In the kitchen there was milk in the stainless steel refrigerator. I smelled it. Spoiled. The refrigerator reminded me of Susan's. There wasn't much in there. Producers are probably too important to cook, unlike Susan, who was too impatient.
Ratliff had converted what was probably once a dining room into a den. There was an imposing desk in front of the back window. I looked through it, and found nothing much beyond some bills, a couple dozen Bic pens, and a roll of Turns. I punched up his answering machine. There were two calls from Vicki, and no others. I picked up his phone. Dial tone. I browsed his computer. There was an online banking folder, a stationery folder, and a screenplay folder. I opened it. There was a 135-page screenplay titled The Millennium Beast. The title page said it was by Mark Ratliff. The format was very professional. I read a couple of pages. It was horrendous. Ratliff probably had a hit on his hands.
It took me another couple of hours to go through everything in the house. When I finished I went back into his living room and sat on the couch. All I knew for sure was that Ratliff wasn't there. His luggage seemed intact. He hadn't taken his shaving kit. His toothbrush was still in the bathroom, and so was his electric razor. He might have had another piece of luggage. He might have another home fully stocked with razors and toothbrushes. But his car was still in the carport. His keys were still on his bureau.
Ratliff appeared to have left without taking anything, by means unknown, for reasons unknown. At least, unknown to me.
Chapter 58
IT WAS JUST after sunrise. We were at breakfast. Like our ancestors. No television. No night life. We went to bed early and got up early. Bernard had cooked up hash and eggs. Sapp was already on his third coffee.
"When you think the Dell will come?" Sapp said.
He didn't sound apprehensive. He seemed simply curious.
"They come before we're through solving this murder," Hawk said, "we got something to think about. There about forty of them and about seven of us."
"Which is about six to one," I said.
"I'da never figured that out," Hawk said.
"Is it a genetic thing?" I said.
"Yeah. We good at tap dancing, though."
"I figure we need to find a way to make it more even," I said.
"Try to force them to split up?"
"Something like that. So we can end up, say, seven on six, our favor."
"I been thinking the same thing," Chollo said. " 'Cept for the numbers. We no good at numbers either."
"So what are you good at?" I said.
"Playing the guitar, singing sad songs."
"Just what we need."
"Si."
"That's what cavalry is for," Sapp said.
"Cavalry," Bernard said from the stove. "I can't ride no fucking horse."
"Get you a pony," Sapp said.
He looked at me.
"You get what I mean?"
"Yes," I said. "Bring a lot of force to bear on a small section of the enemy by moving a small force around rapidly."
Sapp shot me with his forefinger and thumb. He nodded several times.
"Mobility," he said.
"That what you meant whyn't you say so?" Bernard said. "Stead of that pony shit."
"Who we got for cavalry?" Vinnie said.
"Us," Chollo said.
"So," Hawk said, "we don't figure out what to do with them. We figure out what to do with us."
I put some more ketchup on the hash. You can't have too much ketchup on hash. I ate some and had a bite of toast and a swallow of coffee. Balance is important. I didn't say anything. One of the things I'd learned from Susan was the creative use of silence.
"How about you, Kemo Sabe?" Chollo said to Bobby Horse. "You got any Kiowa battle secrets?"
"Get them to circle the wagons," Bobby Horse said. "And ride around and around them."
"I got firing points laid out," Vinnie said. "So the field of fire covers all the approaches to the house."
"But we stay in the house we still back to six on one," Hawk said.
Vinnie nodded. My breakfast wasn't coming out even. I took another piece of toast from the platter Bernard had put on the table.
"So we need to get out of the house," Chollo said.
"We probably in better shape than they are," Hawk said. "We get higher than them, they going to be laboring they have to chase us uphill."
"Especially," I said, "if they have to chase us a lot."
Chapter 59
I WAS ALONE on the front porch when Dean Walker pulled his cruiser up in front of the house. Hatless, he got out and came up the front walk, his eyes masked behind his aviator shades.
"Holding the fort?" he said.
"Valiantly," I said.
"You still got troops?"
"Yep."
"Handy?"
"Yep."
"Good," Walker said. "You'll need them."
"Because?"
"Because today's the day," Walker said.
"For?"
"For the Dell to come down on you."
"How many?"
"All of them."
"When?"
Walker smiled.
"Can't say for sure," he said. "But they aren't early risers."
"But you know it's today."
"Yeah."
"How would you know that?" I said.
"I'm the police," Walker said.
"And where do you stand?" I said.
"Out of the way," Walker said.
"So why'd you warn me?"
"Civic duty," Walker said.
I nodded. We looked at each other for a moment. Then Walker turned and walked back to his car and got in and drove off. I watched him go. Then I picked up my Winchester and walked up the hill behind the house. The desert was empty, sprawled in harsh metallic silence under the oppressive sun.
Bobby Horse was on lookout with binoculars around his neck and his BAR leaning in the shade of a rock.
"Where's Hawk?" I said.
"Down near the road. They're running things through."
I said, "The Dell's on its way."
Bobby Horse scanned the landscape with his binoculars.
"Don't see them," he said.
I picked up the walkie-talkie from the shade beside the BAR.
"Hawk," I said.
He answered.
"Bring everyone back up to the lookout," I said. "Dell's coming."
"'Bout time," Hawk said.
"After Bobby Horse spots them with the glasses," I said when we were gathered, "it'll take them about fifteen minutes to arrive."
"What if they come another way?" Bernard said.
"There isn't another way," I said, "except over the mountain behind us. They're not that industrious."
Hawk nodded.
"We put Vinnie on the right, Chollo in the center, and Bernard Whosis on the left."
"Fortunato," Bernard said. "Goddamn it, Bernard J. Fortunato."
"Right," Hawk said. "You on the left. Me and Sapp and Bobby Horse start in the center, behind Chollo, and bust our ass left or right, depending on what's going down."
"Like in Zulu," Sapp said.
"Tha's where I learned all my military tactics," Hawk said. "Spenser?"
"I'll freelance," I said.
"I sort of guessed that," Hawk said. "We already have water and ammunition stashed at each firing position."
He had forgotten his jive accent again.
"Drink a lot of water," I said.
"That way," Chollo said, "we run out of ammunition we can piss on them."
"What you gonna do freelancing?" Vinnie said.
"I thought I'd hide under the bed until you guys won," I said.
"We'll let you know," V'mnie said.
"But in case I'm not under the bed," I said, "I'll be down below the house, behind them if they come in."
"And?" Sapp said.
"And I want to be the first one to shoot."
"If possible," Hawk said.
"If possible."
I turned and started down the hill. After ten steps I turned and said to Hawk, "Good hunting."
To my ear I sounded amazingly like Stewart Granger.
Hawk grinned and gave me a thumbs-up.
"Gringos watch too many movies," Chollo said.
"African Americans, too," Hawk said.
"Si."
I went on down the hill.