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“Then who?”
“I was as baffled as you are. Until I had time to think about it on the train. Do you recall that the Cherry Grove reopened immediately under the new name? The very weekend after Coligney’s Pink Tea?”
“Of course I recall. I was there. So were you until you hustled the twins upstairs. Tammany called in a marker; you can bet they now own a bigger slice of Nick.”
“That’s not what I’ve heard,” said Claypool.
“What do you mean?”
“Tammany did not impose its will on Captain Coligney.”
“Then how . . . Oh, I see what you mean . . . Nick.”
“Nick Sayers must have given Coligney something to be allowed to reopen.”
“But how would that weasel know?”
“That I don’t know. Perhaps it had nothing to do with us. A coincidence.”
“I’ll have the fellows sweat it out of him.”
“I don’t recommend that.”
“Who is a whorehouse owner going to complain to?”
“If Isaac Bell catches wind of Nick suffering a beating, it will put him wise and he will be on Nick like a tiger.”
“The fellows can make it impossible for Nick to be found by Bell.”
“Unnecessary complications could ensue. As things stand now, there’s no connection to whoever will do the job. No reason to stop. You can press ahead. If you still insist.”
“I still insist.”
“Then we definitely don’t want any more complications.”
“What’s Bell’s next move?”
“Don’t be surprised when he comes calling on you.”
“Why me? You said it can’t be traced.”
“It can’t be traced. Which means he has to call on every man who was in that room. Including you.”
“Especially me. He’s already called on you. It won’t take a Sherlock Holmes to connect us.”
“Point is, what you insist on doing can’t be traced to us.”
Culp pondered that a moment. “I hope he does call on me.”
“Why?”
“Because he’ll wish he hadn’t. And that will be the end of it.”
Brewster Claypool fell silent.
Culp glowered at him awhile. “O.K. What’s wrong?”
“I don’t mean to ascribe to the Van Dorns powers they don’t possess. But they have a motto and they stick to it.”
