He bought a coke in the general store and smoked a cigarette. It might be that Barnard was threatened. Or it might be that his wife was plaguing him. Gautier might have been right. He liked the lawyer, but as Joan said once, he liked everyone with the possible exception of Mayor Altman. He was as gregarious as a terrier. He liked Gautier and he knew nothing about him except that he opposed the county machine and that Andy trusted him. He was getting another blind spot. If Andy liked somebody that made him aces. Suddenly something occurred to him. Gautier was the only one who knew Andy wanted a lawyer, at least the only one known to Alex. He ground out the half smoked cigarette beneath his heel and went outdoors. He could drive himself crazy following one suspicion after another. He stood on the porch steps waiting for the bus. A woman, obviously waiting for it too, was trying to handle a crate of eggs and a two-year-old boy. He wondered why she didn’t put at least one of them down. It was drizzling again.
