'He's been asleep most of the time the last couple of days. He must have found something steady for the nights.'
Younger frowned and said, 'How long did you know about him?'
'From the time he parked there.'
'Son of a bitch.' Younger yanked at the steering wheel, started the Ford away from the kerb, and they did a tight U-turn and rode away from the house and the Plymouth both. Younger said, 'If you know about him, and if he was always asleep, how come you stuck around?'
'The money,' Parker told him. It was an answer Younger could understand.
Younger did. He turned and gave Parker a fat grin. 'You want it as bad as I do,' he said. 'As bad as I do.'
'Sure.'
'I know it.' Younger faced front again, watching the traffic. He was pleased with himself. He said, 'Everything went fine with Regan. That was good, when the Samuels woman started talking about Chambers, too. You worked that real well.'
'She did it right, huh?'
'Listen, I almost believed her myself. A regular actress. The only thing, what happens when Chambers is picked up?'
'He won't be,' Parker told him.
'You sound sure of it.'
'I am.'
They didn't do any more talking for a while. Younger took them on a route that didn't go through downtown and that was good. There was less chance of anyone noticing the two of them together in the car. Not that it made that much difference.
After a while, out on the three-lane road that led to Omaha, Younger started again, saying, 'You're from Miami, huh?'
'I live there sometimes.'
'That's what I'm gonna do. Once I get my hands on that money, I'm clearing out of here. What do you think, Miami? Or would I do better out of the country, maybe go to the Riviera, or Acapulco?'
'One place is like another,' Parker told him, but he knew Younger wouldn't be able to understand it.
He didn't. 'Not with half a million dollars,' he said.
'A quarter of a million,' Parker reminded him.
Younger reacted like a kid caught playing hooky; guilty smile and all. That's right,' he said. 'That's right, you're right, Willis. I meant to say quarter of a million, that's what I meant.'
'Sure.'
'You can trust me.'
'No. I can't trust you, you know that. And you can't trust me. You don't trust me, that's why you had the guys in the Plymouth and the Dodge.
'You knew about them both?'
'We don't trust each other,' Parker told him. 'We can't, there's too much money in it. And that isn't any good. Watching each other all the time, we'll never get anywhere. The guy that killed Tiftus is still around some place, remember.'
'I'm getting close to him, Willis.'
'That isn't the point.'
Younger nodded, facing straight ahead as he drove.
'I know that. You're right, we got to be able to trust each other.'
'That's what I say.'
'But how?' Younger turned his head and glanced at Parker, and then faced front again. 'I'll tell you the truth, Willis, you could swear on a stack of Bibles the sun was shining and I'd have to go out and look for myself. There's no way on earth you could make me trust you.'
'There's one way.'
'I let you get something on me, so if I double-cross you it backfires.'
'How?'
Younger squinted at the road, trying to figure it out. 'I don't get what you mean,' he said.
Parker told him, 'I write a note. I say, 'I killed Adolph Tiftus.' I sign my name to it. It's all in my handwriting, so you've got me cold. I give you the note, and you give it to a lawyer or a friend or somebody for safekeeping. You tell him, If anything happens to you they should give the note to the law. That way, you're safe. I don't dare touch you.'
Younger nodded. 'That makes sense,' he said. 'That isn't a bad idea at all. I could trust you after that.'
