Brand looked at him very seriously, nodded.

Beery looked disgusted. He leaned toward Kells, muttered: “For God’s sake, Gerry, they’re grooming Shane for a title shot. Do you think they’re going to let an unpopular boogie like Gilroy get anywhere?”

Kells said: “He used to be very good — he can’t have gone as bad as they say in a year. I’ve only seen Shane once and I thought he was lousy...”

“He won, didn’t he?”

“Uh huh.”

Beery was looking at Kells sideways with wide hard eyes.

The man sitting with Brand turned around and drawled: “You don’t happen to have any more Gilroy money, do you?”

Sure.

The man said: “I’ll give you eighteen hundred for a grand.”

Kells nodded.