the statuette.”
“I didn’t know Parker ever told anybody anything.”
“He is not a blabbermouth, no. But he did tell me of the statuette. It was, you might say, a mutual sharing of confidences. My own is irrelevant at the moment, really. We might speak of it another time perhaps.”
To have a woman like this, and in her company to spend one hundred thousand dollars. What a glorious dream! What a more glorious reality! “If I understand aright, your father has paid for this statuette in advance? Fifty thousand dollars?”
“Cash in advance,” she replied. “We’ve got something else Parker wants too. He gets that later.”
“Anything of, uh, value?”
“Not to anybody else.”
“Ah. Alas. My dear, I would like to ask you a hypothetical question.”
“He would,” she said.
“I beg your pardon?”
“My father would pay again. If Parker didn’t have the statue, and you did, and you wanted to sell, he’d pay again.”
“Another fifty thousand?”
“He might not go that high. But you could probably get twenty-five.”
Menlo shrugged. “I am not greedy.”
“I bet you’re not.”
He leaned over closer to her. “Another question, my dear.”
“What this time?”
“In my country,” he said, “women go to bed wearing great white sacks made of cotton. In the United States what do women wear when they go to bed?”
“Depends on the woman.”
“Well, you, for instance?”
“Skin.”
“Skin? You mean, no garment at all?”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
“Incredible,” he said.
“You don’t believe me?” There was a mock challenge in her eyes, and her hands gripped the top edge of the covers.
“If you endeavour to prove that statement to me,” he replied, “I wish you to be warned that I can take no responsibility for whatever might transpire thereafter.”
“Is that right?” She flicked her arms, and the covers shot back, baring her to the knee.
He’d never undressed so quickly in his life. One sock was still half on when he lumbered into the bed, loomin over her like a dirigible. Her hazel eyes darkened, her body seemed to grow firmer and more taut, and all at once he found himself in congress with a panther. He said a lot of things in his native tongue, until he no longer had breath to spare on talk, and from then on he merely clung.
When it was over, and they’d smoked a cigarette together and talked a bit more, he got up and began to get dressed. “I will see you in Miami. Very soon, I hope. And with the statuette.”
“You’ll remember the hotel?”
“It is imprinted firmly upon my memory.” He took one last cigarette from her pack, and lit it. “It might be best were you to leave in the morning, as Parker requested. He is taciturn and unpredictable, and I would want nothing to go wrong.”
“All right,” she answered.
“Until Miami, then.”
“I’ll be seeing you.”
He returned to Parker’s room and fell into pleasantly exhausted sleep, garlanded with sweet dreams
Watching Parker and Handy at work, those last two days, he had grown more and more impressed with the way they handled themselves. He had originally planned to remain with them throughout the robbery and the getaway, letting them handle all the details, and double-crossing them only after the operation was completed. But as the time grew shorter, he revised his plans and decided to do away with them before they left Kapor’s house. Through some careful and judicious questioning, he had learned enough about the getaway route and the theories behind it to be able to handle it alone when the time came. But still, he was in a strange country and involved in an operation that was unfamiliar to him, besides being aligned with a pair of the most lupine of wolves. That last day, Friday, his nervousness and excitement grew and grew until he was afraid he would explode. It was more and more difficult to hold himself in check as the day wore on towards night.
They had not found the derringer stowed away beneath the false bottom of his leather toilet kit. It was more of a toy than a gun, especially in comparison with the weapons that Parker and McKay carried, but it was small enough and light enough to be safely hidden and it held two bullets. If he was careful, that should be sufficient.
Friday evening, when Parker and Handy left to steal the second car, he transferred the derringer to his coat pocket, hoping they would not think to search him again before entering Kapor’s house.
