“Nothing much. But they made a nice try. They came damn near earning their pay.”
She looked at his hands. His knuckles were skinned, and she nodded slowly and said, “It musta been a nice little party.”
“Yeah,” he said dryly, “it was a lot of fun.”
“They get banged up much?”
“Enough to make it a sad ending,” he said. “One of them is out of business for at least a month. The other one is out for keeps.”
She took another drag at the cigarette. She didn’t say anything.
He said, “Next time you hire a wrecking crew, don’t pay them in advance.”
The smoke drifted very slowly from her lips. Her eyes followed the uncurling tendrils as she said, “It wasn’t me who paid them. And it wasn’t my idea to hire them.”
He seized her shoulders. “What was the setup?”
Her lips were locked tightly. She started to shake her head.