“We had the meeting at Willsson’s tonight. It was a nice party. Pretending I was trying to clear away everybody’s misunderstandings by coming clean all around, I stripped Noonan naked and threw him to them⁠—him and Reno. That broke up the meeting. Whisper declared himself out. Pete told everybody where they stood. He said battling was bad for his bootlegging racket, and anybody who started anything from then on could expect to have his booze guards turned loose on them. Whisper didn’t look impressed. Neither did Reno.”

“They wouldn’t be,” the girl said. “What did you do to Noonan? I mean how did you strip him and Reno?”