He helped her to her feet, and she walked back down the hall towards the front door. Parker stood by the doctor’s office, watching her. When she got to the entrance-way, Blue and Lennie were both getting up, unsteadily. She talked to them, and they glared at him past her shoulder. After a while, they both nodded reluctantly, and then all three came back down the hall.
“You talk to all of us,” May said.
Parker shrugged. He turned his back and walked into the doctor’s office. He hitched one buttock on to the corner of the desk and looked at them, all three of them standing just inside the doorway. “You want to sit down?”
“Get to it,” May said. She was the spokesman for the trio, and the brains.
“Ail right. Stubbs braced me about three weeks ago, with an elephant gun.”
Lennie interrupted. “Where’d he get one of those?”
“The automatic,” Parker said patiently. “I took it away from him and heard his story. I had proof I was in New Jersey the Saturday the doctor was killed. Stubbs heard me out, and he was satisfied. But then he wanted to go after the other two. He said there was three he was looking for.”
The woman nodded. The other two just watched.
“I didn’t let him go. Stubbs is willing, but he’s stupid. He braced me and a friend of mine, and we took the gun away from him with no trouble. If he went up against the guy who killed your doctor, he’s dead.”
“That’s up to Stubbs,” said May.
Parker shook his head. “It’s up to me. Stubbs told me you were set to blow the whistle on three people if he didn’t get back in time. So the killer gets Stubbs, and then you people get me.”
“Don’t you worry about Stubbs,” May said. “He’s good with his fists, and he’s good with a gun.”
“But he’s bad with his mind. That’s the part that bothers me.”
“It’s probably all over now anyway,” she said. “He’s had three weeks.”
Parker shook his head. “I put him on ice for two weeks. I was going to bring him back here, let him clear me with you. But he got away Monday, just before I was done with the job I was on.”.
“Wait a second,” said May. “Back up there a second. Are you telling me you kidnapped Stubbs?”
“I put him on ice. There was a job I was on, and I couldn’t spare the time away from it, so I was keeping him till the job was over. But he got away a day early.”
“Why, you son of a bitch,” May said. “You stand there as cool as you damn please and tell me the way you treated Stubbs?”
Parker shrugged, irritated. That part was over, there was no need to harp on it. “I’ve got a new face to protect. I didn’t kill your doctor, and I’ve got no stake in finding the guy who did. There was no reason to let you and Stubbs louse up a job I was working on.”
Lennie said, softly, “Blue and I could take him, May, if we was to come at him together.”
“No,” May said. “He hasn’t got to what he wants yet.”
She was brighter than Stubbs anyway. Parker said to her, “I want to know who he’s going after now. Number two and number three. I want to catch up with him before he gets himself killed, and bring him back here so I’m in the clear.”
“Are you out of your mind?” She put her hands on her hips and leaned towards him, her face outraged. “Are you stark staring crazy? You say you proved to Stubbs you didn’t kill Dr Adler, let’s see you prove it to me.”
“I can’t, without Stubbs.”
“Why not? How’d you prove it to him?”
Parker shook his head. It was taking too long, and not getting anywhere. “I was in a diner that Saturday,” he said. “I had Stubbs check with a waitress who knew me there.”
“So I’ll call her now. Long distance.”
“She’s dead.”
May nodded, as though he’d just proved a point for her. “That’s real convenient, isn’t it?”
“I want to know where Stubbs is,” Parker said. “The reason I gave you is the truth. What other reason would make sense?”
“Maybe you want to catch up with him and kill him because he knows you really did kill Dr Adler.”
“Then why would he be still going after the other two?”
May’s face was closed, she’d made up her mind. “I wouldn’t know about that.”
Parker tried one last time. “If I wanted to kill him, why didn’t I do it when I had my hands on him?”
“Maybe you never did,” said Blue. His voice was yappish, like a terrier’s.
“You’re as stupid as Stubbs. How would I know about you people here if I hadn’t talked to Stubbs?”
“The hell with you, mister,” May said. “We don’t tell you anything. When Stubbs conies back, he can tell us about you himself.”
“And if he doesn’t come back?”
“We let the Outfit know about your new face.”
