'You got me, buster. All I know is what I told you.'
'He never said anything about Joe.'
'Not one word. He never said anything about anybody, except you. He seen you, when we went in the lobby, and he said, 'Oh oh, there's somebody else standing in line. I know that bo.' And as soon as we checked in he went to see you.'
Parker shook his head. 'Go make yourself that drink,' he said.
'You're a real sport,' she said, and went on into the kitchen.
Parker went over by the window and looked out. That teen-age kid was on the porch next door again, looking in this direction. All this activity, people going in and out of a dead man's house, it was going to get all the neighbours looking after a while. This thing couldn't drag on much longer.
But he couldn't seem to learn anything. Tiftus had come here looking for a hundred thousand dollars, maybe more, but there was no way to tell what the hundred thousand looked like right now. It could be cash, or it could be jewellery. It could even be a few paintings stolen from museums, works of art, precious documents of one kind or another. A hundred thousand dollars could be in a lot of different shapes, a lot of different colours.
What about the woman? Maybe she was the one killed Tiftus herself, and maybe she knew the whole story and was keeping it to herself.
Except it hadn't been Tiftus down in that cellar, and it hadn't been the woman, and it hadn't been Younger. There was someone else involved, ready to kill, in too damn much of a hurry to kill.
It didn't feel like a professional. The way he'd got himself cornered in the cellar and the way he'd got out of it again, both of them smacked like the doings of an impulsive amateur. Same with the killing; cutting Tiftus down hadn't solved anything or proved anything. All he'd done by killing Tiftus was alert all the law for miles around, make it that much tougher on himself and everybody else.
So it was an amateur, probably somebody local. Dr. Rayborn? Or Gliffe, the undertaker? Parker didn't know enough about either, or know how much either of them knew. He'd have to talk to Younger about them.
In the meantime, there were other things to do. He turned away from the window and went out to the kitchen. The woman was there searching the cabinets. She looked startled when Parker came in, and then frightened, and then innocent. The last expression didn't work too well.
Parker said, 'I'll take care of that.'
'I was looking for swizzle sticks,' she said.
He said, 'You go sit in the living-room, keep a watch out front. When Younger shows up, you let me know and then get out the back way without him seeing you. Go on back to the hotel, and I'll get in touch with you.'
'What are you gonna do, search the place?'
'Look for swizzle sticks.'
'And I inherit, huh?'
'That's right.'
'Huh. I'll believe it when I see it.'
But she went on into the living-room, and Parker went to work.
FIVE
YOUNGER came in and said, 'That Regan's a pain in the ass. I'll put a complaint in on him, I swear to Christ I will.'
'What does he think about us?' Parker asked him.
'What the hell do I care? I'm running that goddam show, not him.'
'Sure.' Parker shut the door.
Younger said, 'What did you say to that Samuels woman?'
'Who?'
'Your partner's girl-friend. Rhonda Samuels. She clammed up the second time she came in, said it was all a mistake, you looked like somebody else, she didn't mean it anyway. What did you say to her?'
'Nothing. Come on in the living-room.'
They went into the living-room, and Younger said, 'I've been thinking.'
'Yeah?'
'The guy that killed your partner, he's the same one hit you, the one that was digging in the cellar.'
That was too obvious to answer. Parker lit a cigarette and went over by the front window. The Harold Teen was gone from the next door porch.
Younger said, 'That means he didn't find it, you see that? If it was buried in the cellar and he'd found it, he would of took off with it, right? He wouldn't still be around, he wouldn't of killed your partner.'
Parker said, 'What if Regan gets to him?' Looking out the window he saw Tiftus' woman go across the front lawn to the sidewalk and walk away. She done it the dumb way, but it had worked out; Younger couldn't see her from where he was sitting.
Younger said, 'You mean, before I do? Don't worry about it, Willis, I'm still in charge. Regan can
