'No,' Parker said.
Quindero looked at Liss, who told him, 'Do it that way, Ralph, it's fine.'
So Quindero got to his feet and came over to take Parker's twenty, then crossed to Liss, who said, 'Lean down, Ralph, let me tell you especially what I want.'
Liss whispered to Quindero, while Parker watched the shadows inch up the opposite side of the ravine. Then Quindero started for the door, and Parker told him, 'George told you, call the motel, see did they really check out. Now, their name at the motel is Fawcett, be sure you get that right. And while you're at it, ask if Mr. Grant checked out, too.' Looking at Liss, he said, 'Because I didn't.'
Liss laughed. 'Shit, I was just hoping you'd lied to me. I mean, Parker, it's fine we're partners again and all that, but if it could turn out you don't know where that money is any more than I do, it would simplify my life, it really would.'
Parker said to Quindero, 'Be sure to make the call, and get the names right. George here is anxious to kill me, you know.'
Quindero threw frightened looks at both of them. He stood in the doorway, clutching the money in his right hand.
Liss said, 'Ralph. You know you'll come back.'
'Yes,' Quindero said.
'Because you got nowhere else to go,' Liss told him. 'I saved your ass, and I'll go on saving it. Just so long as you do what you're told.'
Parker said, 'Quindero. Have George describe his retirement plan some time.'
Liss laughed, but then he said, 'Parker, that isn't funny. Ralph is new at the game. Don't upset him.'
Parker looked out at the ravine again, and Liss made shooing motions at Quindero, who scurried away.
They were silent for almost five minutes, sitting against two walls at right angles to one another, resting, not seeming to look at one another. Then Parker said, 'What do you want him for, George? Besides to send for pizza.'
'To throw out of the sled,' Liss said.
6
It was unnatural to sit here like this. Parker needed Liss dead, and he knew Liss felt the same way about him, and they were both held back. Liss was held back because Parker was his only sure route to the duffel bags full of money, and Parker was held back because Liss had the gun.
After dark, Parker thought. A chance will come after dark.
The afternoon slowly descended outside, the sunny areas growing bright even as they narrowed, the shadows getting darker. The rock and the tangled underbrush out there would be full of creatures, wary, moving in sudden jumps, hidden away in the cat's cradle of vines and branches, living their lives with all senses alert. Darkness would be good for them, too.
Thorsen's gun was pale, standing out against the dark floor over next to the box where Quindero had been. Neither of them looked directly at it, but both knew it was there. Parker looked out the windows at the ravine and watched the light change. Liss didn't seem to look at anything.
Quindero was gone almost an hour, and when he came back he seemed more agitated than ever. He carried a brown paper shopping bag with handles, and when he came in he said, 'My picture's in the paper.'
They looked at him. Liss said, 'Is it a good picture, Ralph? Is it one you like?'
Parker said, 'Show me the paper.' And held his hand out.
Quindero dithered, not sure what to do, looking first at Parker, then at Liss.
Liss did his half-grin. 'You bought the paper, Ralph? Did you? For your scrapbook? Sure, go ahead, let Parker see it.'
Quindero put the bag on the floor, rooted in it, came out with a newspaper, handed it to Parker. Then he carried the bag over to Liss, to divvy up the food.
It was this city's one newspaper, full-size, not tabloid. It was heavy on the ads, heavy on the wire service reports, with just barely enough local staff to cover robbery, murder, arson and escapes all happening at once. Under the main headline:
WITNESS MURDERED IN MEMORIAL HOSPITAL Police Guard Not Enough; Killer Escapes
was an excited story about the events in the hospital, plus a recap of the robbery at the stadium, plus a lot of self-confident official pronouncements.
Three photos of equal size and importance ran horizontally under the main headline and next to the subhead and story. From left to right, they were the local police commissioner, Tom Carmody and Ralph Quindero. The newspaper couldn't have done a better job of taking attention away from Ralph Quindero's features if they'd decided not to run the picture at all.
The photo they'd used of Quindero was a black-and-white blowup of something from the family's collection, and it showed him in sunshine, full face, smiling and squinting, two things he wasn't likely to do for a while. When Parker looked at this picture and its placement, and then looked at Ralph Quindero, it seemed to him Quindero could probably walk through the newspaper's editorial department without anybody recognizing him.
Over next to Liss, Quindero squatted down and ripped up the paper bag into large irregular pieces to use as plates. On one of these, he brought Parker two slices of pizza, plus a can of some local bottler's cola. A bottle
