The Man With the Getaway Face Read Online Free PDF Page B

Saturday." Her voice was harsh, but low.
    Parker looked at her. "That's right."
    Skimm was very nervous. "Parker, this is Alma. Alma, Parker." He looked at them both as though he wanted to say, "Don't fight."
    Alma turned to Skimm, "We need more beer. How come he was in the diner Saturday?"
    "Looking it over," said Skimm. "Here comes the bartender now. He had to look the set-up over first, ain't that right, Parker?"
    Parker nodded. Skimm ordered four more bottles of Bud and the bartender went away.
    "It's a good set-up," Parker said.
    "Like I told you," Skimm answered. He sounded relieved, but still nervous.
    "You figure just the four of us, Parker?"
    "It's a small pie, Handy," Parker replied.
    "I want to talk about that," Alma said. She seemed ready for a fight about anything.
    "Not here," Parker said.
    There was a cigarette in the ashtray that had been lipped very badly. Handy picked it up and said, "I haven't seen you in a while, Parker."
    "Few years," Parker answered.
    "What do you hear from Stanton?"
    "He went to jail a couple years ago. Out in Indiana."
    Handy puffed thoughtfully on his cigarette, holding it from force of habit in his cupped fingers so the light wouldn't show. "How'd it happen?"
    "They shot his gas tank as he pulled away from the bank. It didn't blow, but it drained out before he could make the switch. He tried walking to the other car, and they picked him up.
    Three of them, Stanton and Beak Weiss and one other guy."
    Handy shook his head. "Bad."
    "It wouldn't of happened," Parker said quietly, "but their driver ditched while they were in the bank. A kid, new at the game." He glanced at Skimm, and back to Handy. "That held them up, having to start the car."
    "You got to be careful who you work with," Handy said. He put his cigarette out, bending the lipped end on to the ember, making a small fizzing sound.
    The bartender brought the new round and Skimm paid. He was more nervous than ever. They waited while he counted out change and added a bill. The bartender scooped it off the formica and went away, and Skimm said, bright and nervous, "This is a nice place, Parker. You picked a nice place." Beside him, Alma was glaring, still ready for the fight.
    They sat there and drank the beer, and Parker and Handy talked about people they knew. Skimm sat stiff, elbows on the table, not quite bouncing up and down, with a nervous grin on his face. He wanted to talk with them, because he knew most of the same people, but he didn't want Alma to feel left out, so he didn't talk, just smiled and grinned and looked nervous.
    When they finished the beer, Parker said to Skimm, "You got a place in town?"
    "In Irvington. It ain't far."
    "We'll go there."
    They went outside to the sidewalk and Parker said, "You got a car?"
    Alma answered. "Over there, the green Dodge."
    "I'll follow you." Parker turned to Handy. "You got a car?"
    "No."
    "Ride along with me."
    They walked down the street. Parker's car was down at the end of the block, facing the wrong way. They got in, and he made a U-turn and waited till the green Dodge passed him. Alma was driving. They could see her mouth moving, angry talk, and Skimm looking worried. Parker pulled out behind the Dodge and followed it to Springfield Avenue and down Springfield towards Irvington.
    When they'd ridden a few blocks, Handy said, "She's going to try a cross."…› "I know that."
    Handy nodded. "I figured you did." He pulled a box of matches out of his pocket, took one of the matches, and poked at his teeth with it. He held the box in his other hand and shook it a little, to make the matches rattle inside. "So then what?"
    "We split two ways," Parker said.
    Handy grunted. "What about Skimm?"
    "Either she's talked him over, or she figures to bump him."
    "Why not do it without her?"
    "She's the finger, she could finger us. Besides, we need her in the set-up. She blinds one side during the job."
    Handy nodded, and kept poking at his teeth. "You got the cross figured?"
    Parker