Myra said between her teeth, “I guess you ain’t goin’ to have any looks in a little while. He’s kind of fussy about the broads he takes around, an’ a bag with marks on her mug like you’re goin’ to have ain’t getting to the first base with him.”
She turned and walked with vicious determination back-to the bathroom and to the red-hot tongs.
The next two days Dillon was very quiet. Myra expected him to say something, but he didn’t. Sometimes she caught him looking at her thoughtfully, but he always shifted his eyes when she looked up.
He came back from the poolroom at his usual time, and Myra began to believe that nothing would be said. She made a few enquiries and learnt that Fanquist had disappeared. The villa was empty and deserted. Myra thought she’d done a nice job of work, but Dillon was still quiet and he still looked at her, as if he wasn’t quite sure what to do.
Sitting in his office, Dillon brooded about Fanquist. He had gone down in the evening and found her. Even his brutal mind was shocked. But as he looked at her, any feeling he might have had for her went away. The two deep burns across her face sickened him. Her sobbing whine gave him the jitters. He had said brutally and bluntly that she’d better get out of town.
Myra scared him a little. She was getting too dangerous. When he had put through his plan of fixing Little Ernie, he’d have to do something about her. She had served her purpose, and now he felt he had outgrown her.
Outside in the poolroom, the buzz of talk suddenly stopped. Dillon stiffened. He cocked his ear, a frown on his face. The sounds from outside were no more to him than the ticking of a clock. He was used to them, and suddenly to have a heavy silence made him think something was wrong.
Before he could move from his chair, the office door pushed open and two men wandered in. Dillon looked at them, his mouth going to a thin line.
Strawn pushed his hat to the back of his head and rubbed his thick nose with the side of his finger. “Well, look who’s here,” he said, speaking out of the side of his mouth.
The other man looked Dillon over with distaste.