Free Parker 09 The Split by Richard Stark

anything, because I'm working on a murder case and you connect somewhere else entirely. My wife and kids are going next door for a visit.'
    'Bad.'
    Dougherty said, 'Don't pressure me. I won't pressure you and you don't pressure me. Why are you still in town?'
    'I want names,' Parker said.
    'You won't get them from me. Could it be the actual killer knows something? Something about the robbery, maybe. You can't afford to have him talk to the police; he might try to trade information for a lesser charge.'
    'I'll give him to you,' Parker said. 'Alive and talking.'
    'You don't make any sense at all,' Dougherty told him. 'Why do you want him, if not to kill him? What makes you think I'll give you any information?'
    'You're too exposed, Dougherty. You know my arguments.'
    Dougherty glanced at the ceiling. 'You mean my family? I don't believe it, it's too strong a reaction. You can't want information that bad.'
    'I do. My friends and I do.'
    'You touch me, or my family, and the force won't rest until you're found.'
    'You mean they'll start looking? They're just kidding around up till now?'
    Dougherty gnawed his lower lip. 'There's no point involving them in this,' he said. 'We should be able to work this out between us, just the two of us. Leave my family out of it, leave your friends out of it, leave the force out of it.'
    'Then what?'
    'If I give you names, you've got to know I'll have those people put under immediate surveillance. If you show up to ask questions, you'll be grabbed.'
    'Let me worry about that.'
    Dougherty chewed and chewed on his lower lip. He didn't seem worried, just thoughtful. 'I haven't got this figured yet,' he said. 'I believe you, you think this is important. Important to you, I mean. I believe you, you'll do whatever you have to do to get what you want. What I don't understand is why you want it, or why it should be so necessary.'
    Parker shrugged. 'Never mind me. The point is, what do you get out of it?'
    'If I give you names, they won't do you any good. You can't get near any of the people I mention without being arrested. If I don't give you the names, you'll probably cause me trouble of one sort of another just to let me know you don't make idle threats, but all that can do is put even more heat on you. I don't see where you stand to gain.'
    Parker said, 'Where do you stand to gain?'
    Dougherty seemed to consider. 'If I bring you in,' he said slowly, as though talking to himself, 'and it turns out you are connected with the robbery, it might even mean promotion for me, to second grade. If I let you go, knowing nothing about you but the license plate of the Buick, which surely won't do me any good, it won't help to announce to my boss I had you and lost you.'
    Parker said, 'Don't figure you've got the choice.'
    Dougherty smiled thinly. 'You have at least two guns on you, handguns of one kind or another, in your overcoat pockets. I have my pistol in a hip holster tucked into my back pocket. I'm the fastest draw on the force with the pistol in that position.'
    'You don't want to take the chance, 'Parker told him. 'Not here.'
    'That's true. Not if I don't have to.' Dougherty spread his hands. 'You haven't come here to cause me trouble, that's obvious. You have a request, that's all, and it's up to me to say yes or no. What if I offer you a trade?'
    'What kind of trade?'
    'Why do you want him?'
    Parker considered. After a minute he said, 'He has something I own, something he took with him. I want it back. When I find him, I'll take it back and then give him to you.'
    'What if it's the other way around? I find him, and give you back what he took.'
    'It wouldn't work that way.'
    'What is it he has?'
    Parker shook his head. 'It's something of mine.'
    Dougherty gestured, pushing the question aside. 'All right, forget that. I want to know what happened at Ellen Canaday's place last night, what your part of it was, detail by detail. I won't ask you about anything not directly connected with the killing. You give