“What did you want?”
“Hell, you know what I wanted. I wanted the pictures, and I wanted to beat you up a little bit. Just enough to teach you that it isn’t wise to stick your nose into things that are none of your damned business.”
“Why?”
“Well, now,” he said, adjusting the flame under the frying pan to just the right height, “that’s a matter of professional ethics. You’d better talk that over with someone else.”
“I’d like to talk it over with you. Why did Bob Elgin tell you to work me over?”
“Now, don’t make any cracks, buddy. It’s early in the morning and I haven’t had my breakfast and I’d hate to work you over on an empty stomach.”
I said, “It’s okay by me. I’ve got what I wanted.”
“I figured you would have by this time or you wouldn’t have shown up here. You aren’t that foolish. In fact, you’re smart. What did you want that stuff for?”
“I’m investigating an insurance matter.”
“What does the photograph of a couple of cheaters have to do with insurance?”