He remembered having seen a phone in the living room. He left the bedroom and went back through the flat, this time switching on lights as he went, and in the living room he dialed New York information for the number he wanted, then dialed it. Not out of any expectation, but just to be doing something.
“Rilington Hotel.”
“Hello, this is Thomas Lynch. You have any messages for me?”
“One moment, sir.”
He waited, sitting on the edge of the chair, free hand dangling between his knees. He was tired, but he knew he couldn’t sleep. His shoulders ached; the back of his neck ached.
“Sir?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you registered with us?”
“Not at the moment.”
“Well, we do have a message here, Mr. Lynch, but I have no record of your having made a reservation.”
“I sent a wire. You’ve got a message for me?”
“I have no record of the wire, sir. But if you could give me the information now, I’d be happy to see to the arrangements.”
There was a message there. He wasn’t using that hotel for a drop with anybody but Joyce Langer. Sometimes the unexpected happens.
But he had the desk clerk’s game to play first. He said, “I wanted a single for four days from Tuesday. What’s the message?”
“That would be this coming Tuesday, sir?”
“Naturally. Now if you don’t mind, it’s late and I’m tired. What’s the message?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. A Miss Langer called for you, not more than an hour ago. I didn’t take the message myself. Let me sec— She said she has what you were looking for, and if you will come by between eight and eleven in the morning the superintendent will have the key for you. She will not herself be at home.”
“Good,” Parker said. His watch said nearly one o’clock. It was four hours back to New York; that meant five. Four hours sleep, he could be up to her place by nine-thirty. He said, “That means a change in the reservation. I want it to start tonight.”
“Tonight, sir?”
“I’ll be there in four hours.”
“That would be five in the morning, sir.”
“I know that.”
“We’d have to charge you the full rate for tonight, sir. I hope you understand that.”
“I understand that,” Parker said.
“Very well, sir. We’ll be looking forward to serving you.”
Parker hung up and went back to the bedroom. The woman hadn’t moved. Her breathing was still slow and faint. He switched off the lamp beside the bed and then left the apartment, turning out lights as he went. He paid no attention to his reflection as he crossed the long studio to the jimmied door. He went out, closed the door behind him as far as it would go, went back to his car, and started to drive again.
Two
Parker poked George Uhl in the stomach with the barrel of the pistol. “Wake up,” he said.
Uhl groaned and thrashed a little in the rumpled bed, not wanting to be awake. Then his eyes did open, unfocused, as though his sleeping brain was just starting to listen to the voice that had spoken to him, listen to it and identify it.
Uhl jolted up to a sitting position, wide-eyed. He’d been sleeping naked. He stared at Parker, and for a long minute neither of them said anything. Then Uhl said, “No.”
Parker had backed away a few steps, and now he motioned with the gun, saying, “Get up out of there. Get dressed.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Up,” Parker said.
Uhl looked around as though just now noticing where he was. “That bitch,” he said and showed a sudden flare-up of anger. “That little bitch, she turned me up.”
“Don’t let it worry you, George,” Parker said. “Just get out of bed. Don’t make me lose my patience.”
Uhl glanced at him as though Parker were suddenly the secondary problem, as though he didn’t want to be distracted from thinking about Joyce Langer. He said, “You don’t have any patience to lose. You never had any patience.” He threw the covers back and got out of bed.
Parker leaned against the wall and kept the gun pointed generally in Uhl’s direction while Uhl dressed. Uhl was wrong about his not having any patience. He’d been impatient up till now, impatient since Uhl had turned the robbery sour Monday morning, just this time of the morning five days ago, but now that he had Uhl in front of him again he wasn’t impatient at all. He was very relaxed, very calm, ready to take his time and do the rest of this right.
He’d gotten here fifteen minutes ago, at nine forty. The super had given him the key and he’d come up, let
