"Westlake, Donald E as Stark, Richard - Parker 09 - The Split (The Seventh) 1.1" - читать интересную книгу автора (Westlake Donald E)

Parker put the gun away in his pocket and showed the girl his empty hand. She said, 'What do you take in tea, sugar or lemon?'

He didn't know, so he said, 'Neither.'

She nodded, turned around, and went out. Because she was pulling the sweatshirt down so hard in front, it was riding very high in back, revealing a bottom as tender as a wheat field.

Kifka laughed, and coughed, and laughed. 'Ain't that the loveliest ass?' he said. 'The first time I seen that, in stretch pants, I knew I wanted some. How's the broad you're shacked up with?'

'Dead.'

'What?'

Parker went over and shut the bedroom door and leaned his back against it, so the girl wouldn't come in unexpectedly. 'I went out tonight for the first time,' he said, 'to get beer and cigarettes. When I came back, she was dead and the cash was gone.'

'The hell you say!'

There were crossed swords on the wall. Somebody took one down and stuck it right on through her.'

'The hell with her,' said Kifka, making an angry dismissing gesture. 'What's this about the cash?' He was sitting bolt upright in the bed now.

'Gone,' Parker told him. The guy killed her, took the cash, hid out somewhere nearby, waited till he saw me going back in, and called the cops.'

'You got out before the cops showed?'

'No. I had to hit heads.'

Kifka waved a hand back and forth just above the sheet, like a man dusting a pedestal. 'I don't like this,' he said. 'I don't like this one goddam bit.'

'It had to be somebody in on the job,' Parker told him. 'Who else would know about the money?'

Kifka said, 'And you figured me? I look like the guy?'

He was all set to be insulted.

Parker said, 'You're the only one I know how to find. So I came to talk to you.'

'With a gun in your hand?'

'You were supposed to be working. I stopped by the garage and they said you hadn't been around at all. You read it, Dan.'

Grudgingly, Kifka said, 'All right. It was a possibility. But you see the way I am. I started getting this right after the job, right while I was stashing the first car.'

'Somebody got the cash,' Parker reminded him. He didn't feel like a talk about Kifka's symptoms right now.

Kifka nodded. 'So what do we do now?' he said.

The girl was at the door, kicking it with a bare foot. Parker said to Kifka, 'Give her a reason to stay out of here.'

'Will do.'