Chapter V
ROGER DRAKE caught his breath.
“Sir, do you inhale it or do you use a needle? Can you prove any of that?”
“Prove it!” returned Neighbor indignantly. “I don’t have to prove it—I know it. It’s just gemimini-mentally got to be that way. There ain’t no proofs—the kind to convince a jury of peers; but there’s no other way to account for what’s happened, and, if you’re not a natural-born peer, I can show you.”
“Among the many beauties that add luster to my character are an aptitude to be shown and a simple willingness to try anything—once. Go to it, old summit! Wise me up!”
“Ver-ree well! Let us examine the simple and jolly facts—well-known, but not to you. Tavy Baca is abso-lute-ly the Big Noise in Saragossa County—accent on loot. Nominations and appointments f. o. b. for cash with order. Special terms for convictions and acquittals. Try our land-office decisions. Small graft of all kinds. Corpses to order in neat hardwood boxes. Very Roycrofty. See us before trying elsewhere.
“Laying all juries aside, he’s a smart lawyer—Baca. He might be immensely wealthy, but every Mexican within a radius, when he’s sick, lazy or in trouble, makes a beeline for Baca and comes away with a jingle in his pocket. It’s like packin’ water in a sieve.
“Gambling, as perhaps you know, is completely stamped out in New Mexico since she joined the glorious sisterhood. Baca would be getting a juicy rake-off from Beck’s game. Or, since Baca was your uncle’s lawyer, uncle made the necessary arrangements himself, likely.”
“But how do you know my uncle was behind Beck?”
“I don’t—that comes later. I am now giving you known facts only, and you can build for yourself wherever they’ll fit.