Edgars looked around the empty foyer and said, “I wish there was some place we could sit down.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“All right, I guess not.” Edgars looked at the wallet again with distaste and stuck it into a side pocket of his suitcoat. Then he gnawed his lower lip and glanced at the entranceway leading into the apartment. Looking off that way, he said, “Maybe Paulus told you, this is the first time I’ve been involved in something like this.”
“He told me. He didn’t have to, but he did.”
Edgars managed a sour grin and looked out at Parker from under his eyebrows. “Sticks out all over, huh?”
“Yes.”
“You and Paulus and the others,” Edgars said, “You all know each other, know what to expect from each other. I don’t know any of you at all. When I’m around you, my back itches.”
Parker nodded. “Sure.”
“You boys aren’t exactly saints.”
“So why get involved?”
“A quarter of a million dollars, for one thing. And personal reasons.”
“Paulus is in with you,” Parker told him. “And the others. You don’t need me.”
“They tell me you’re the best. They tell me you can keep an operation together better than anybody, and you can get the best men to work with you.”
“So why should I work with you?”
Edgars nodded. “That’s a fair question,” he said. He reached inside his coat and took out a cigar in an aluminium tube. While he opened it, he said, “I’ve made mistakes already, I can see that. Putting Owen on you. Maybe getting Paulus. I don’t know what else.” He motioned with his head, saying, “There’s three men in there knew I was putting Owen on you, knew I’d put Owen on each of them when they showed up. They didn’t act happy about it, but they didn’t stop me. I need somebody to stop me making mistakes.”
Parker shook his head. “That’s not my kind of work.”
“Wait a minute, now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to runthis deal, for Christ’s sake.”
“You give a good imitation.”
“I’ve been setting it up, that’s all. I’ve been trying to get a group of professionals together to work withme on this, without getting a fast shuffle for me out of it.”
“Sure,” said Parker. “You had a problem, I see that.”
“So what else could I do?”
“Stay all the way out, or come all the way in. Half and half doesn’t do it.”
“How can I come all the way in until I know what I’m getting myself into?”
“Then stay out.”
Edgars shook his head stubbornly. “There’s too much at stake.”
“Not my problem.”
Edgars gnawed his lip. He had the cigar unwrapped now but hadn’t lit it. He rolled it back and forth between his fingers. After a minute, he shrugged heavy shoulders and said, “All right. All the way in. I’ll give you the setup and then I’ll do whatever you say.”
Parker considered. “Paulus is in there,” he said, “and Wycza. Who’s the third?”
“Grofield.”
“All right. They’re all all right. This is a five-man operation?”
“Oh, no. These are just the department heads.”
Parker stared at him. “The what?”
“It’ll take probably twenty-five or thirty men,” Edgars told him.
Parker looked at him as though he were crazy. “You don’t have anything at all,” he told him. “Twenty-five or thirty men? If a job takes more than four or five men, it’s no job. You can put that down as a rule.”
“This is a special case.”
“Sure it is. Goodbye, Edgars.”
“Will you God damn it stop leaving?”
Parker didn’t like to do a lot of superfluous talking, but he took the time now to tick off the points for Edgars: “You got an operation needs an army, and the more men in a job the more chances it’ll go sour. You got an operation set up by an amateur, for personal reasons. Amateurs get their ideas from the movies, which means flashy and impractical, and personal reasons are no good in a job because they get in the way of clear thinking. Forget it, Edgars.”
“God damn it, Parker, you’re the man I’ve been waiting for.” Edgars was smiling happily now. He said, “I knowthis is a good solid deal, but I want a professional to tellme so, and you’re it. All you have to do is hear me out. When I’m done if you don’t think it’s workable, then I’ll give up the whole idea and I’ll pay your fare back where you came from. Fair enough?”
Parker studied him. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll tell you it’s no good, and then go do it on my own?”
