Chapter 9: IX

IX A Black Knife I woke next morning with an idea in my skull. Personville had only some forty thousand inhabitants. It shouldn’t be hard to spread news. Ten o’clock found me out spreading it. I did my spreading in pool rooms, cigar stores, speakeasies, soft drink joints, and on street corners—wherever I found a man or two loafing. My spreading technique was something like this: “Got a match? … Thanks. … Going to the fights tonight? … I hear Ike Bush takes a dive in the sixth…