“It’s okay, Babe. Let it ride,” Lowry said.
I said, “Why do you suppose I came up here this morning, Lowry?”
“I’m damned if I know.”
“I’ve made a deal with Elgin. There’s eighty grand involved. We only get a cut of it, but it’s a nice hunk of change at that. I guess Elgin will be along pretty quick — unless he intended to cut you out. He wouldn’t do that, would he?”
Lowry looked at me with eyes that glittered with cold suspicion. “What the hell do you mean, cut me out?”
“I just asked you.”
“How the hell do I know what he’d do?”
We sat silent. The redhead put water in the dish-pan. Both of us sat watching the lithe motions of the girl as she took the dishes from the panful of soapy water, rinsed them, and then put them on the draining board.
I looked at my wrist watch and said, “Damn it, it’s funny you haven’t heard from Elgin. I thought he was going to be here.”
“Did he say he’d be here?”