that?”
“It don’t matter to me.”
Elkins gave Parker back the briefcase, then went around and collected all the guns that had been in the office and threw them down the airshaft. Then he said, “Sit tight a few minutes, girls.”
The four of them went out and down the hall toward the elevators. Wiss and Elkins and Wymerpaugh pulled off their Huckleberry Hound masks. They went past the elevators and through the door marked stairwell. They went up two flights and out into the hall there and down to the lawyer’s office: herbert lansing, attorney-at-law. Elkins unlocked the door, and they went inside.
That was the beautiful part, this office. Parker had worked it out. Somewhere in an office building this size, he’d figured, there’s got to be at least one one-man office where the boss takes an occasional vacation. All they had to do was know what was going on in the building, and wait.
When Herbert Lansing took his vacation, Elkins found out about it from the elevator boy, who was lately his drinking buddy. One trip by Elkins and Wiss, in workclothes, to dummy up a key, and they were ready.
They went inside, and Elkins broke out the bottle of blended whiskey he’d stashed here when they’d made the key. They passed the bottle around, then unloaded the briefcases on the lawyer’s desk and made the divvy. Parker’s third — it was his case — came to just over twenty-three thousand.
He stowed it back in his briefcase, took another swig from the bottle, and sat back grinning. It all worked out fine. He was back in the groove again.
Wymerpaugh broke out a deck of cards and they played poker till four-thirty. By then Parker had closer to twenty-seven thousand. The four of them cleaned the office up, locked the door, and separated, each going to different floors.
Parker took a cab out to the Lambert — St. Louis airport and caught a six-o-five plane for Omaha. A new face now, and the old pattern. He looked out the window and smiled. Miami should be fine this time of year. Or maybe he’d go on down to the Keys.
THE END
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