“I am.” He half-rose from his seat and held out his hand, which I shook. “You’re Kinsey. Jake called me last night and told me you’d be in. Have you had breakfast yet?”

“I just finished.”

He sat down again. “In that case, you can join me for a cup of coffee. Slide in.”

I eased into the booth across from him. “Congratulations on the Moon. It’s a great restaurant, and what a crowd.”

“Weekends are even busier. Of course, we’re the only game in town so that doesn’t hurt. First thing we did when we took possession was we bought a liquor license. We remodeled and expanded in the late fifties and then again about five years back. Before that the Moon was just a hole in the wall-beer and wine with a few prepackaged snacks, pretzels, potato chips, things like that. The clientele was mostly locals. We might get someone in from Orcutt or Cromwell, sometimes a few from Santa Maria, but that was about it. You enjoy your dinner?”

“I did. The steak was fabulous.”

The waitress appeared with a coffeepot and mugs. She and BW got into a minor conversation while she poured coffee. “Your order’s coming right up,” she said, and moved away.

He smiled. “I’m a creature of habit. Eat the same thing every day. Same time, same place.” He added cream to his coffee and then picked up three packets of sweetener and flapped them briefly before he tore off the tops. I watched five seconds’ worth of chemicals disappear into his cup. “So you’re making the rounds, asking about Violet. Must be frustrating.”

“Monotonous is more like it. People are trying to be helpful, but information is scarce and the story tends to be the same. Violet had a trashy reputation and Foley beat her. Try to make something out of that.”

“I don’t have much to add. I saw the two of them three and four nights a week, sometimes together, sometimes one or the other alone, but usually half in the bag.”

“So if Violet picked up a stranger, you’d have known about it?”

“You bet, and so would everyone else. People frequented the Moon because they knew the place. We were too small and too far out of the way to attract tourists or traveling salesmen.”

“Did you work every night?”

“I’d take a day off now and then, but I was pretty much the man in charge. The guy who spelled me, if I was sick or out of town, died a long time ago. Who else have you talked to?”

I rattled off the list of names and watched him nod in agreement.

“Sounds right. None of them could help?”

“That remains to be seen. I’m collecting bits and pieces, but I have no idea if anything I’ve picked up is relevant. Do you remember your reaction when you heard she was gone?”