“AH the more reason for you to be forthright,” McGann said.
“I’ll be perfectly forthright,” was Oscar’s reply. “You’ll have ample evidence of my innocence.” Only now, with the war of wits won, did he accept the whisky and soda Dowd had mixed for him. “Ample and definitive.” He. silently toasted Dowd as he talked, knowing as he sipped it that there’d be blood shed before Christmas Day dawned. Grim as that prospect was, there was no avoiding it now.
When he put the phone down he said to Dowd, “I think I’ll wear the herringbone suit tomorrow. And a plain shirt. White. Starched collar.”
“And the tie?” Dowd asked, replacing Oscar’s drained glass with a fresh one.
“I’ll be going straight on to Midnight Mass,” Oscar said.
“Black, then.”
“Black.”