“It’s underwear about as wide as dental floss,” Maggie said.

“Ouch,” Brandon said.

“You got that right,” Maggie said.

Brandon made a face and dug into the chips, Quinn thinking back on the lie E. J. Royce had repeated about the standards at the El Dorado, a rat jumping out and scurrying back to the kitchen. Had to have been some bad blood between him and Javier, Royce claiming Javier had brought the Cartel to Tibbehah County some years ago. There had been some activity, but it didn’t have a damn thing to do with Javier, a hardworking good man who kept his restaurant running on the town square back when everything else left. The Cartel had come to town at the invitation of Quinn’s childhood buddy Donnie Varner. Donnie, now in prison, wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

Javier brought them big plates of food, carne asada for Quinn, a veggie burrito for Maggie, and a plate of beef tacos for Brandon. Just as Quinn began to eat, he watched Tashi Coleman walk in the restaurant and head toward their table. He had a stack of notes from Cleotha to call Tashi back, but it had been a busy morning. Steam floated up off the tortillas, a roasted jalapeño at the edge of his refried beans.

“Shit,” Quinn said.

Brandon looked up with a grin. He loved to hear Quinn cuss because he so seldom did. Quinn left that to the bad guys and Lillie Virgil, Lillie being a master at the art of cussing.

“I left you five messages at the sheriff’s office,” Tashi Coleman said. “When I drove by, I saw your truck and decided to take a chance.”

“Maggie,” Quinn said. “You know Tashi Coleman?”

Maggie nodded. She’d done two interviews with Coleman since the crew had come down from New York. Maggie said she actually kind of liked the women and greatly admired what they were trying to do. Quinn didn’t ask her much more about it, letting it be Maggie’s personal deal, doing what she could about Brandon Taylor’s death.

“I wouldn’t bother you if this wasn’t important.”

“We still don’t have an ID on the body,” Quinn said. “State sometimes takes months. I’ll call you when I hear something.”

“Finding that body at the Pennington property brings up a lot of questions.”

“And I’ll answer them when or if I know more.”

“How in the world did you even know it was there?”

Quinn looked over at Maggie and then pointed to the empty spot beside him. “Have you eaten?” Quinn said. “Javier has carnitas with chile verde today. It’s hard to beat.”

“Can we speak in private?” Tashi said. “Just for a moment?”

“Will you be recording it?”

“We always record what we do,” she said. “But not here. With your family. I’m not here to make trouble, Sheriff Colson.”