3

When Dan opened the trunk, Andrew Myers was lying in there, curled up in a ball. Grofield blinked at him, thinking he was dead, but then Myers moved, lifting his head and blinking in the light, looking blind and confused and scared. "What now?" he said. His voice croaked, as though he were very dry.

"Climb out of there," Dan said.

Myers moved his arms and legs feebly. "I can hardly move."

Dan reached in and jabbed him in the side with his thumb a couple of times, just above the belt. "Don't make me wait," he said.

"I'm moving. I'm moving."

Grofield stepped back, and watched Myers painfully lift himself up and start to climb out of the trunk. He said, "How long's he been in there?"

"Since Houston," Dan said. "No, I'm a liar. He was out for twenty minutes yesterday."

Myers was having a tough time, and now Grofield saw why. He was handcuffed, but in a strange way; his left wrist was handcuffed to his left ankle.

Grofield stepped forward to help him get over the lip of the trunk and out onto the ground, but Dan said, "Leave the bastard alone. He'll make it."

Grofield frowned. "Why make it so tough on him?"

"How's the back of your head?" Dan asked him.

Grofield shrugged. "All right. He hit me only once. I'm not that upset any more."

"I am," Dan said.

Grofield looked at him. "You didn't get your cash back?"

"He spent it before I got to him, the son of a bitch." Leach stepped forward suddenly and grabbed Myers by the hair and yanked. "Will you get out of there!" Myers fell out onto the ground.

They were on a dirt road about two miles from the theater, in the woods. Only a few tubes of sunlight angled down through the branches, and it was cooler in here. Grofield's clothes, still wet, were getting chilly and uncomfortable.

Myers rolled around on the dirt until he got his feet under him, and then slowly stood up, his right hand using the car for support. When he was standing, he was bent far down and to the left, the fingers of his left hand touching the ground. His wrist was rubbed raw by the handcuff. When he looked up at Grofield he had to open his mouth wide to be able to lift his head far enough up to meet Grofield's eyes. In that position, he looked feebleminded.

Dan said, "Myers has a story to tell you. Tell him, bastard."

Myers said, "Can I sit down?" He had to lower his head to talk. "I can't talk in this position."

"Sit, stand, I don't care," Dan said. "Just tell him the story."

Myers eased himself to the ground. Now he could get himself into a more ordinary position, his right leg flat out in front of him, left leg raised, left arm down at his side. He leaned his back against the rear bumper of the Plymouth, looked up at Grofield, and said, "I know where there's over a hundred grand, just waiting to be taken." His voice was improving a little with use, but his expression was still pained.

Grofield glanced at Dan, but Dan was looking down at Myers in grim satisfaction. Grofield gave his attention back to Myers.

Myers said, "Dankworth told me about it. He wanted me to go after it with him."

Grofield said, "Dankworth?"

Dan said, "The boy you let frisk you in Vegas."

Grofield frowned. "The one Myers killed?"

"It was him or me," Myers said. He sounded aggrieved, as though he'd been badly treated by someone he'd been kind to.

"Tell me about that," Grofield said.

Dan said, "Listen to the hundred grand."

"In a minute," Grofield told him. "First I want to hear about the gunfight at the O.K. Corral." To Myers he said, "You and Dankworth were such buddies that he told you about this hundred thousand, and he wanted you to come do the caper with him, but then he turned around and tried to kill you?"

"He lost confidence in me," Myers said, some of the grievance still showing in his voice. "After you people walked out."

"The others left, too?"

Dan said, "Right after us. All three of them."

Grofield said, "Whose idea was it to hijack Dan and me?"

"Mine," Myers said. "I was mad at you people, you were the first ones to go. Maybe if you didn't leave, the others-"

"If they were pros," Dan said, a little irritated, "they'd have left."

"Anyway," Grofield said. "You and whatsisname-"

"Dankworth."

"I didn't ask you. You and whatsisname came down after everybody left, and you saw Dan and me at the table, and you saw us winning."

"We couldn't get too close," Myers said. "We thought you were the one with the money."

"And you wanted to get even for us walking out on you."

"That's right."

"So then whatsisname-"

"Dankworth."

Dan stepped forward and kicked Myers on the right kneecap. "He didn't ask you!"

Myers didn't make a noise, but he winced and closed his free hand around his knee.

Grofield shook his head at Dan. "I don't like to see people being hurt," he said. To Myers he said, "Dankworth. After you got Dan's money and went back to the hotel room, he jumped you."

"That's right."

"And you had a fight, and you managed to win."

"That's right."

Grofield turned half away from Myers and said to Dan, "If he tells a dumb lie on that part, why should I believe his hundred thousand story?"

Aggrieved again, Myers said, "What do you mean, a dumb lie?"

Dan was frowning. He studied Myers, and then looked at Grofield. "You sound damn sure of yourself."

"I am. Number one – there wasn't any mess in either room, no struggle of any kind. There was some bloodstain on the rug in front of one of the chairs, and that was it. Number two – the only way you can kill a man the way Dankworth was killed is to sneak up behind him when he's sitting down, reach around him, pull his head up by the chin with one hand and slit his throat with your knife in the other hand. You don't give a man that kind of cut from in front of him, and you don't give him that kind of cut if you're in a brawl with him."

Myers said, "Why the hell would I want to kill him?"

Grofield turned back to him. "Because Dan knocked him out, and you lost confidence in him. You needed him till you worked some sort of scam for ready money, but once you got Dan's thirteen thousand you were through with him. And you were mad at the world anyway, because all the rest of us walked out on you. And you wanted all of Dan's money for yourself."

Myers blinked, his mouth working as he tried to think of something to say. No words came out.

Dan, sounding dangerous, said, "You son of a bitch, is that the way it was?"

Grofield said, "Don't start kicking him, Dan. I just wanted to get that part straight before I heard about the hundred thousand." He looked at Myers. "I'll listen now."

Myers wanted to turn sullen, but was afraid to. He said, "This is for real. I don't have any reason to lie about this."

"Just tell it," Grofield suggested.

"All right." Myers wiped his mouth with the back of his free hand, and put the hand back on his hurt knee. He said, "Dankworth was in prison up till the beginning of this year."

"Doesn't surprise me," said Grofield.

"This was near Los Angeles," Myers said, "in a state penitentiary there. He got to know an old man there, named Entrekin, they were friends, I suppose. And it turned out this Entrekin and two other old men, all of them long-term prisoners, they had a tunnel to the outside. Dankworth got out through it, that's how he made his escape, this is all absolutely on the level. He's still listed in California as an escaped felon, you can look it up."

"I don't want to look it up," Grofield said. "I'll accept the fact that Dankworth was an escaped con, and that he got out through somebody else's tunnel. Proceed."

"All right," Myers said. "Now, the point about these three old men and their tunnel is that they don't want to get out of prison! Do you see? They're all old. They don't want to spend the last years of their lives hiding out from the police. They don't care about women any more. So the way it seems to them, they're better off if they stay behind bars."

Grofield glanced again at Dan, but Dan was watching Myers.

Myers said, "But they've all got families, all three of them, wives and children and grandchildren and everything, all on the outside. And they want to take care of their families, naturally, so what they do is, they go out at night and they do burglaries all around Los Angeles. Two or three nights a week they go out and they do these little burglaries, what Dankworth called stings. They do three or four stings a night, every night they go out, up and down the California coast around Los Angeles, and they never take anything except cash. And they have a little studio apartment somewhere near the Sunset Strip, where they keep the money. And they send money to their families that way."

Grofield smiled. "That's a very nice story," he said. "I really hope it's true, because it's so nice. They're taking care of their families."

"That's exactly right," Myers said.

Dan said, "The sweet thing is, you can't have a better alibi than them. They can't be pulling any of these jobs, they're in stir."

"It's a nice story," Grofield said. He was still smiling, the story had made him happy.

Myers said, "There's more to it than that. It seems they've been saving money up, not turning it all over to their families, because they want to leave them something really good when they die. To have an estate, you see."

"An estate," Grofield repeated. He was grinning broadly. "I like those three guys."

"Well," Myers said, "Entrekin told Dankworth they had over a hundred thousand dollars stashed in their apartment, and this was last year. It has to be even more by now."

"That troubles me," Grofield said. "Why would this smart old man tell Dankworth so much?"

"I guess he liked him," Myers said. "And of course, Dankworth was supposed to be there for a minimum of twelve more years, even if he got a parole at the earliest possible moment. He didn't want to tell Dankworth exactly where the tunnel was, and Dankworth had to force it out of him. So he could escape."

"Misplaced confidence," Grofield said. "It runs the world. The old man trusted Dankworth. Dankworth trusted you. And now we're supposed to trust you."

"No trust involved at all," Dan said. "Wait him out, and then I'll tell you my idea."

"I'm still listening," Grofield said.

Myers said, "The old man wouldn't tell Dankworth where the apartment was, not exactly. He mentioned once that it was near the Sunset Strip, but that was all. But the thing is, there's over a hundred thousand dollars hidden there – in cash! And Dankworth told me exactly where the tunnel comes out on the outside of the prison."

"That was a mistake, wasn't it?" Grofield said. "If he'd held that back, he'd be alive now."

Dan said, "That's neither here nor there. The point is, a guy could keep an eye on that tunnel until the three of them come out, and then follow them. They might go do their stings first, but sooner or later they'd wind up at the apartment. Then you'd wait until they left to go back to the pen, and you'd break in, find the cash, and take off."

Grofield made a face. "I hate taking their money," he said. "I like them too much."

"You don't have to take it," Dan said. "I'll take it. This is a one-man job."

Frowning at him, Grofield said, "Then what do you want me for?"

"My big question is," said Dan, "what do I do with this bastard? I can't carry him around with me until I do the job, he'd be in the way and screw things up. I've gotta stash him somewhere until the job's over, so just in case it's all bullshit I can come back and make him pay for it."

Grofield shook his head. "Not with me," he said. "If that's what you have in mind, I'm sorry."

Dan said, "How long could it be for? A week? And you've got plenty of room to stash him. In that theater of yours."

"No," Grofield said. "I don't bring my work home."

"I'll give ten percent of whatever I find," Dan said. "If he's telling the truth, it's better than ten grand for you."

Grofield felt the temptation, but shook his head again and said, "I'm sorry, Dan, but I just won't do it. I won't risk losing what I've got here. And besides that, I won't put my wife in a potentially dangerous situation, which is what this is."

Dan said, irritably, "What the hell am I gonna do with him?"

Grofield shrugged. "You got your money's worth out of him. Let him go. He won't louse up your play in Los Angeles."

"That's right," Myers said eagerly.

"See that? He isn't that anxious to see you again. Let him run home to Texas."

Dan grimaced, not liking it. "But what if he's lying? Sends me out on some half-ass stunt, watching an alley where a tunnel's supposed to come out – what if there isn't any tunnel, and he's making a damn fool of me?"

"You found him before, you could find him again."

"I don't wanna let him off that easy," Dan said angrily, and he looked for a second as though he was going to start kicking Myers again.

Grofield said, "Then kill him. Not around here, take him-"

"Hey!" Myers said, and stared at Grofield as though he'd been betrayed.

Dan said, "I don't wanna kill anybody, that's not where I'm at. I steal."

"Well, it's one or the other," Grofield said. "Stashing him with me or anybody else is a bad idea. What if he gets loose while you're gone, kills me and Mary, and when you come back he's laying for you?"

"You'd watch him better than that."

"Would I? Forget it, Dan. Kill him or let him go. Believe him about these old men and their tunnel or don't believe him."

"I'll have to think about it," Dan said grumpily.

Grofield said, "Would you drive me back? I'm getting cold in these wet clothes."

"Sure." Dan nudged Myers with his foot. "Back in the trunk."

"Let me sit in the back seat," Myers said. There was a whine in his voice now. "I won't do anything, just let me sit in the back seat."

"The only reason I'm not hitting you right now," Dan told him, "is because my friend doesn't like to watch that kind of thing. But don't give me a lot of aggravation to remember later on, when he's gone, or I'll make you very unhappy. Now get back in the trunk."

Myers struggled up again, and back into the trunk. Grofield wanted to go sit in the car, but he thought he should stick around and watch until Myers was tucked away. Dan might start punching and kicking out of irritation and frustration.

Finally Myers was in, lying on his side in that cramped fetal-like position, and Dan slammed the lid again. "Come on, I'll take you home."

They got in the car, and Grofield gave directions, and they started up.

Driving, Dan said, "I don't know what to do."

"Let him go," Grofield said. "The aggravation isn't worth it."

"I'll have to think about it."