Shane said: “Did you see Rigas go in?”
The youth shook his head. “No — an’ my partner swears he didn’t go in while he was on watch. He must’ve gone in the back way.”
Shane took a cigar out of a blue leather case, bit off the end, lighted it. “And you say you were figuring you were wrong about thinking you’d seen her?”
The youth laughed. “Yeah — that’s what I figured then. But that ain’t what I figure now.”
“Why not?”
“Because I pride myself, Mister Shane, on being able to look at a dame what is supposed to have just bumped a guy off, an’ knowing whether she did it or not. That’s why I’m in the business.” He turned his head and looked very seriously at Shane.
Shane smiled faintly in the darkness.
The youth said: “It wasn’t McLean.” He said it very positively.
Shane said: “Why didn’t you tell the Captain about this?”
“Christ! We got to protect our clients.”