Bat folded his fist, but Killeano stopped him.
“Let him talk,” he said, sat down on the chair.
Bat and Flaggerty stood behind the bed ready to jump me if I looked like starting trouble.
“I’m making a lot of guesses,” I said, looking at Killeano, out this is the way I see it. You’re the top shot in town. The only guy who might have been dangerous to you was Herrick. You own the Casino, which is a swell place for getting rid of dud currency which you’re printing. You didn’t think I knew that, did you? It didn’t take me long to figure that one out. You have the Bank and the police in your pocket, and no doubt you’re paying the boys to keep their mouths shut. The dud money circulates in the town. But if the visitors take it out of town, you’ve made sure it’s good enough to fox anyone until it’s too late to trace it back to you. But what happens? Herrick suspects that you’re passing dud notes, and he begins an investigation. He can’t go to the police because they’re playing with you. He has to work on his own. He gets some of your dud notes and he is ready to spring the surprise on the Governor of the State. But you get wise, and knock him off.” I flicked my cigarette away and grinned at Killeano. “How am I going?”
His square-shaped face was expressionless. “Go on,” he said.
“Herrick is an important citizen and is running for election! He’s not the guy you can knock off regardless. You hear I’m coming to town. It doesn’t take you long to figure I’m the boy who’s to be blamed for the killing. You fix it, and you make a swell job of it, and I’m the fall guy. Okay. But you slip up on a couple of points. You forgot that Brodey was wise and had I evidence too, and you misjudged the girl who was to lead me into this mess. She ratted on you, and you know she can blow the lid right off your racket. Without her, you’re sunk, even if you have made Brodey spill what he knows.”
Killeano took a cigar from his vest pocket, bit off the end, spat. He lit the cigar carefully and blew out a cloud of smoke.
“Finished?” he asked.
“Yeah,” I said.
He looked over at Flaggerty. “He knows too much,” he said. “We’ll have to alter our ideas. It wouldn’t do to bring him before a jury now. They might cotton on.”