She said: "What are you getting at, Johnny?"
"Somebody stuck that stub on his waistcoat after he was dead. Somebody came into the office this afternoon and had a show-down with Joe about something. That's why he wanted me to be there. He'd got a copy of the midday Evening News in front of him. He'd been writing on it— doodling with his pencil— 'Vallon... Vallon... Vallon... Johnny... Johnny... ' because he hoped to God I'd turn up every moment. Something tough was breaking there. Somebody asked him to do something or not to do something. Or tried to pull something on him. And he wasn't playing. He may have had angina but he was tough all right. So do you know what they did?"
She said quietly: "No... tell me, Johnny."
"Whoever was there pulled a gun on him. They frightened him to death.
