The sergeant pushed back his chair and looked over at Hook. “Well, that about covers it, then. You satisfied, Mr. Hook?”

“Miss Madera knows when I’ll be satisfied,” he said.

She did not look up at him. “You’ll be staying on here, then?”

“For a while, yes.”

Grunting like a hog, Rider heaved himself to his feet. “Oh, I’m not so sure about that,” he mused. “I think maybe we can talk Mr. Hook into letting us do our job without his help. After all, he’s got a lot of cattle to take care of back there in Illinois. Isn’t that right, Mr. Hook?”

Hook did not answer. He was watching Miss Madera, who had gotten to her feet now too. She asked the sergeant if that was all, and he said yes, he thought it was.

“Then I’ll be leaving,” she said. “I hope I’ve helped you.”

Rider said that she had, and thanked her for coming in. She left without glancing at Hook.

As the door closed behind her, the sergeant shook his head approvingly. “One very snazzy young lady there,” he said.

“One very competent liar.”

Rider made a face. “Maybe so, maybe not.”

“You know she’s lying as well as I do.”

“I know I’d like to handle the case alone. Without your help.”

Hook ignored the request. “You know where she’s headed now?”

The sergeant was gathering up a few papers, apparently getting ready to leave. “I got a pretty good idea.”

“She stopped there on the way here.”

“And why shouldn’t she? Her lady friend works there. And so does the man she sleeps with.”

“He came outside with her as she left. Gave her last-minute instructions. He seemed kind of desperate.”

Rider had his papers all in a folder now. “I’ve got to leave. You sure you don’t want to say goodbye? For good, I mean?”

“Did you check him out—find out where he was at the time of Chris’s death?” His last time in Rider’s office, a week ago, Hook had informed the sergeant what the busboy had told him about Douglas, and that it would be a good idea to find out if the man had an alibi. Rider had not liked the idea then, and he did not like it now.

“Look, will you forget about him? I told you last week that was a dead issue, and it still is. The man is clean. In another year he’ll probably be our congressman, for Christ sake. And if you think I’m gonna blow him out of the water simply because he likes to step out a little, then you got another think coming.”

Rider’s vehemence surprised Hook. The sergeant’s face had reddened and he had folded his arms tightly across his chest, as if to keep himself from doing anything violent.

But Hook kept his voice level, unexcited. “Did you check him out or not?”

“I said he was clean, didn’t I? So yes, we checked him out.”

“He has an alibi, then?”