The men came over and rammed their hands along our bodies, then stepped back. “They’re clean, Sig,” one of the men said.
The manager indicated the desk. “Go ahead and write, Lam,” he said.
“What do you want me to do, stick my head in a noose?”
“Just tell the truth,” he said. “No one’s going to hurt you.”
“I know damn well no one’s going to hurt me.”
“Unless you act rusty,” he went on.
“I guess you don’t know the news. The cops picked me up and tried to pin that hotel room on me. I guess you framed that — well, it didn’t work. The witnesses won’t identify me.”
He acted very bored. He said to the Jap, “You got your money all right.”
The Jap looked at me.
I said, “He’s taken care of.”