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

Then you take off on route 9, going south, and circle around back to Old Bridge. When I know the job's finished, I'll get in my car and take the back road. Then we meet at the farmhouse outside Old Bridge. That way, even if you get stopped they've got nothing on you because you aren't carrying the money."
    Parker glanced at Skimm. He was studying the carpet, lines of worry creasing his forehead. Parker said to Alma, "I don't like it. That leaves you holding the cash, and the rest of us holding the bag. I know Skimm, and I trust him, and I know Handy, but I don't know you."
    "So one of you rides with me," she said. "Skimm. He can ride with me. All right?"
    It was bad. The whole idea was stupid. It was sloppy, it was bad business.
    But Parker nodded. "That's all right. Just so one of us goes along with the money."
    If he let her keep her original plan he could be sure of getting the money back. If he forced her to change by making the grab more sensible, then maybe he wouldn't be able to figure out her cross in time. He'd had to argue so she wouldn't get suspicious. The only one he had to worry about was Skimm. Skimm, if he was thinking sensibly, had to know the two-car scheme was nonsense. He would have to wonder why Parker was going along with it. If Alma had talked him into her plans, that would make him dangerous because he'd realize that Parker was on to the cross. But it made more sense that Alma was playing a lone game, that she was figuring to cross Skimm, too.
    "What about bankrolling?" Handy asked.
    "I got it," Parker said. "Three grand." He pulled a long white envelope from his jacket pocket. "I brought five C with me," he said, "in case there was any need for it."
    Handy nodded. "You going to equip us?"
    "Yes."
    "Then I don't need any."
    Alma was staring at the envelope. "Skimm could use some money," she said.
    "This isn't for personal expenses. This is bankrolling. That means to buy what we need for the operation."
    Skimm said, in a small voice, "I don't need any."
    Parker put the envelope back in his pocket. Alma watched it disappear, a vertical anger line between her brows. Parker asked, "Is there anything else?"
    Alma blinked, and said, "When do we do it? Next Monday?"
    "Dry run next Monday. The week after that, maybe, if it looks right. Or the week after that. Whenever it looks right."
    "I don't want too much delay," Alma said.
    Parker got to his feet. "We do the job when we know it'll come off right. That's why we don't go to jail." He turned to Handy. "I'll give you a lift."
    Handy stood up. "Fine."
    Parker turned back to Skimm. "You got a phone?"
    "Yeah. Clover 5-7598."
    "I'll give you a call."
    "All right." Skimm looked at Parker for just a second, and then his eyes slid away. He still looked worried.
    Parker drained the beer can and tossed it into the chair he'd just left. "Nice to meet you, Alma."
    She struggled, and said, "Nice to meet you, too."
    Parker and Handy walked through the house to the kitchen and out the back door. They got into the Ford and drove out to the street, and Handy said, "I've got a room in Newark."
    "Right," Parker said. He headed back towards Springfield Avenue.
    Handy poked at his teeth with a match. After a while, he said, "That's garbage, that stuff."
    "About the two cars?"
    "Yeah."
    "You know why I went along."
    "You've got her figured."
    Parker nodded. "I wonder where Skimm is."
    "I've always trusted that little bastard," said Handy. "We worked together a couple times. Once in Florida, once in Oklahoma."
    "I never work in Florida," said Parker. "I play there."
    "You got a good system." He poked at his teeth some more. Then he said, "I'd like to know about Skimm, though."
    "I don't think he's in it. She's got him tight, but not that tight. She figures to cross him too, and take the whole pie for herself."
    "That poor bastard."
    "You want to wise him?"
    Handy considered, the match working in his mouth. "I don't know," he said. "He'll be in the car with her."
    "He wouldn't