Serle said, “I’m not a sucker.”
“You’re being one right now,” Mason said.
The waitress brought their dessert. Mason started eating his ice cream.
Serle pushed his pie to one side, and said, “Oh, all right! Have it your own way. I’d known Louie off and on for several years. He picked up the agency for this loaded dice business. I’d worked out a sweepstakes proposition. I figured I could combine ’em. Louie wouldn’t sell me an interest.
“Then Louie wanted to get out. He told me he’d made a killing, had picked up twenty grand on the first installment, and said he was going to get a hundred before he quit.”
“Blackmail?” Mason asked.
“What do you think?”
“I’m not thinking,” Mason said, finishing his ice cream. “I’m listening.”
“Of course, it was blackmail! It was a sweet hookup.”
“Know what he had on Leeds?” Mason asked.