silly. Just silly men.”
“Maybe,” Parker said.
“I think I’ll come out of the bathroom now,” she said, and her smile was more natural, as though maybe she wouldn’t have hysterics.
“Fine,” he said. He put his hand out toward her and she took it, holding tight.
She came out to the main room and looked around. “They searched,” she said.
“Yes.”
“I don’t suppose you know for what.”
“No.”
She looked at him, and though she was still smiling her eyes were a little shadowed. “Shall we drink in the room,” she said, “or go out?”
“Here.”
“Good. I’ll call.”
She let his hand go and walked between the beds to the stand with the phone, but just as she got to it it rang. She stopped, hand partway out toward the phone, and looked back at Parker to say, “Am I stupid? I want you to answer it.”
“That’s not stupid,” Parker said. The phone rang again as he went by her. He picked up the receiver, said, “Yes?”
“Mr Walker?” The voice insinuated; it was made of oil.
“Yes,” Parker said.
“Have they left?”
Parker stiffened. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Claire watching him, saw her react to his reaction. He said, “Yes.”
“I hope they were not
too much trouble.”
“No,” Parker said. Claire was watching him as though to read the other half of the conversation on his forehead.
“Did you make a decision?” the voice asked.
“Not yet,” he said.
“Then there might be some profit in our having a talk?”
“I don’t know. Who are you?”
“Oh, you don’t know me, Mr Walker. But let’s say I was in your shoes once, that I might be able to offer you the benefit of my experience. Would you be interested?”
“Yes,” Parker said.
“Then may I sug” Click.
The line was dead.
Parker said, “Hello?”
Claire said, “What is it?”
Parker shook his head. He put the receiver back on its cradle and said, “I don’t like this.”
“What was it?”
“Another one. He wanted to know if they’d left, wanted to know if I’d like to have a talk with him. Then the connection got broken.”
“What are we going to do?”
He looked at her. “Nothing,” he said. “If somebody else shows up, I’ll try to find out what’s going on. If not, we forget it.”
“Can you? That easily?”
“Why not?”
She spread her hands. “I don’t know. Curiosity, something. Sometimes you don’t seem” She shrugged and turned away. “I don’t think I want that drink after all,” she said.
“What do you want instead?”
“Do you think we should go back? Back to Miami?”
“No.”
She looked at him. “Why not?”
He didn’t tell her the reason. The reason was they were only at this hotel in New York for a few days, so if trouble happened here it couldn’t louse up much. But in Miami they were known, they had a pattern developed; if there was trouble down there it could spoil a lot of things. But to talk to her about trouble would only make her
