"No."
"Mr. Tesno I have been asked to run for mayor of this town." Mr. Jay raised his voice for the crowd. "Before I accept, I shall visit Ellensburg and assure myself of the support and the co-operation of the authorities there. I should like to be able to give them the facts about this tragedy. Will you step into the marshal's office and tell me everything you know?"
"It was an ambush. That's all I'll say now."
"Can you prove that, Mr. Tesno?"
"When the time comes, Mr. Jay."
"I was under the impression that you wanted to give the marshal details."
"I wanted to see if he was interested," Tesno said. "He wasn't."
Mr. Jay threw back his head so that his trim little beard seemed to be pointed up at Tesno. There were hollow circles about his eyes, and Tesno thought that the brilliance in them was not entirely the result of emotion. He realized suddenly that the man was under a strain that amounted to illness. Yet his brazen assurance was a formidable thing.
"I don't understand your hostility, sir," Mr. Jay said.
"Willie Silverknife is dead, Mr. Jay. The men who killed him will answer to me."