“Don’t say them. I’m doing this because I need all the friends I can get. When the time comes that you sit in with me and Whisper and Pete, I don’t expect the sour end of it.”

“You won’t get it,” I promised. “Who’s going to be chief of police?”

“McGraw’s acting chief. He’ll likely cinch it.”

“How’ll he play?”

“With the Finn. Rough stuff will hurt his shop just like it does Pete’s. It’ll have to be hurt some. I’d be a swell mutt to sit still while a guy like Whisper is on the loose. It’s me or him. Think he croaked the broad?”

“He had reason enough,” I said as I gave him the slip of paper on which I had written my name. “She double-crossed him, sold him out, plenty.”

“You and her was kind of thick, wasn’t you?” he asked.