Thompson served the coffee in the chipped cups, favoring only slightly his burned fingers.
Catching the direction of my glance, he said, "Company is worth a few scalds, Mr. Madison."
I accepted the steaming cup and somehow it very nearly slipped out of my hands. I made a last microsecond retrieve.
The marshal nodded thoughtfully. "You're new here."
"First time," I said, sipping coffee. It was awful. He must have made a mistake and put salt into it instead of sugar.
"You think the claims I've been filing for my people are false?"
"The home office has some suspicions of that," I admitted.
"I don't blame them, but they ain't. Look, the company gambles on luck, doesn't it?"
"No. It works on percentages calculated from past experience."