‘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?’
England said, ‘Baron von Altstein.’
‘Who?’
‘Baron Wolfgang von Altstein.’
Carey said, ‘You probably know the name Wolfgang Baron. Everybody’s got extra names.’
‘The island,’ Parker said.
They both nodded. England said, ‘We want Von Altstein. We want him very very badly. I don’t think you can imagine how badly we want him.’
Parker said, ‘But he won’t come in where you can grab him.’
‘No, he won’t. It frustrates us.’
Carey said, ‘We want him so bad, we’ll take him instead of you.’
Parker shook his head. ‘I don’t follow.’
England said, ‘We’re onto the game, Mr. Parker. You’ve been asked to raid the Baron’s island. You are currently assembling a group for just that objective.’
‘Wrong.’
Carey said, ‘You deny everything, we know that, it’s understood. Just let us say our say, all right?’
Parker said, ‘Fine. Tell your fairy tale.’
‘Here it is,’ said England. ‘You and your partners are going out to raid the island. You intend to come back with all the money you can lay your hands on. We want you to come back with the Baron, too.’
‘Do what?’
‘We want the Baron,’ England said again. ‘You bring him in where we have jurisdiction and you’ll have no problems. You won’t be breaking any of our laws this time anyway.’
‘The helicopter,’ Parker said suddenly.
They both looked at him. Carey said, ‘What was that?’
Parker shook his head. ‘I’ve been trying to figure how you guys got in. It was that helicopter, the first time I went out to the island. You’ve been keeping a steady watch on the island, that’s how you got onto me.’
England seemed surprised. ‘Well, of course,’ he said. ‘How can we get the Baron if we don’t watch the island he lives on?’
Parker said, ‘So what’s Heenan got to do with it?’
‘He was to have gone along, doing his assigned tasks in the robbery just as you would plan it, but in addition he would see to it that the Baron was brought in where we could get our hands on him.’
Carey said, ‘It would simplify things if you’d reconsider hiring Heenan.’
Parker shook his head. ‘He’s no good.’
‘We know,’ said England apologetically, ‘but he was the best we could come up with on such short notice. We got him released from his jail term, you know.’
Parker nodded. ‘He was too white to have been out a week, not down here.’
Carey said, ‘The other choice is, you take me.’
Parker looked at him. ‘I do what?’
‘Bring me into the operation to do the job Heenan would have done. I’ll do my part, and when it’s all over I’ll go my way with the Baron and you’ll go your way with the loot.’
Parker couldn’t believe it. He said, ‘You’re out of your mind.’
‘We mean it,’ Carey said.
England said, ‘It’s one less man to split with, because Carey won’t want any of the profits. Makes more for each of the rest of you.’
‘I’m supposed to tell the others about Carey?’
England frowned. Carey said, ‘It probably would be best if you didn’t. It’s up to you.’
‘You two,’ Parker told them, ‘are just bright enough to do stupid things with smart details.’
Carey said, ‘You’re talking like a man with a choice.’
‘I’ve always got a choice.’
‘No. Not this time.’
‘Show me.’
It was England who answered. ‘We want the Baron, as we said, badly enough to let you go in trade. But if we don’t get him we’ll take you as a consolation prize. It’s as simple as that.’
‘We could have had you,’ Carey said, ‘any time in the last few days.’
‘Either time you went out to the island, for instance,’ England said. ‘Or when you went to the Tropical Palm Lounge in Houston to arrange for guns. You’re a better driver than Yancy, by the way.’
‘We have the manpower,’ Carey said, ‘and we have the interest. We’ve had you in sight from the beginning; we could have picked you up any time. We still can.’