246
DETECTIVE BARNEY
“And can you imagine those girls giving him money to spend if they thought he had plenty in the bank?”
“Mebbe they ’d let on they did n’t know about it?”
“Yes. That ‘maybe’ has spoiled a lot of good-looking plants. Is Cooney a convincing liar?”
Barney shook his head.
“Is he the sort of man who ’d have money in the bank and keep quiet about it?”
“I guess—”
“In fact you know he ’s not, don’t you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, then, what are you going to do about it? Your plant ’s so full of holes it would collapse in a week.”
Barney looked down at his feet. He rubbed his nose with the back of his hand. He frowned thoughtfully. “Well, I guess that ’s all there is to it.”
“No. Not altogether.” Babbing swung around to look out the window, “You ’ve
