“Sure I could. I saw him plain enough on the train.”
Murdock smiled a bit oddly, sure that Chick did not suspect him of having been the crook. He took a cigar from his pocket and lit it, remarking carelessly:
“You’re a bad egg, Kennedy, and you’re serving this woman a scurvy trick. No more could be expected of a fellow of your cloth, I suppose, and I’m not sure but that would be the best way to settle with you.”
“Sure it would!” Chick quickly agreed.
“See here, Jeff——”
“You keep quiet, Janet!” Murdock commanded. “It’s plain enough that Kennedy cannot be bullied. You’re in a mess, Janet, and I’m going to pull you out. Nevertheless, Kennedy, you must see that it’s not up to this woman to settle,” he added. “She had no hand in the job, even if your suspicions are correct. It’s up to the man to buy your silence. As a matter of fact, too, she has no money with which to bribe you. Nor have I. You must see the man himself.”
“Trot him out, then,” Chick said bluntly. “He’s the very gink I want to see. I’ll bring him to time, all right, if I can get my lamps on him.”
“It’s not so easy to trot him out,” Murdock replied. “He would have to trot a considerable distance.”
“You mean he ain’t in town?” questioned Chick, frowning suspiciously.
“Not within a dozen miles of Shelby.”