Flaggerty nearly fell over himself to get his claws into me. He stood in front of me with his jaw thrust out and an ugly look in his beady little eyes. “You’re Chester Cain?” he demanded, as if he didn’t know.
“Yeah,” I said, “and you’re Lieutenant Flaggerty, the boy who hadn’t any friends to tell him.”
Killeano jumped up. “Look, Cain, this is a serious matter for you. Maybe you’d care to cut out the gags?”
“I’m the fall guy,” I said, smiling at him. “Why should you worry how I handle this louse?”
“Well, it won’t do you any good,” Killeano muttered, but he sat down.
Flaggerty was moving about restlessly, and as soon as Killeano had settled, he started in again.
“All right,” he said. “You’re Chester Cain, and you’re a gambler by profession.”
“I don’t call gambling a profession,” I said.
His face went a dusty red. “But you admit you earn your living by gambling?”
“No. I haven’t started to earn a living,” I told him. “I’m just out of the Army.”