“Um,” he said. “How about that Mr. Von Holtz? Is he goin’ to boss the job?”
“He is not,” said Tommy, with a shade of grimness in his tone.
The red-headed man nodded and took the soldering iron in hand. He unwound a strip of wire solder, mended the radiator tube with placid ease, and seemed to bang the cooling-flanges with a total lack of care. They went magically back into place, and it took close inspection to see that the radiator had been damaged.
“She’s all right,” he observed. He regarded Tommy impersonally. “Suppose you tell me how come you horn in on this,” he suggested, “an’ maybe I’ll play. That guy Von Holtz is a crook, if you ask me about him.”
Tommy ran his hand across his forehead, and told him.
“Um,” said the red-headed man calmly. “I think I’ll go break Mr. Von Holtz’s neck. I got me a hunch.”
He took two deliberate steps forward. But Tommy said:
“I saw Denham not an hour ago. So far, he’s all right. How long he’ll be all right is a question. But I’m going after him.”
The red-headed man scrutinized him exhaustively.