Parker looked doubtful. “I don’t know—”
“What don’t you know?” Griffith was on his feet all at once, trembling with annoyance. “I’ve broken my back for you, I’ve given you everything you want. What don’t you know?”
Being hesitant, a little reluctant, Parker finally nodded. “All right,” he said. “One-sixty, no matter how many men it takes.”
“At last.” Griffith said.
Four
Parker found Mackey down by the bar, talking with one of the bartenders about pro football. “I’m done,” Parker said.
“Sure thing.” Mackey knocked back the rest of his drink and put his glass on the table. “Tittle,” he said to the bartender. “I still say Tittle.”
The bartender gave a disbelieving shrug. “Maybe,” he said.
“No maybe about it.” Mackey turned away, saying to Parker, “Let’s find Brenda.”
Brenda was with a group of younger people in the middle of the lawn, discussing Viva. It took Mackey a minute to cut her out of the herd, during which time Parker stood to one side and avoided becoming involved in other people’s conversations. Then the three of them walked up across the lawn and into the house. They went through the same rooms and halls as before, and out the front door, without having seen Griffith anywhere along their route. They got back into the car again, Mackey driving, Brenda in the middle, Parker to the right, and after they’d driven out into the street and turned in the direction of the motel, Mackey said, “You get everything worked out the way you wanted?”
“Yes.”
“What was the point, anyway? You just want to meet him?”
”I wanted to get the other twenty grand,” Parker said. Mackey frowned across Brenda at him. “What other twenty grand?”
“Between one-thirty and one-fifty.”
Mackey grinned suddenly, and faced front. They were driving in light traffic through a residential area. Mackey said, “You get it?”
“I got more.”
“More?”
“He jumped from one-forty to one-sixty. So I said yes.”
Mackey laughed out loud. “I wish I’d been there,” he said. “God damn it, that’s beautiful.”
“Maybe,” Parker said. “I’m not so sure.”
“Why not? What’s the problem?”
“It came too easy. Jumping like that. And some people at the party said he was broke.”
“Griffith? With that house?”
“The story is, he’s stuck with a lot of paintings he can’t sell.”
Mackey frowned, gazing out through the windshield. “You think so?”
Brenda said, “Why would he want more then? I mean, if he can’t sell the ones he’s got.”
Mackey dismissed that one with a shake of the head. “He could have buyers lined up. He could take care of that one ahead of time.”
Parker said, “You talk to him about payment?”
“That’s the question,” Mackey said. He sounded worried. “I didn’t bother to ask, you know? I figured, he’s stuck with that house, that business, his whole life, he can’t really skip out, so he won’t try a cross. So I didn’t worry about it.”
Brenda said, “You think he might try to run away?”
“No,” Mackey said. “That isn’t the problem.”
“Now is when I need money,” Parker said.
“Me, too,” Mackey said.
Brenda said, “Oh. You mean he might want you to wait till he’d sold the paintings.”
”Robbery on consignment,” Mackey said. He sounded disgusted.
Parker said, “Let’s get that straightened out.”
“We can go back right now.”
“No. He’s in a heavy mood now, he might decide to drop the hole thing. Call him tonight. Don’t sound suspicious or greedy, just say you want to talk over the details of trading the paintings for our money.”
Mackey nodded. “Okay. I’ll work it out with him.”
Brenda said, “Does this mean it might not happen?”
