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246 him till he showed up yes'day wit' Sims at de boathouse. Dat's Gawd's trut'."

"What other jobs have you done for him? Come clean, Tony. How do I know you didn't dope that whiskey to get away with Pete's roll and the rest that you were both to be paid?"

"Youse wouldn't frame me?" Tony's hoarse voice rose to a whine. "I kin prove dat Pete bought dat whiskey off a hick an' de laud'mun in a drug-store in de burg near where we was at But I'll come clean, all right; if I'm goin' up, I'm goin' ter have conp'ny! De guy dat Sims works fer is a blackmailer, see? Gets somet'in' on rich kids an' makes 'em cough up. When dey puts up a kick Sims comes after me, an' I rocks 'em ter sleep an' sits beside de cradle till dey wakes up an' comes across. Dey t'inks it's just a hold-up an' kidnappin' job o' mine an' never gets wise dat de big guy is back o' it; but dey coughs up just de same an' never squeals fer fear de other bus'ness will come out; an' I divvy wid de main squeeze t'rough Sims."

"You made use of that boathouse before?"

"Nix. We never took none o' dem out o' de city, an' I t'ought it was bad dope ter do it wid youse, but we had our orders. We kept 'em in a loft over by de river; I kin take youse dere—"

"No. Here we are at Headquarters; you can tell the Old Man where it is." As he opened the door of the taxi Odell put a final question. "Why did you look for Sims or his employer up in Ninety-third Street?"

"’Cause I couldn't find Sims; an' I had ter get ter him right away an' tell him youse an' de other boid had flown an' Pete croaked. I went up ter dat place wid Sims more'n