“So you and Noonan are trying to paste his brother’s death on me?”

“It doesn’t need pasting. It’s a natural.”

He curved his thin lips at me and said:

“You’re as crooked as he is.”

I said:

“You know better. I played your side when he tried to frame you. This time he’s got you copped to rights.”

Dinah Brand flared up again, waving her arms in the center of the room, storming:

“Get out of here, the whole lot of you. Why should I give a Goddamn about your troubles? Get out.”

The blond kid who had sapped Rolff squeezed past Jerry and came grinning into the room. He caught one of the girl’s flourished arms and bent it behind her.