"Well, I got the money. My broker put me up in a flat. He stole the
cash to do it, an' when the fly-cops got next, he blew out his
brains. I was still high and dry, so I got a couple of girls to help
me. Then I met Mike O'Malley's brother--the one that's dead now--an'
he squared things for me so's I could open up the place you knew. He
owned my joint an' was right an' regular. He saw to it I wasn't
bothered, an' we paid for protection an' furnished an address when
his brother needed one for voters. I never had no trouble 'till
O'Malley's brother was dead an' you queered me with Mike himself."
"And is that all?"
"Yes, that's all. It's about what you'd learn from any other woman
in my line of work. But I'll tell you one thing: I got my girls
however I could--a lot of 'em because your friends brought 'em, an'
everyone that was brought that way I paid for, fair an' square an'
good an' heavy; I had to keep the women down because expenses was so
high; but no man was ever cheated in my place, an' no man was ever
robbed with my knowledge. I may have bad habits of my own, even for
my sort of a life; but I always treat my customers on the level, an'
I always see that my girls treat 'em on the level, too."
"What about the hangers-on?" asked Wesley.
"You mean about Angel? Well, I played double because I didn't know
who was goin' to be on top, an' in this business you've always got to
be on the winnin' side. Now you are on top an' there can't be no
question. I'm in this line because I've got to live; I couldn't do
nothin' else; an' I'm goin' to keep on in it as long as I live. You
see now that I've always been on the level in one way; you see that I
haven't no reason now not to be on the level in the other way.--Will
you go an' fix it with O'Malley?"
He did fix it. He fixed it that afternoon, and he fixed it so firmly
that, within ten days, Rose, with her former minions gathered from
the corners where she had hidden them, was living and prospering in
the house that Riley had raided.
Impartial Justice had been satisfied.