Goldie adjusted the high-necked collar of her oldfashioned dress. “No, I’m aware of that, Kit. Calm down. I’m not really hiding anything.”
”The hell you’re not.”
”Kit Carson, either control your temper or get out of my shop!”
Kit swallowed the retort on his tongue. Then forcibly relaxed his fists. “Okay, Goldie. I’ll be a good boy and refrain from taking your shop apart. Start talking.”
She drew over a high stool and settled on it as though taking a throne. “You’re aware, then, of Phil Jones’ gate?”
”Yes. And where and when it leads.”
”Fortunately for me, Ripley Sneed is an idiot. He didn’t even think about the diamonds just lying around the interior waiting for someone to pick them up. Phil and I knew exactly where the most accessible deposits were, but we couldn’t get there ourselves. Neither of us is a scout.”
”You mean neither of you is crazy enough to risk your own hide. So you conned Margo into doing it for you.”
Goldie’s eyes flashed angrily. “Margo is an adult, Kit Carson, perfectly capable of making her own decisions. And, I might add, you’ve treated her very shabbily. She was only too happy to accept my offer.”
”Margo is a half-trained child-a seventeen-year-old child.” Goldie lost a little more color. “She thinks she knows enough to succeed All she knows is enough to get herself killed. When’s she due back?”
Goldie fidgeted and glanced away.
”Goldie.. .”
The severe-faced woman who always reminded Kit of a duchess he’d once known cleared her throat delicately. “Well, as to that, now.. .”