we don't use it up.'
'So you didn't want to drive people out.'
'Not till we got all there was.'
'And Tannenbaum didn't like it.'
'Fuck him,' The Preacher said.
In the silence I could hear my own breathing. I felt stiff with tension. But I held still. Everyone was probably as tight as I was. I didn't want to start the shooting.
Carefully I said, 'Who killed Steve Buckman?'
'Don't know.'
'You got any connection with Mrs. Buckman?'
The Preacher made a cackling sound. It might have been a laugh.
'I'd like one,' he said. 'How about you, Pony? You like to make a connection with Mrs. Buckman?'
Pony was stock-still with the muzzle of Hawk's gun still against his forehead. It was a big gun, a.44 Magnum, with a stainless-steel finish that made it glitter in the brutal sunshine. Neither of them had moved since the event began.
'Guess Pony ain't talking,' The Preacher said.
'Thanks for your help,' I said. 'Time to go.'
'Maybe we don't think so,' The Preacher said.
'Maybe we don't care,' I said.
The Preacher glanced slowly around at the circumstances. They were not to his advantage.
'Things start,' The Preacher said. 'We kill you first.'
'We'll go together,' I said.
The Preacher nodded, still assessing.
'We'll go,' he said.
'Stay away from the town,' I said.
The Preacher gave me another one of those amused rattlesnake stares. Then he nodded at the other men. And they got back in their vehicles. As they drove away, the muscles that had been so tight now became so loose I felt like I ought to lie down. Decompensating. The sound of the two vehicles faded. Sapp tossed his shotgun onto the back seat of his car and got in the driver's side. Bernard J. Fortunato got in with him. Chollo got in with Bobby Horse. Vinnie closed his hotel window and appeared a minute later with the rifle in a gun case. He got in with Chollo and Bobby Horse. The two cars pulled away. Hawk let the hammer back down on his big stainless-steel revolver and slid it back into its holster. He grinned at me.
'Cool,' he said.
Chapter 53
THE RATTLESNAKE CAFE served donuts. Hawk had four, and coffee. I wasn't hungry yet. I had coffee.
'You know he ain't going to let this go,' Hawk said.
I nodded.
'Why he told you all that stuff. 'Cause he going to kill you.'
'And you,' I said.
'And everybody else,' Hawk said. 'So he don't care what he says to you.'
'Which means he probably told the truth.'
'Probably,' Hawk said.
'Which means maybe Steve Buckman wasn't killed by the Dell.'
Hawk broke a donut in half and took a significant bite.
'How 'bout the Saguaro Development Corporation?'
'Why would they kill him?'
'I just the hired hard case,' Hawk said. 'You the sleuth.'
'They seem to be players,' I said.
'Anybody in Saguaro Development got the balls to do it?'
'Mary Lou,' I said.
