She gave him an actress smile. 'You want a rain cheque?'
'Yeah.'
THREE
IT was nearly midnight before Younger called back. Parker had been sitting in the dark in the living- room of Joe's house, waiting. He'd come back from seeing Rhonda a little before ten, and called police headquarters to leave a message for Younger to call him. Then two hours went by, and Parker just sat and waited, not thinking about anything in particular, not planning, not being impatient or irritable. It worked that way with him sometimes, when he knew where he stood and how the play should go from there on; he could sit alone in the dark and wait, as silent and patient as a stone.
Until finally the phone rang and it was Younger. The first thing he said was, 'You found it?'
'No. I want to talk to you.'
'What about?'
'The money, and something else. Come on over here.'
'It's late, Willis.'
'We've got to get this done tonight. You're going to Tiftus' funeral tomorrow?'
'Regan wants me to go. Him, too, he's coming along.'
'Good, come over here now, it won't take long.'
Younger grumbled, but after a while he said he'd be right there. Parker hung up and got to his feet and went around the house turning on lights. He knew other people thought it strange when he sat in the dark, and he didn't want Younger geechy about anything. He made himself a cup of coffee and went back to the living-room to wait, and ten minutes later the doorbell rang.
When Parker opened the door, Younger came in complaining. 'You know it's after midnight? This better be worth it.'
'Sit down, Younger, this won't take long.'
They both sat down in the living-room, and Parker said, 'I want you to think about something. You're looking for the guy killed Tiftus. But Regan's looking for him, too. What if Regan comes up with him first?'
'I take him right away from him. I'm still in charge, Willis, I already told you that.'
Parker shook his head. 'No. You take him away after Regan tells you he's got him. Is Regan going to tell you right away?'
'He sure as hell better.' Younger was insulted at the idea.
'Why?' Parker asked him. 'What if he holds the guy an hour, six hours, questions him a little, and doesn't say anything to you till he's done with the guy. What do you do about it?'
'I could put in a complaint against him, God damn it!'
'What would that mean to Regan? What would it mean to his bosses? Some hick little town police chief teed off because Regan didn't hold his hand and keep calling him on the phone.'
It was true, and Younger had to know it. He tried to bluster, but it didn't work. He said, finally, 'What's the point? What difference does it make?'
'If Regan gets him first,' Parker told him, 'Regan will make him spill. You know he will. He thinks there's something going between you and me anyway, He's suspicious. He won't turn the guy over to you until he finds out what's going on, and then it's too late, the whole thing's out in the open, and we don't stand a chance to get the money.'
Younger took out a cigar and fooled with it in his hands but didn't unwrap or open it. He said, 'So what can we do?'
'Get the case closed. Turn up a killer, so it gets Regan out of the picture.'
'How do we do that? You mean frame somebody? We couldn't get away with it, not even me, I couldn't get away with it.'
'We don't have to have a body,' Parker told him, 'just a name. What you got to do, you got to go straight down to headquarters and send off a teletype request to Washington, you want any information on a man named Jimmy Chambers, known to be an associate of a man named Adolph Tiftus.'
'Jimmy Chambers? What the hell for?'
'Shut up and listen to me.' Younger looked insulted again, but he didn't say any more, and Parker went right on, not noticing any looks Younger gave him. 'Today, this afternoon, I told you something I'd been holding back. I told you something Tiftus said to me when I saw him in the street before he got killed. Remember my story with Regan I saw Tiftus twice, the first time when he came to my hotel room and a little while later on the street.'
Younger nodded. 'I remember.'
'All right. What he said to me when I met him on the street, I saw he'd been in a fight and he said to me, 'Jimmy Chambers roughed me up.' I said to him, 'I didn't know he was in town,' and he said, 'I guess he came here for the funeral.' That's all. You got it?'
Younger repeated the dialogue, and said, 'What's the point? Who the hell is this Chambers?'
'You'll get the answer tomorrow from Washington.'
'Then what happens?'
