El Gavilan Read Online Free PDF Page B

“No. I appreciate it very much, Patricia, but no thank you. Please bring me the check.”
    “It’s a one-time thing. A welcome-to-town thing, Chief Lyon,” Patricia said.
    “I’m off duty, and it’s Tell. And, please, Patricia, I really need to pay.”
    She smiled. “Suit yourself. I’ll have your server bring it.” She hesitated again. He was aware of her checking his left hand once more. “Do you have any friends in town, Tell?”
    “Just you,” Tell said, not sure why he was flirting with her like this.
    Turning, she bumped into someone. She said, “Shawn!” The youngish, sandy-haired stranger moved to kiss Patricia and she turned her head so he caught her cheek. Tell smiled, guessing she was embarrassed by her boyfriend’s public display of affection. And “boyfriend” he surely was. Shawn slipped his arm around Patricia, his left hand settling familiarly on her shapely hip.
    Disappointed, Tell thought to himself,
Just a callow young dude marking territory
. The stranger seemed boyish. Patricia seemed an old soul. Tell scented an uneasy match.
    “Shawn, this is Chief Tell Lyon,” Patricia said. “Chief, this is Shawn O’Hara. Shawn is editor of the
New Austin Recorder
, the weekly newspaper here in town.”
    “Right, your favorite newspaper,” Tell said to Patricia.
    Shawn scowled. “You two know one another?”
    “For all of a minute,” Tell said. “Met Patricia just before I met you.”
    Shawn offered a hand. “Didn’t realize you were in town yet, Chief.”
    “Got in last night,” Tell said, shaking Shawn’s hand. “Today was the first day on the job, and a long one.”
Not much of a handshake there
, Tell thought. He let go of Shawn’s hand and said, “Editor, huh?”
    “Yeah, but also reporter,” Shawn said. “Photographer … Hell, layout artist. That’s the way with weeklies. It’s a small operation. Could you make some time for me tomorrow, Chief? Like to interview you now that you’re on the job.”
    “Sure, if I can’t talk you out of that, Shawn. I’m no publicity seeker.”
    “New chief of police, well, people are going to want to know more about you.”
    Tell said, “Any preview questions you can share with me so I can mull answers overnight?”
    “Only one: The big issue in New Austin and greater Horton County these days is immigration, immigration and immigration. So you being an ex-Border Patrol agent makes it more interesting for my readers, right?”
    Tell said, “Suppose it could look like that.”
    Patricia patted Tell’s shoulder; Shawn frowned. She said, “Uh oh, here comes trouble.”
    Tell saw a husky, gray-haired man in gray slacks and a sports jacket headed their way. Patricia whispered to Tell, “That’s Horton County Sheriff Able Hawk.”
    Hawk slapped Shawn’s back and said, “My favorite New Austin reporter. How you doin’, kiddo?”
    Shawn introduced Patricia as his “girlfriend” and Tell saw her flinch at the term. The editor was about to introduce Tell when Hawk stepped around Shawn and extended a big hand. Tell slid out of his booth and took Able’s hand. “I know this one,” Able said, grinning. “Or I know
about
this one. I’ve been reading up on you since Shawn’s article about your hiring, Chief Lyon.”
    “Call me Tell,” Lyon said.
    “Only if you call me Able.”
    “My pleasure to meet you, Sheriff,” Tell said. Tell was amused—Able was squeezing hard, trying to outgrip him. Tell squeezed back just enough to keep it even. They broke off the childish handshake. Tell sat back down, then resisted squirming as a half-smiling Able Hawk eyed those three large margarita glasses, his light gray eyes then shifting focus to Tell’s uniform.
Goddamn it
.
    A busboy was a booth back, cleaning up the table behind Tell’s. The chief sensed Patricia sensing his own discomfort. She picked up his two empty glasses and passed them to the busboy. She said, “
Raoul, uno Texas margarita on the rocks,
por favor
.” Then she