Nope. Zendo was truly trying to do the right thing.

Did the baby belong to the woman, and if so, why were the bodies found so far apart in time?

What was the oil about?

Why Zendo’s field?

And why would anyone bury a body straight down, like a post?

Sunset tapped the pencil on the table, finally pulled paper in front of her and wrote down the day’s events. She tried to remember everything said and done.

When she finished writing, she had the sinking feeling that she didn’t have idea one where to go next with this investigation.

Investigation.

Damn, she thought. I’m investigating. I’m like a detective.

Hell. I am the law. Me. Sunset Jones. The law. Constable Sunset, you bet your ass.

But she still didn’t know what to do.

When Clyde’s drunk began to wear off, he awoke with a headache and the stinking smell of smoke in his nose. He looked at the ruins of his house. He didn’t feel quite as happy about what he had done as before, but, on the other hand, he wasn’t depressed either.

Well, no more than before he burned down his house.

Just thinking about Sunset and knowing he and she were about as likely as shooting a duck and having it hit the ground dressed and ready to be eaten.

He studied the smoldering ruins a while, then got up. When he did, it was like a shot went through his body and blew out the top of his head.

Whisky.

Bad idea, he thought. Bad idea.

Clyde sat for a while longer, and as the day grew cooler he grew restless and stronger and courageous enough to stand. He went to the well, cranked up a bucket of water and poured it over his head. He did this twice. He pulled up some more and drank from the bucket, poured the rest over his head.

He took out his pocket comb and combed his hair by feel and hoped he didn’t look too ridiculous. He started walking down the path that led to the main road. He hadn’t intended to do it, but all of a sudden he was walking, and at a brisk pace. As he walked, his head seemed to bob, as if it were about to come loose at the neck. The inside of his skull felt as if someone had held a rodeo there.

The day was so hot that by the time he reached the road his hair was already beginning to dry, and long before he reached his destination, the water that had spilled on his shirt and pants was dry as well.

It took him about two hours to get within reasonable distance of Sunset’s place, and before he turned the corner that led to the last stretch of road that ran up to it, he saw Hillbilly come out of the woods, Karen beside him.

Hillbilly was smiling and Karen was laughing. Hillbilly stopped near the road and picked limbs and grass off the back of Karen’s dress, and when he finished, Karen leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. He took her hand and held it, and finally she stretched away from him, letting her hand stay in his until she just had to let go. She turned, started back in the direction of the tent.

Hillbilly stood for a while, watching Karen retreat. Finally, when Karen was around the curve, he turned, unzipped his fly and began to pee.

Clyde, standing still at the edge of the road, partially concealed by bushes, hadn’t been seen.

He waited a moment, and when Hillbilly fastened up his pants, Clyde stepped out of concealment, walked over to him.

“What in hell are you doing here?” Hillbilly said.

“Walking.”

“I see that. Why?”

“I burned my house down.”

“What?”

“Burned it down.”

“How did that happen?”

“I set it on fire.”

“You set it on fire?”

“That’s right. You ain’t got no place to come back to now, Hillbilly. You’re going to have to do otherwise. All I got now is a tarp and some of my stuff under it.”

“Why in the world would you burn your house down?”

“I got tired of it. I seen Karen kissing you.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“Hey, just an innocent peck on the cheek.”

“It looked more like a thank-you, if you know what I mean.”

“Hell, girl’s old enough to make her own decisions.”

“Some slick talker like you, she’s young enough to be thinking she’s making decisions you’re making for her.”

“I said she was old enough and I could do what I wanted, but I didn’t say anything happened. You’re jumping to conclusions. Hell, man, you been drinking. You smell like a barroom floor.”

“Sunset likes you.”

“I know that.”

“That’s her daughter.”

“I know that too.”

“You ain’t easy to reach, are you, Hillbilly?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Ain’t you got feelings?”

“Plenty of them.”

“Just all of them are for you.”

“It’s that way with everyone, Clyde. Lot of people think they’re generous, put others before them, but it ain’t true. Not really. I’m just watching out for myself. That little girl wants to give me a peck on the cheek, or anything else, that’s up to her. I want to let her, that’s up to me.”

“You think you’re special, don’t you, Hillbilly?”

“I think I got to do what I got to do, and that’s all I think.”

“Don’t come back to my place tonight.”

“No reason to. You burned it down. I’m going to go for a little walk. Tell Sunset I’ll be back in a shake. While you’re at it, ask her about the body we found today.”

“Body?”

Hillbilly went to the road, started walking in the opposite direction of Sunset’s tent. He paused, turned, said, “Hope you didn’t burn your house down just to get rid of me. All you had to do was ask. Besides, even if you start fresh, which is what I figure you think you’re doing, get a new hat and a close shave, it won’t make any difference. She still won’t be interested, friend. You’ll still be you.”

“You don’t know nothing,” Clyde said.

“Hell, I know that much.”

Clyde arrived at Sunset’s tent and Ben came up and smelled him. Clyde gave Ben a pat, went inside. Karen was sitting in a chair with a book in her lap. She was looking into space in a dreamy way. She didn’t even notice Clyde until he spoke to her.

“Oh, hi, Clyde. Mama’s on the other side.”

Clyde went around the curtain, found Sunset at the table, writing furiously on a yellow pad.She looked at him when he came in, held up a wait-a-minute finger, and continued writing.

Clyde took a chair, watched her write. He liked watching her do most anything. Her hair was so red and long and smooth, flame-like, but much prettier in color than the fire that had licked his home to death. Her face was smooth and pink-cheeked and she had about the most beautiful nose and mouth he had ever seen. He really liked her mouth. Last night, in his dreams, her mouth had played a prominent part. He even liked the way her feet fit in her work boots; there was something so damn cute about those little feet in those work boots. And that thick gun belt. He shouldn’t think of that as cute, but he did. If she had suddenly bent over and farted out “Old Man River” to the beat of her tapping feet, he knew he would have found that cute as well.

Cute. He had never even let the word run around in his mind before.

“You been building a fire, burning brush?” Sunset asked.

“Something like that. Hillbilly said he’d be back in a few shakes.”

Clyde thought about what he had seen, realized he hadn’t really seen anything. He thought he ought to say something anyway, but wasn’t sure what to say. All he had seen was a kiss, and on the cheek.

“Oh, has Karen come back?” Sunset asked.

“Yeah. She’s on the other side, sitting with a book. Hillbilly told me to ask about the body you found.”

“I was just writing about it. Zendo found it.”

“Another one?”

“Not a baby this time.” And Sunset told him all about it.

When she finished, she said, “Hillbilly thinks Zendo might be involved.”

“He ain’t.”