The Jugger

'At first, I figured he couldn't of done it. Then, nobody else turned up that might of, so it had to be him. I figured to begin with if I told about him, you and Younger would grab him and not look anywhere else, because he's served time. But if he really did do the job, I won't want to cover for him. Did you get him yet?'

Regan shook his head. 'He doesn't seem to be around town any more.'

'Well, that figures, if he did it.'

'Everything figures,' Regan said. 'A little late, but it all figures. All the different stories that didn't connect so good before, all of a sudden they all go together like magnets. There's some link-up between you and Abner and the Samuels woman, and I can't find it.'

'I didn't know either of those two before this all happened,' Parker said.

'I believe that, too,' Regan told him. 'That's why I can't figure it out.' He walked around the living-room, looking at the furniture. 'Shardin's the key,' he said, more to himself than Parker. 'He dies, and three old friends come to the funeral, a businessman from Miami and two ex-cons. One of the ex-cons kills the other, and the businessman is all of a sudden buddy-buddy with the local captain of police. And with the girl-friend of the murdered man, let's not forget that. First she identifies him as the guy who killed her man, and then she changes her story, and then she changes it again to this Chambers right around the same time the businessman comes up with Chambers. That's a funny thing, isn't it, Willis? I never heard a word about this man Chambers until this morning, and then I hear it from everywhere.'

'I told Younger yesterday. What about the woman, what did she say?'

Regan gave a sour smile. 'That's right, you weren't there, you wouldn't know. This morning she remembered, Tiftus told her the name of the man who beat him up, and it was Chambers.'

'That's what he told me, too.'

Regan looked at Parker, and then some more at the room. 'I'd like to know how Shardin died,' he said.

'I heard it was a heart attack.'

'I heard the same thing. All right, Willis, I just wanted to know why you took so long to tell us about Chambers, and you had an answer right on tap.'

'It's the truth.'

'I'm sure of it.' Regan shrugged, and turned towards the door. 'It's not my worry any more,' he said. 'Chambers'll be found sooner or later,' and maybe some more will come out at the trial. I can't wait.'

'Fine,' said Parker.

Regan walked across the living-room to the foyer. 'It's been interesting knowing you, Willis,' he said.

There was nothing to say to that. Parker held the door open. Regan paused in the doorway and said, 'I suppose you'll be leaving town now,'

'Probably.'

'Well. Good-bye, Willis.'

'Good-bye.'

FIVE

YOUNGER arrived at three o'clock on the button. Parker didn't wait for him to get out of his Ford and come ring the bell; as soon as he saw Younger pull to a stop at the kerb he picked up his suitcase and walked out of the house.

When he opened the car door Younger said, 'How come the suitcase?'

'We may have to stay over. We're getting a late start.'

'You should have told me, I'd've packed a bag of my own.'

Parker didn't want that. He said, 'You can borrow from me. No problem.' He tossed the suitcase on to the back seat and slid in beside Younger in front. He pulled the door shut and said, 'Let's get out of here.'

'Right.'

Parker nodded at the Plymouth parked down the block. 'You want to wake your boy on the way by?'

'What?'

'He's been asleep most of the time the last couple of days. He must have found something steady for the nights.'

Younger frowned and said, 'How long did you know about him?'

'From the time he parked there.'

'Son of a bitch.' Younger yanked at the steering wheel, started the Ford away from the kerb, and they did a tight U-turn and rode away from the house and the Plymouth both. Younger said, 'If you know about him, and if he was always asleep, how come you stuck around?'

'The money,' Parker told him. It was an answer Younger could understand.

Younger did. He turned and gave Parker a fat grin. 'You want it as bad as I do,' he said. 'As bad as I do.'

'Sure.'

'I know it.' Younger faced front again, watching the traffic. He was pleased with himself. He said, 'Everything went fine with Regan. That was good, when the Samuels woman started talking about Chambers, too. You worked that real well.'

'She did it right, huh?'

'Listen, I almost believed her myself. A regular actress. The only thing, what happens when Chambers is picked up?'

'He won't be,' Parker told him.

'You sound sure of it.'

'I am.'

They didn't do any more talking for a while. Younger took them on a route that didn't go through downtown and that was good. There was less chance of anyone noticing the two of them together in the car. Not that it made that much difference.

After a while, out on the three-lane road that led to Omaha, Younger started again, saying, 'You're from Miami, huh?'

'I live there sometimes.'

'That's what I'm gonna do. Once I get my hands on that money, I'm clearing out of here. What do you think, Miami? Or would I do better out of the country, maybe go to the Riviera, or Acapulco?'

'One place is like another,' Parker told him, but he knew Younger wouldn't be able to understand it.

He didn't. 'Not with half a million dollars,' he said.

'A quarter of a million,' Parker reminded him.

Younger reacted like a kid caught playing hooky; guilty smile and all. That's right,' he said. 'That's right, you're right, Willis. I meant to say quarter of a million, that's what I meant.'

'Sure.'

'You can trust me.'

'No. I can't trust you, you know that. And you can't trust me. You don't trust me, that's why you had the guys in the Plymouth and the Dodge.

'You knew about them both?'

'We don't trust each other,' Parker told him. 'We can't, there's too much money in it. And that isn't any good. Watching each other all the time, we'll never get anywhere. The guy that killed Tiftus is still around some place, remember.'

'I'm getting close to him, Willis.'

'That isn't the point.'

Younger nodded, facing straight ahead as he drove.

'I know that. You're right, we got to be able to trust each other.'

'That's what I say.'

'But how?' Younger turned his head and glanced at Parker, and then faced front again. 'I'll tell you the truth, Willis, you could swear on a stack of Bibles the sun was shining and I'd have to go out and look for myself. There's no way on earth you could make me trust you.'

'There's one way.'

'I let you get something on me, so if I double-cross you it backfires.'

'How?'

Younger squinted at the road, trying to figure it out. 'I don't get what you mean,' he said.

Parker told him, 'I write a note. I say, "I killed Adolph Tiftus." I sign my name to it. It's all in my handwriting, so you've got me cold. I give you the note, and you give it to a lawyer or a friend or somebody for safekeeping. You tell him, If anything happens to you they should give the note to the law. That way, you're safe. I don't dare touch you.'