"Let me get this straight, Howard," Marion said. "You made a deal with Fitzmartin. You were going to have the girl find the money. Then you were going to turn it over to Fitzmartin in return for Ruth's safety. You made that deal yourself. You thought you could handle it better than we could. Is that it?"
"I thought that was the only way it could be handled. But he crossed me up. He followed us."
"We could have grabbed him when he got to the river. We'd have gotten to Ruth earlier. If she dies, you're going to be responsible."
I looked at him for the first time in over an hour. "I don't see it that way."
"Did he say how he killed Grassman? You told us why he did it."
"He hit him on the head with a piece of pipe."
"What do you think the Rasi girl was going to do when you turned the money over to Fitzmartin? Assuming that it went the way you thought it would go."
"I guess she wouldn't have liked it."
"Why didn't she come and get the money herself, once she knew where it probably was?"
"I haven't any idea. I think she felt she needed help. I think she decided I could help her. I think she planned to get away with all of it somehow after we were both well away from here. When I was sleeping. Something like that. I think she thought she could handle me pretty easily."