“Suit yourself.”
I went on to Ben: “He made the five-grand offer for your hide, in Luke’s name, tonight — and he gave me the Four-mile steer...” I hesitated a moment. “Only you wouldn’t try three in the same spot, would you?”
Ben finally got his smile working. He started to say something but I interrupted him:
“Stokes told me you rubbed the two boys on the trucks, too.”
Ben’s smile went out like a light. He said: “Stokes shot both those men himself — and there wasn’t any need for it. They were lined up alongside the road...”
Something in the soft way he said it made it sound good.
I said: “He’ll be around your place — no?”
“He went home.”
Ben gave me the number and I called up, but there wasn’t any answer.
We sat there without saying anything for several minutes, and then the door downstairs opened and closed and somebody came up.