boatman.
‘Very good, that woman of yours,’ Salsa said, as he might have said something pleasant and admiring about a friend’s new car. ‘She wishes to photograph me unclad.’
Parker said, ‘We’ve got to find somebody. I’ll call Handy McKay, maybe he knows somebody.’
Grofield came out of the kitchen, leading Heenan. Grofield was an actor all the way through, and now he was playing the role of a cheerful amiable junior executive, giving to some lost nudnick the discreet bum’s rush. ‘You see the position,’ he was saying, his arm draped over Heenan’s shoulders. ‘No hard feelings.’
Heenan was looking confused and not yet sore. He’d get sore later, some time after Grofield finished sending him away.
Salsa said to Parker, ‘Would you mind?’
Parker watched Grofield and Heenan go by. Distracted, he said, ‘Mind? Mind what?’
‘If I permit your woman to photograph me unclad.’
Parker shook his head, not thinking about that. ‘What do I care?’ he said. He went over to the telephone, and Grofield smilingly shut the door behind Heenan.
4
PARKER rolled over, waking up, and the doorbell sounded again. Crystal was out; Grofield and Salsa were in the motel rooms being paid for by the Outfit. It was ten in the morning and Parker had been up till after three making his phone calls, waiting for answers, following leads and hints and suggestions, and still he had nobody to operate the boat.
He got up from the bed and stepped into his clothing and headed for the front door. The bell rang twice more in the time it took to dress and get there. He opened the door and it was a mistake.
The two guys outside had the flat broad look of Federal law. They were wearing dark suits with narrow lapels and dark hats with narrow brims. One of them carried a briefcase. They both had flat bony faces and expressionless eyes and prominent cheekbones. One of them said, ‘Speak to you, Mr. Parker,’ and they both bundled into the room.
Parker didn’t like being at a disadvantage and these two had pushed into control from the outset. Pushing back was no good in this case; the way to get hold of the reins was pull in the direction they were pushing.
He shut the door after them and turned away, saying, ‘Making coffee. You can sit in the living room and wait.’
‘We’ll come along with you.’
‘Sure. Come on.’
They all went into the kitchen and he started water boiling for instant coffee. The other two sat at the kitchen table and while Parker got out the jar of coffee and three cups the guy with the briefcase said, in an easy, conversational tone of voice, ‘What is your real handle, Mr. Parker?’
‘Parker, just like you said.’
‘Is it? Under the name Kasper, Arnold Kasper, you’re wanted in California for the murder of a prison farm guard.’
Parker said, ‘That’s somebody else. How do you like your coffee?’
‘Just black is fine for me. My partner takes a little sugar in his. You are also known as Charles Willis, and under that name you are wanted for two murders in Nebraska.’
Parker said, ‘Wrong man. I never been in Nebraska.’ He put the cups and the sugar bowl and three spoons on the table.
‘Under the name you claim as your own,’ the guy with the briefcase said, ‘you are alleged to have been involved in eight major robberies over the past eleven years. The number may be higher, of course, but eight we know about.’
The other one said, ‘We don’t seem to have a first name to go with Parker. Or is Parker the first name?’
Parker said, ‘You two are interested in names, you must have some of your own.’
The one with the briefcase said, ‘Oh, I am sorry. I’m Mr. England and this is Mr. Carey.’
Parker pointed at England and said, ‘Law.’ He pointed at Carey and said, ‘Accounting.’
England smiled. ‘Very good, Mr. Parker,’ he said. ‘Bull’s-eye on both counts.’
Carey said, ‘You should have hired Heenan.’
Parker looked at him. ‘He was yours? Then I did right.’
‘No,’ said England. ‘If you had taken him on, Mr. Parker, we would not have had to come and see you today. In fact, you would never have had occasion to see us at all.’
The water was boiling. Parker turned the flame off and said, ‘This isn’t a pinch.’
‘Not a bit of it,’ said England. ‘Murder and robbery do not interest us in the slightest.’
‘We’re specialists,’ said Carey. ‘Those things are outside our specialty.’
Parker poured water in the cups and then sat down at the table. ‘I could of left this room three times already,’ he said.
England said, ‘Why didn’t you?’
‘I want to know what’s happening. What’s your specialty?’
