“Thank you. I’m Brother John McMurdo, Lodge 29, Chicago. Bodymaster J.H. Scott. But I am in luck to meet a brother so early.”
“Well, there are plenty of us about. You won’t find the order more flourishing anywhere in the States than right here in Vermissa Valley. But we could do with some lads like you. I can’t understand a spry man of the union finding no work to do in Chicago.”
“I found plenty of work to do,” said McMurdo.
“Then why did you leave?”
McMurdo nodded towards the policemen and smiled. “I guess those chaps would be glad to know,” he said.
Scanlan groaned sympathetically. “In trouble?” he asked in a whisper.
“Deep.”
“A penitentiary job?”
“And the rest.”
“Not a killing!”