Hunter frowned and said, “Yes.”

“Were you close? Intimate?”

“We broke up a short time after that, but yeah, at the time of the shooting, we were close. What do you think they can do with that?”

“They can say there was a cover-up. It’s what I would do. They’re saying Julian was unarmed, that you shot him in cold blood, that you mutilated him, that you planted the dope in the false bed, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the Sheriff helped you because you two were lovers.”

“Truman, if there was a cover-up, don’t you think the first thing would be to put a gun in his hand? If I was gonna do something, that would’ve been what I’d have done.”

“I’m just trying to prepare for all the possibilities. Remember, they didn’t find any fingerprints on any of the heroin, either, just smudges.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“You remember seeing a guitar in the front of his truck?”

Hunter looked at Truman, “Yeah…”

“I hear the woman is going to swear they were up there so ol’ El Lobo could serenade her and the boy while the sun came up.”

“What? Why?”

“Because he was trying to woo her back.”

“Truman, what are you talking about?”

“Well, you know that song, El Lobo Y La Tejana.”

Hunter blushed. Ohh, she was mad, “Go on.”

“Right after the shooting that song was real popular, then died off a little, and now, with the trial coming up, it’s back on the air. Number One With A Bullet, as they say. Hunter, it’s the number one song in Mexico and in half the Central American counties as well.”

“So you’re leading up to something?”

“I found out last night that El Lobo’s widow is getting a nice percentage off the record sales. She’s scheduled for talk shows and exclusives in the papers. She’s saying it’s true, the song is true, and that you and El Lobo were having a torrid affair, but when he broke it off to win back his true love, namely her, you tried to kill her and her son, and El Lobo sacrificed himself to save them, just like in the song. They even have a movie deal, script and everything, with Garcia as the hero.”

“You’re kidding.”

“Don’t I wish. Univision is airing a special interview with her tonight. It’ll be all over the media tomorrow.”

“And what are we gonna do to counter that?”

“I’ll come up with something. I’m still playing catch-up on this, and I’ve got some things I have to find out before I’m fully loaded.”

“The trial starts Monday, Truman. Less than a week.”

“I kno

w, I know. I’ve got some feelers out, some people who are not above telling me what Ronnie’s working on, what angles he’s most likely to try first.”

“You’ve got somebody in Ronnie’s office that’s spying for you?”

“I wouldn’t exactly call it spying. More like leveling the playing field.” The restaurant was filling up, and Truman took out a twenty and put it on top of the bill. “Let’s get to the office and go over a couple of things, then you can truck back to Marfa.”

***

By lunch, they had finished going over her reports and the FBI’s investigation. There were no surprises, but the lack of a weapon and the potential for Monday-morning quarterbacking on her actions would be weak points, and Truman assured her Ronnie would zero in on them. Hunter was ready to leave when the phone rang.

“Truman Fortis here. Yes she is.” he handed the phone to her, “For you,” he said.

Tags: Billy Kring Thriller
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