there’s something there. I’ll have to look it up. What started me thinking about you was that you never tried to get any more money out of the girl.”
“Cut it out,” he begged. “You know there ain’t any sense to it. What would I have hung around afterwards for? I’d have been out getting an alibi, like Whisper.”
“Why? You were a dick then. Close by was the spot for you—to see that everything went right—handle it yourself.”
“You know damned well it don’t hang together, don’t make sense. Cut it out, for God’s sake.”
“I don’t mind how goofy it is,” I said. “It’s something to put to Noonan when we get back. He’s likely all broken up over Whisper’s crush-out. This will take his mind off it.”
MacSwain got down on his knees in the muddy alley and cried:
“Oh, Christ, no! He’d croak me with his hands.”
“Get up and stop yelling,” I growled. “Now will you give it to me straight?”
He whined: “He’d croak me with his hands.”
“Suit yourself. If you won’t talk, I will, to Noonan. If you’ll come through to me, I’ll do what I can for you.”
“What can you do?” he asked hopelessly, and started sniveling again. “How do I know you’ll try to do anything?”
I risked a little truth on him:
“You said you had a hunch what I’m up to here in Poisonville. Then you ought to know that it’s my play to keep Noonan and Whisper split.