Ackie could never stay mad for long. He scowled at me, then his face cleared. “I might have known it,” he grumbled. “Of all the double-crossin’ punks, you are the biggest. All right, I’ll keep it quiet. Now what’s it all about?”
I lowered my voice. “Seems like the Colonel got too ambitious. You know what he is with dames. Well, this one wasn’t playin’, an’ what’s more she outs with an equaliser an’ starts poppin’. This dame is one of the upper crust. Even I don’t know who she is. I agreed with Kennedy to smuggle her out while you boys were talkin’.”
Ackie brooded. “No one got hurt?” he asked bitterly.
I shook my head.
“Hell! There ain’t a story at all. Everyone knows about Kennedy an’ his women. That ain’t news. Pity she didn’t drill him. Boy! That would have been a front-page splash!”
I looked at him with distaste. “Ain’t you a nice guy?” I said. “But now you know. You can see it wasn’t worth the fuss.”
Ackie glanced at his watch. “I guess I’m beatin’ it,” he said. “Maybe I was a little hasty about the hundred bucks. I’ll see you get it.”
I grinned. “Suppose we split it?” I said. “Send me fifty an’ I’ll receipt the hundred.”
Ackie nodded. He looked quite happy again. “You ain’t such a bad punk,” he said. “Maybe you’ll play straight one of these days, an’ then I’ll quite like you.”
The other boys began to crowd out of the room. They looked at us curiously, but Ackie didn’t let on. He took them off to the waiting cars.