“You’ve helped eliminate a lot of small fry: Haardt, Perry, O’Donnell — you’ve run Rose out of town and you have the Fenner and Bellmann factions pretty well in hand. You can write your own ticket...”
“You make it sound swell.” Kells poured himself a drink. “What about it?”
“I’m going to cut you in.”
Kells widened his eyes extravagantly. “What do you mean — cut me in?”
“I’m going to clean up all the loose ends and turn the whole business over to you...”
Kells said: “My, my — isn’t that dandy!” He put the full glass down on the desk. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Crotti flicked the ashes from his cigar, leaned forward.
“Listen,” he said. “Things are pretty hot back East. I’ve been running a couple ships up here with stuff from Mexico for a year. Now, I’m going to move all my interests here, the whole layout. I’m going to take over the coast.”
“And?...”
“And you’re in.”