Parker looked at Jean and then at Edgars. He said, “So what?”
Edgars swallowed. “She’s coming along,” he said.
“Since when?”
“Since always. She’s always been with me.”
“Always?” Parker looked at her. She wouldn’t be with anybody always, and especially not Edgars.
“She doesn’t have anything to do with the business arrangement,” Edgars said. “I always had her go out to a movie or something when we had a meeting. And she can wait for us in Madison or somewhere until we’re done.”
Jean smiled lazily, looking at Parker like a nightclub booker at an audition, waiting for the new act to do something interesting. She said, “I’ll get along.”
Parker looked at Edgars and shook his head. “No dice. She can wait for you here.”
“Why? She’ll keep out of the way, I guarantee it.”
“She’ll keep out of the way better in Jersey City.”
“Parker, I give you my word”
“I don’t want your word.”
Jean said, “Who’s the boss around here, anyway, honey?”
“Nobody,” Parker told her. “And that’s just the kind of trouble you bring with you.” He turned to Edgars. “She stays here.”
Edgars was embarrassed and uneasy. He felt like a fool, in front of the woman. He said, “Nobody else will even seeher. I guarantee it. We’ll take her part way and leave her in Madison or somewhere. I’ll never say a word to any of the others; they won’t even know she exists.”
Jean laughed and said, “Just a quiet little mouse, that’s me. Quiet little mouse.”
Parker said, “She’ll show up in the middle of it. At the town, or the hideout.”
Edgars shook his head. “No, she won’t, Parker. I’m not a professional at this kind of thing, like you, but I know better than that. She doesn’t know where the job is, except North Dakota, and she doesn’t know where the hideout is either.”
“Except North Dakota,” said Jean, and laughed again. She looked at Parker, a challenge in her eyes, and said, “You don’t have to worry about me, Parker. I know my business, too.”
“We leave her farther away than Madison,” Parker said. He didn’t like giving in on this thing, but looking at Edgars he saw he would have to. The trouble the woman could cause if they took her along was less than the trouble Edgars could cause, lousing up the operation out of pique and embarrassment, if they didn’t take her along. “We leave her in some town this side of the North Dakota line.”
“Ipick the town,” she said.
Edgars nodded, grateful for the compromise. “All right,” he said. “I understand what you mean, Parker. That’s why I kept her out of sight all the time.”
“Sometimes I feel like a sheep or something,” she said. “Couldn’t you bastards at least lower your voices? You talk about me like I’m not even here, and I’m getting irritated.”
They both ignored her. Parker said to Edgars, “I got to make a stop in Syracuse, so we’ll have to leave tonight.”
“Tonight? I’m not packed or anything.”
“So pack.”
Jean said, “What about me? Half my stuff’s still over to the old place.”
Edgars wanted to hold on to her, but he knew she was a liability. He sounded irritated when he said, “So go over to the old place and getyour stuff.”
“Jesus,” she said. “It’s like the army. Alert! Alert! Alert! Pack your bag in the middle of the night and run your ass off.”
“I told you before about that language.”
“Up yours,” she said.
Parker said, “Argue later. Right now, pack.”
She turned to Parker, saying, “Drive me over to the old place.”
“Take a cab.”
“You’rethe one in the hurry, ugly.”
“You better take her,” Edgars said. “Otherwise, she’ll be gone for hours. I’d take her, but I got to pack. And I don’t have a car.” He said the last with surprise.
Parker was about ready to tell them both to go to hell, but then he thought of Edgars and his private reasons. The bitch might know something about them. He said, “All right, let’s go.”
“Be right back, honey.” She twisted the last word like a knife.
They left the building and got into the Mercury, and Parker said, “Where to?”
“Just straight ahead awhile. I’ll show you where to turn. Don’t worry, ugly, you won’t get lost with me.”
“I know.”
They rode four blocks in silence, and then she told him to turn right. It was after eleven at night, the middle of the week, and not much traffic on the streets. Parker drove along steadily, trying to think of a way to lead in to the questions he wanted to ask. Being no good at small talk was sometimes a disadvantage.
Ahead of him, a traffic light switched to red. He stopped and waited, and no cars came along from right or left to take advantage of the green light.
She said, “What do you know about him?”
Was she going to volunteer it all herself? He said, “Edgars, you mean?”
“Who else? What kind of a bird is he?”
So that took care of that. She knew less about Edgars than Parker did. On the off-chance, he said, “I thought you knew him from always.”
She laughed. “That’s his story. On my side, ‘always’ looks like three weeks.”
“Since he came to town.”
“I guess.”
“You didn’t sound like North Dakota.”
“Compliments yet.”
“That wasn’t a compliment.”
The light changed again, and he drove on. Two blocks farther on she told him to make a left. Her voice was cold as ice. He got stopped by another traffic light, went two more blocks and she said, “Just ahead on the right.”
There was a fireplug handy. He parked next to it. She said, “You want a ticket?”
“What do you care?”
“Not a thing, ugly. Wait here, I’ll be as quick as I can.”
“I’ll come along.”
“Why?”
“So you’ll be quicker.”
“Mister Edgars has such sweet friends.”
It was a brick apartment building, the entrance flanked by coachlamps bearing twenty-five-watt bulbs. There was a small green elevator, which took them slowly to the third floor.
As they walked down the hall, she rummaged in her purse for a key and said, “If my roomie’s in, try not to be any uglier than you have to.”
She unlocked a door and pushed it open. The apartment was dark. She felt along the wall and found the light switch. It was a ceiling light that came on, showing a large room full of clutter. Newspapers, magazines, paperback books, scattered all over the place. A studio couch was covered by wrinkled sheets and blankets; a pillow was on the floor next to it. There were wicker chairs and end tables and two lamps. A gray carpet was on the floor.
“My roomie’s a mess. Come in, if you’re coming. Shut the door. You want a drink?”
“No. Just pack.”
“I’m going to love travelling with you, ugly. You mind if I take a shower?”
“Yes.”
“Tough. That’s just plain tough.”
“If you want to know how far you can push me,” he told her, “you can find out right now.”
She hesitated, and then she shrugged. “I don’t care. You didn’t want me to come along, you talked about me like I wasn’t there, so I got sore. What do you expect?”
“I didn’t expect you at all.”
“Well, I’m here. I’ll keep out of the way like a good girl, and I won’t make trouble with Edgars or anybody else. All right?”
Parker shrugged. “That’s all I ask.”
“So I’ll take a very quick shower. Quickest ever, I promise. Okay?”
Parker looked at his watch. “We want to be out of here in twenty minutes.”
“Fifteen. Okay?”
She was making an effort, so he ought to make an effort, too. He made an effort, relaxed his face a little, and said, “Okay.”
“There’s booze in the kitchen, if you want a drink. And I won’t call you ugly any more. Okay?”