Free The Man With the Getaway Face by Richard Stark

coffee cup. "No, no, I didn't mean that, nothing like that. I only meant--" He ran down, not sure how to explain himself.
    "Sure," said Parker. He finished his coffee and got to his feet. "Let's go out to the airport."
    "What time's your plane?"
    "Two-fifty."
    "We got time, then."
    "I want to go now."
    "Sure. Okay." Skimm stood up and finished his coffee, gulping it down. He started to put the pint in his pocket, but Parker said, "Leave it. You're going to be driving."
    "Okay. Sure."
    They went out to the car, and Parker drove to the airport. When he got out of the car, he said, "You let Stubbs get away, I'll stomp you!"
    "Don't you worry," said Skimm. "He won't go nowhere."
    Parker walked away into the terminal.

Chapter 4
    GOLDSBORO is small and pinch-faced, a backwater town on the Neuse River, surrounded by tobacco fields. There's an air base nearby, and the State Hospital for Negro Insane. These, and cotton and fertilizer, are what the town lives on.
    Parker got off the bus a little after ten, Saturday night. The workers and the airmen filled the streets. He pushed through and went into a diner where he got directions to the Double Ace Garage. It was too far to walk, so he went back to the tiny bus depot and took the only cab, an old black Chevrolet.
    The Double Ace Garage was a long, low, shed-like construction of concrete blocks. It was painted a dirty white, with the name in red lettering over the wide doors at the front. Parker went inside to the office cubicle, stuck in the right-hand corner up front, and found a hairy florid stout man sitting in a swivel chair at a rolltop desk. He was smoking a cigar, and he left it in his mouth when he talked.
    "I'm Flynn. Lawson sent me."
    "Yah," said the florid man. He turned slightly, and the swivel chair squeaked drily. "He phoned."
    "Let's see it," Parker said.
    "Yah. You're in a hurry, huh?"
    Parker waited.
    The florid man grunted and heaved himself out of the chair. They went around to the side of the building, where there was a gravel lot. The truck was standing there, a nine-year-old Dodge cab and a Fruehauf trailer, lit by a floodlight on the side of the building. The trailer was metal colour and covered with grime, and the cab red. Some company name on the doors had been M painted out with a darker red. The engine was running.
    Parker shook his head. He went over and opened the door on the driver's side and reached up and turned the ignition key. The engine stopped. The florid man watched him, chewing slowly on his cigar, but Parker ignored him. He looked at the rubber all the way around. It was all lousy but at least there were no threads showing.
    The mudguards were gone, and so were most of the safety lights. The window was broken in the right-hand door, and there was some sort of jury-rigged rope arrangement keeping cab and trailer together because the original hitch was broken. The floor mats were gone in the cab, showing where part of the metal flooring had rusted through.
    Parker opened the trailer doors and saw that most of the wooden inner walls had been ripped out. He shook his head again and went around front to open the left side of the hood. The engine was a greasy mess, the wiring frayed, the radiator hoses cracked. The dip stick was gone, and so was the breather.
    Parker closed the hood again, got down, and wiped his hands on the fender. Then he crawled under the cab. There was a large oil stain on the ground, and the lube points were practically covered by caked-on dirt.
    He came out from under the cab. "She's a mess."
    The florid man grinned around his cigar, and spread his hands. "For the price?" he said. "Come on back to the office."
    Parker went with him back to the office. The florid man started to say, "I know she don't look--" when Parker turned around and went back out again. The florid man looked startled. "Hey! Where you goin'?"
    Parker went around to the side of the building again. A kid in a greasy coverall had the hood open. There was a