The Jugger

She shook her head doubtfully. 'I'm not sure about you,' she said. 'I haven't made up my mind about you.'

The cop said, 'I think you two better quit now.'

Parker looked at him. 'You work for Regan or Younger?'

'Younger. It's Regan we're holding this lady for, but we're city officers.'

'You better check with Younger before you tell Regan I stopped here to talk with the lady.'

The cop frowned. 'How come?'

'You know what Younger thinks of Regan,' Parker said, because it couldn't be a secret. 'Younger wants to keep what he knows to himself this time.'

The cop shrugged. 'I'll check with him,' he said.

'That's good.' Parker nodded at the woman. 'See you later, Rhonda,' he said.

She seemed surprised he'd remembered her name.

FOUR

PARKER opened the door and said, 'Come on in, Rhonda.'

She came in with the belligerent air of a dumb woman afraid something's being put over on her. She said, 'What's with you and that Captain Younger? He's a cop, ain't he?'

'That's right.' He shut the door and led the way into the living-room. 'Sit down.'

'I want something to drink.'

'In the kitchen.'

'Oh, a real gentleman.'

Parker turned to look at her. 'We don't have much time before Younger gets here,' he said.

'So what's that to me?'

Parker shook his head. She wanted to be snotty, and there was no reason for her to be snotty. He said, 'Whatever the drag is here, you inherit Tiftus' cut. Don't that mean anything to you?'

'How come I'm in? You kept throwing my man out, but me you let in. What is this, be kind to widows' week?'

'Your name ain't Tiftus.'

'Thank God it ain't. What do you want from me, buster? You figure to move in now my man's gone?'

'No,' Parker told her, and it was the truth. He had a woman in Miami for one thing, and for another he was working. This wasn't his usual kind of work, but it had the same smell to it, and when he was working he had no time for women. Before and after, but not during.

She cocked her head and studied him, trying to decide if he was telling the truth or not. She finally shrugged and said, 'Okay, so much for my sex appeal. You already seen me naked so now you don't want any more. If that ain't it, what do you want?'

'I want to know the game.'

'The what?'

Parker said, 'Tiftus came here looking for something. Younger's looking for it. Whoever killed Tiftus is looking for it. Everybody figures I got the inside track on where it is, but I don't.'

'Why not?'

'I don't know what it is.'

She opened her eyes wide and looked at him. 'You don't?'

'It has something to do with Joe Sheer, but I don't know what.'

'Who the hell is Joe Sheer?'

Parker pointed at the floor. 'You're in his house.'

'I thought that was Shardin. It was Shardin in the phone book, that's how I found the place.'

'He changed his name. The question is, did Tiftus tell you what he was looking for?'

'Sure.'

'What?'

'Money,' she said, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.

'Yeah, but how? Cash? Jewellery? Goods of some kind?'

She shrugged. 'Beats me,' she said. 'Money is all I know. He said we were coming here to make us a hundred G's or maybe more.'

Parker said, 'From Joe Sheer? Joe Shardin?'