“Get out of here, Cyril,” Hollins said, “before I have to bring you in.” He jerked his head to the right. The gesture said, There will be another time. The gesture said, The sheriff is watching.

Ram could see its effect sweep through the crowd. The men looked at each other. “Go on now,” Deputy Hollins said. “This ain’t the proper time nor place.” Their feet shuffled. Some of them began to move.

“This ain’t the last of this, Sheriff,” the man named Cyril called out. “Hollins, I expected different from you—I thought you were one of us.”

“Whether he’s one of you or not don’t make no difference, Cyril,” the sheriff said, “he’s a man of the law.” Ram saw the sheriff look at his deputy, but Hollins looked away.

“You too, Ram Singh,” the sheriff said. “You and your people get on along. I don’t need any trouble on your end. All you men stay away from each other. If I hear one thing happening between any of the men in this county tonight, I’ll drag you in and slam you all into the jailhouse together and ship you off to L.A. in the morning. You won’t have no judge or jury or nothin’.”

“Sure, Sheriff,” one of the Anglos said. Some had already started up the road.

Sheriff Fielding opened the door and gestured for Hollins to go back in. The sheriff remained outside a few moments, making sure the men dispersed.

The Punjabis began to walk back toward their vehicles. Ram turned to follow them.

“Ram,” the sheriff called out again. “Over here.” He stayed on the boardwalk and waited for Ram to draw near.

“You know something I don’t about Clive Edgar? He have a gun?”

“No.” Ram swallowed, surprised at the quick lie. “I don’t know, sir.”

The sheriff stared at him, as if sizing him up. “We found three Spics near the property and questioned them. They told me they hadn’t seen a thing. Couldn’t find any more.”

Ram made himself look into the sheriff’s face.

“Two days from now, Karak’s going to be charged with murder. He keeps saying Clive had a gun, but we didn’t find a gun there.” The sheriff looked him in the eye. “Could be the difference between him hanging or not hanging.”

Ram felt his mouth go dry. His heart beat loudly in his ears.

“That means either he’s lying, or there’s a gun around that got taken or lost. You want to save your friend’s life, you might see if someone knows something about that.”

“Sheriff,” Ram said. He had to close his eyes. When he opened them, the sheriff was still staring at him, assessing.

“You and your friends make yourself scarce. I don’t want to hear no more from you tonight.”