done.”
Jean smiled lazily, looking at Parker like a nightclub booker at an audition, waiting for the new act to do something interesting. She said, “I’ll get along.”
Parker looked at Edgars and shook his head. “No dice. She can wait for you here.”
“Why? She’ll keep out of the way, I guarantee it.”
“She’ll keep out of the way better in Jersey City.”
“Parker, I give you my word”
“I don’t want your word.”
Jean said, “Who’s the boss around here, anyway, honey?”
“Nobody,” Parker told her. “And that’s just the kind of trouble you bring with you.” He turned to Edgars. “She stays here.”
Edgars was embarrassed and uneasy. He felt like a fool, in front of the woman. He said, “Nobody else will even seeher. I guarantee it. We’ll take her part way and leave her in Madison or somewhere. I’ll never say a word to any of the others; they won’t even know she exists.”
Jean laughed and said, “Just a quiet little mouse, that’s me. Quiet little mouse.”
Parker said, “She’ll show up in the middle of it. At the town, or the hideout.”
Edgars shook his head. “No, she won’t, Parker. I’m not a professional at this kind of thing, like you, but I know better than that. She doesn’t know where the job is, except North Dakota, and she doesn’t know where the hideout is either.”
“Except North Dakota,” said Jean, and laughed again. She looked at Parker, a challenge in her eyes, and said, “You don’t have to worry about me, Parker. I know my business, too.”
“We leave her farther away than Madison,” Parker said. He didn’t like giving in on this thing, but looking at Edgars he saw he would have to. The trouble the woman could cause if they took her along was less than the trouble Edgars could cause, lousing up the operation out of pique and embarrassment, if they didn’t take her along. “We leave her in some town this side of the North Dakota line.”
“Ipick the town,” she said.
Edgars nodded, grateful for the compromise. “All right,” he said. “I understand what you mean, Parker. That’s why I kept her out of sight all the time.”
“Sometimes I feel like a sheep or something,” she said. “Couldn’t you bastards at least lower your voices? You talk about me like I’m not even here, and I’m getting irritated.”
They both ignored her. Parker said to Edgars, “I got to make a stop in Syracuse, so we’ll have to leave tonight.”
“Tonight? I’m not packed or anything.”
“So pack.”
Jean said, “What about me? Half my stuff’s still over to the old place.”
Edgars wanted to hold on to her, but he knew she was a liability. He sounded irritated when he said, “So go over to the old place and getyour stuff.”
“Jesus,” she said. “It’s like the army. Alert! Alert! Alert! Pack your bag in the middle of the night and run your ass off.”
“I told you before about that language.”
“Up yours,” she said.
Parker said, “Argue later. Right now, pack.”
She turned to Parker, saying, “Drive me over to the old place.”
“Take a cab.”
“You’rethe one in the hurry, ugly.”
“You better take her,” Edgars said. “Otherwise, she’ll be gone for hours. I’d take her, but I got to pack. And I don’t have a car.” He said the last with surprise.
Parker was about ready to tell them both to go to hell, but then he thought of Edgars and his private reasons. The bitch might know something about them. He said, “All right, let’s go.”
“Be right back, honey.” She twisted the last word like a knife.
They left the building and got into the Mercury, and Parker said, “Where to?”
“Just straight ahead awhile. I’ll show you where to turn. Don’t worry, ugly, you won’t get lost with me.”
“I know.”
They rode four blocks in silence, and then she told him to turn right. It was after eleven at night, the middle of the week, and not much traffic on the streets. Parker drove along steadily, trying to think of a way to lead in to the questions he wanted to ask. Being no good at small talk was sometimes a disadvantage.
Ahead of him, a traffic light switched to red. He stopped and waited, and no cars came along from right or left to take advantage of the green light.
She said, “What do you know about him?”
Was she going to volunteer it all herself? He said, “Edgars, you mean?”
