She shrugged.
‘There’s not much more. I thought if I could only see Lee I might persuade him to come back to me. I found out he was going to Ocean End, and I went there to see him. That’s when I met you, and heard he was supposed to have been kidnapped. He hasn’t been kidnapped, has he?’
‘No. But by faking his own kidnapping he collected five hundred thousand dollars off Serena, and that ain’t hay. The last time I saw him he was staying with Barratt.’
‘I’ve read about that. It’s just the kind of thing he would get away with. Well, that’s about all. I knew Barratt kept his main supply of reefers in the mine. Joe and I hooked up together. I wanted to get even with Barratt. My idea was to burn the stock: it’s worth thousands, but Joe has other ideas. He’s planned to hi-jack the stuff and start an organization of his own. Dope smuggling’s too dirty for me. I’ve had enough of it. Joe won’t get anywhere. He hasn’t the brain for the work. I’m quitting. He’s getting ideas about me.’ Her mouth curled. ‘A woman can’t live under the same roof with a man for long. Sooner or later, he makes a pest of himself.’
‘Some women can,’ I said and grinned at her.
Then suddenly, without warning, the distant sound of gunfire brought us both to our feet.
‘What’s that?’ Mary asked sharply, running to the window.
‘Maybe the cops are chasing Joe,’ I said hopefully, ‘but just to be on the safe side, I’ll put out the light.’
As I turned down the wick of the storm lantern more shots rang out, much closer now, and I hastily lifted the lantern from its hook and blew out the flickering flame.
‘It’s Joe and Mac!’ Mary said, and threw open the door.