“Isn’t it?” she said, between her teeth. “I’m suffocating with mirth.”
There was a long silence while the three of them went through the article, then Myra folded the paper with slow deliberation and put it on the table.
“Twenty-five thousand dollars,” she said gently. “And I was going to call you by your first name!”
“But there is’ more,” Pablo said, picking at his great white teeth with his thumb nail.
“There is a man called Bastino who lives in the mountains. He is a good friend of mine. He tells me that he is to kidnap this young woman. Later it has been arranged for Seńor Millan to rescue her, but Seńor Millan says nothing to Bastino about the reward. He pays Bastino a mere three hundred dollars and Bastino feels sore about it. He comes to me and shows me the paper, so I think I had better do something about it.” He waved his fat hand. “So here I am.”
Myra looked at me. “What a lovely little serpent you’ve turned out to be,” she said with terrifying restraint. “You must let me know when your parents marry, I’ll send them a wreath.”
Even Ansell was looking at me with hurt eyes.
I eased my collar which threatened to strangle me. “It’s all a mistake,” I said hurriedly. “If you’ll just let me explain…”
“There is nothing to explain,” Pablo said. “I do the talking now.’
Myra turned on him furiously. “You keep your snout out of this. I’ve got something to say to this two-faced, double- crossing rattle-snake.”