Hawk nodded and finished his half donut. He took a sip of his coffee.
'Even though she cute and got a blond ponytail?'
'That usually eliminates a suspect,' I said. 'But somebody killed Buckman.'
Dean Walker slipped into the booth next to me. He was looking clean and shiny. His uniform shirt was freshly pressed. He took his hat off and laid it crown down on the table in front of him.
'How're the donuts?' he said.
'No such thing as a bad donut,' Hawk said.
He gestured at the waitress and she brought him coffee without further instruction.
'Did you have a little incident this morning?' Walker said to me.
'Big incident,' I said.
'Pretty good,' he said.
'You witness any of it?' I said.
Walker smiled.
'They're not going to let it go,' he said.
'Probably not.'
'There's seven of you,' Walker said.
'You counted.'
'There's about forty of them.'
'Preacher says he didn't shoot Steve Buckman.'
'Preacher ain't the most honest guy,' Walker said.
'Nor the nicest,' I said. 'But what if he were telling the truth.'
'Then it must have been somebody else,' Walker said.
'That's why you're chief of police,' I said.
'Nothing like a trained professional,' Walker said. 'What are you going to do about the Dell?'
'Wait and watch,' I said.
'You ought to leave,' he said.
I shrugged.
'You won't,' Walker said. 'Will you?'
I shook my head. Hawk was on his last donut. He seemed to be paying no attention. Which was, of course, a deception. Hawk paid attention to everything.
'Second best suggestion,' Walker said. 'Don't wait for them. Try to hit them first. I guarantee they're coming.'
'Been urging that same course of action,' Hawk said.
'You think Mary Lou might have killed her husband?'
'No.'
'She might have,' I said.
No.'
'Who's your candidate?' I said.
'If it wasn't the Dell?'
'Yeah.'
'Might have been Ratliff.'
'The producer?'
'Yeah. He followed her out here.'
'Why?'
He didn't answer. He took a sip of his coffee, shook his head slightly and stirred more sugar into his cup.
'Unrequited love?' I said.
'He had an affair with her in L.A. It didn't mean anything. She and Steve were having a little trouble at the time.'
'Last time I mentioned it,' I said, 'you said it was a lie.'
'Did I say that?'
'You did.'
'Probably before I learned the truth.'
