“How’d the circus wind up?” I asked.
“The coppers shot hell out of them. They got the tip-off half an hour ahead of time, and had the whole neighborhood packed with specials. Seems it was a juicy row while it lasted—no duck soup for the coppers at that. Whisper’s mob, I hear.”
“Yeah. Reno and Pete the Finn tangled tonight. Hear anything about it?”
“Only that they’d had it.”
“Reno killed Pete and ran into an ambush on the getaway. I don’t know what happened after that. Seen Dick?”
“I went up to his hotel and was told he’d checked out to catch the evening train.”
“I sent him back home,” I explained. “He seemed to think I’d killed Dinah Brand. He was getting on my nerves with it.”
“Well?”
“You mean, did I kill her? I don’t know, Mickey. I’m trying to find out. Want to keep riding with me, or want to follow Dick back to the Coast?”
Mickey said:
“Don’t get so cocky over one lousy murder that maybe didn’t happen. But what the hell? You know you didn’t lift her dough and pretties.”
“Neither did the killer. They were still there after eight that morning, when I left. Dan Rolff was in and out between then and nine. He wouldn’t have taken them. The—I’ve got it! The coppers that found the