Dark Passage (23 page)

“That’s what you gotta do,” Arbogast said.
“You gotta go away and forget about her. She'll be all right. I
won't keep after her. Once I get that sixty thousand I'll leave her
alone. You don't need to worry about anything. Hey, where we
going?”

“We’ll go down another few blocks and then
we'll circle around and get up there from the other side of
town.”

The street was neglected and bumpy and the
car went slowly and there were empty lots and no houses now and it
was very hot and sticky and quiet except for the motor of the
car.

“You do that,” Arbogast said. “You go away
and forget about her.”

“She helped me out and I thanked her,”
Parry said. “I can’t keep on thanking her.”

“What you gotta do is get away,” Arbogast
said. “You got that new face and it’s a dandy. All you gotta do is
fix up some cards and papers for yourself and you'll be in good
shape. Where do you figure on going?”

“I don’t know.”

“Mexico’s a good bet.”

“Maybe.”

“You won’t have any trouble in Mexico. And
if you use Arizona you won't have any trouble at the border. How
much did she give you?”

“I’ve got about fifteen hundred left.
Close to sixteen hundred. ”

“That’s plenty. Tell you what you do. You
use Arizona and when you get down there buy yourself a car in
Benson. That's about thirty miles from the border. Once you got
some papers arranged you won't have any trouble buying the car.
They'll be only too happy to sell you one. And once you have the
car you'll have the owner's card and that's all you'll need. Do you
know where you can get papers arranged?”

“I guess I can find a place.”

“Sure, it’s not hard. There's guys with
printing presses who specialize in that sort of thing. Once you get
to Benson and buy that car you'll be all right.”

“They’ll ask questions at the
border.”

“Sure they’ll ask questions. Don't you
know how to answer questions?”

“They’ll ask me why I'm going to
Mexico.”

“And you’ll tell them you're going there
to mine silver. Or you're going there to look for oil. Or you just
want a vacation. It don't make any difference what you tell them.
All you gotta do is talk easy and don't worry about anything and
don't get yourself mixed up. Didn't you learn all these things when
you were in Quentin?”

“I didn’t mix much in Quentin.”

“You should of mixed. It’s always a good
idea to mix. That's the only way to learn things. Especially in a
place like Quentin. And you don't need to tell me anything about
Quentin. They put me in there twice. And I learned things I never
knew before. I learned tricks that got me out of more jams than I
can count. You got some shrewd boys in Quentin.”

“Where can I get the papers
arranged?”

“Well,” Arbogast said. “Let’s see now.
There's a guy I know in Sacramento but that won't do because you'd
have to give my name and I can't act loose in Sacramento for a
while yet. Then there's a guy in Nevada, in Carson City, but I did
a job in Carson City a few weeks ago so I'm still hot there so that
lets Carson City out. So let's see, now. Las Vegas is out because
I'm wanted there and let's see, maybe if we come back to
California, but, no, I'm still hot in Stockton and Modesto and
Visalia, it was all little jobs but these small town police are
terriers, that's exactly what they are. And don't go thinking
they're dumb, because they're anything but dumb. Don't go calling
them dopes. Especially in some of these little California towns. I
tell you California is plenty mean and the sooner I get out when I
get the cash —”Get what cash?”

“The two hundred thousand, I mean the
sixty.”

“You mean the sixty thousand
dollars.”

“Sure, that’s what I mean. The sixty. What
did you think I meant?”

The car was going very slowly now and the
lots were very empty. There was thin wooded area going away from
the lots on the left and on the right the nearest houses were away
past low hills and almost at the horizon. In front the bumpy road
was all yellow dirt going ahead slowly as the car went slowly,
going ahead toward more stretches of empty lots. The sun was
banging away a hard and bright yellow steadiness that seemed to
splash and throw itself around, thick and wriggling and squirming
in its hot stickiness.

“I figured you meant the sixty,” Parry
said. “We’ll turn soon. There's an intersection down
ahead.”

The car crawled. Under the hot sun the
empty lots were very bright and yellow and quiet. The grinding
motor was a sphere of sound complete in itself and apart from the
quiet of the empty lots.

“Where’s that intersection you were
talking about?”

“We’ll come to it.” He wondered how long
he could stretch this out.

“I don’t see anything out there,” Arbogast
said.

“It’s there,” Parry said. He half-turned
and saw Arbogast sitting beside him, leaning forward and looking
ahead and trying to see an intersection. Then Arbogast was looking
at him and waiting for him to say something and he said, “I wish
you could think of a place.”

“What kind of a place?”

“A place where I could get those papers
arranged.”

“Yeah,” Arbogast said. “That’s something
you'll need to do. You can't overlook that. You'll need papers and
cards. Let's see now, let's see if I can help you out. You'll be
going through Nevada by train or maybe bus is better. Yeah, that's
what you better do. You better use one of those two-by-four bus
companies. Let's see if I can think of a place. You can't do
anything in California and I can't think of any place in Nevada.
Let's see, you'll be buying that car in Arizona, in Benson, so
let's see what's north of Benson. Yeah, there's a place. There's a
guy I know in Maricopa.”

“Maricopa?”

“Yeah. You ever been there?”

“I was born and raised there.”

“Come to think of it, you did tell me.
Yeah, that day I picked you up you said Maricopa when I asked you
where you came from. It’s funny, aint it?”

“It’s one of those things.”

“It just goes to show you we’re always
going back. You went away from Maricopa and now you gotta go back
there. How long since you left there?”

“About seventeen years.”

“And now you’re going back. Out of all the
places you could go it's gotta be Maricopa. That's really
something.”

“Who do I see?”

“Well, this printer I know. He did a few
license jobs for me and some guys I sent to him. He knows his work
and he’s tight as a rivet. He'll remember my name. It's been more
than a year now but he'll remember. He'll give you what you want
and he'll take your money and that's as far as it goes. You look
him up when you get to Maricopa. His name's Ferris.”

“What?”

“Tom Ferris.”

“That name’s familiar,” Parry
said.

“What?”

“That’s right,” Parry said. ” Tom Ferris,
the printer. I remember him.”

Arbogast slapped a hand on a knee. “Now
what do you think of that?” he said. “You know him. That takes it.
I tell you, that takes it. You’re gonna go back to Maricopa and
you're gonna see your old friend Ferris. Good old Ferris is gonna
fix up those papers for you. Well, I'll tell you something. That
takes it.”

“Tom Ferris.” Parry smiled. He shook his
head slowly.

“And he prints fake cards and papers for
guys on the run,” Arbogast said. ” He prints the town paper and
people think he’s as straight as they come. You'd never believe it,
would you?”

Parry stopped smiling. He said, “How do I
work it?”

“It’s easy,” Arbogast said. ” You just go
there and look him up. Get him alone and tell him Arbogast sent
you. Tell him what you want and the price you're willing to pay.
That's all he wants to know. It's gonna cost you about three
hundred for a license and a few other cards and papers that you'll
need to have. He knows all about it. He knows just what you need.
He's been doing this work for years.”

“How long will it take?”

“Maybe an hour. He’ll go to work right
away. You can't tell me it aint worth a few hundred.”

“It’s worth every cent of that,” Parry
said.

“Sure. Well, I’m telling you, that takes
it. Now where's that intersection?”

“Right up ahead.”

“I don’t see it.”

“It’s there.”

“I tell you I don’t see it,” Arbogast
said. “there's no intersection. What are you trying to
pull?”

“We’ve got to stay away from
traffic.”

“That don’t mean we gotta go to the South
Pole.

I’m telling you there's no intersection up
ahead.”

“I’m telling you there is.” He brought the
car to a stop, readied himself.

“And I say no,” Arbogast said. “And I’ve
got the gun. Look. Go on, look at it.”

“All right,” Parry said, “it’s your car.
It's your gun.” He reached forward to release the emergency brake
and then without touching the emergency brake, he sent his hands
toward the wrist of the hand that held the gun. Arbogast was
raising the gun to fire but Parry had hold of the wrist and was
twisting it. Arbogast wouldn't let go of the gun and Parry kept
twisting and Arbogast let out a yell. And Parry kept twisting and
Arbogast let out another yell and then he dropped the gun and it
fell on the space of empty seat between Parry and Arbogast. With
his free hand Arbogast grabbed at the gun and Parry kept twisting
the wrist of the other hand and Arbogast's head went back and he
yelled and kept on yelling and forgot about taking the gun. Parry
released Arbogast's wrists and snatched at the gun and took it. He
got his finger against the trigger and he pointed the gun at
Arbogast's face.

CHAPTER 17

Arbogast looked at the gun. He started to
go back. He kept going back until he came against the door and then
he tried to push himself through the door.

“Just stay where you are,” Parry
said.

“Don’t shoot me in the face,” Arbogast
said.

Parry lowered the gun and had it aimed at
Arbogast’s chest.

“How’s that?” Parry said.

“Look,” Arbogast said. ” Let me go now and
I promise you I’ll keep on going and I'll never bother you
again.”

Parry shook his head.

“Please,” Arbogast said.

Parry shook his head.

“I had an idea you were going to pull
something like this,” Arbogast said.

“Why didn’t you do something about it?”
Parry asked.

“Why did I have to start with you in the
first place?” Arbogast said.

“I can answer that,” Parry said. “You’re a
crook.”

“There’s honor among crooks,” Arbogast
said. “Believe me, there is. And if I give you my word I'll go away
and won't bother you—”

Parry shook his head.

“Are you going to shoot me?” Arbogast
said.

Parry shook his head.

“What are you going to do?” Arbogast
said.

Parry gazed past Arbogast’s head. He saw
the stretch of empty lot very yellow under the bright yellow sky
and beyond the lot the beginnings of woodland. He said, “Get out of
the car.”

“What are you doing to do with
me?”

“Open the door and get out,” Parry
said.

“Please-”

“Do as I tell you or I’ll be forced to
shoot you.”

Arbogast opened the door. As he stood
there on the side of the road he looked up and down and he saw
nothing but emptiness. Then Parry was turning off the motor and
coming out there with him and closing the door. And they stood out
there together and Parry had the gun pointed at Arbogast’s
chest.

“Let’s take a stroll,” Parry
said.

“Where are we going?”

“Into the woods.”

“Why?”

“I want us to be alone. I don’t want any
interference.”

“You’re going to shoot me,” Arbogast
said.

“I won’t shoot you unless you make a try
for the gun,” Parry said.

They were walking across the empty lot,
and Parry had the gun aimed at Arbogast’s ribs.

They weren’t saying anything as they
walked across the lot. Then they were past the lot and they were
going through the woods. It was moist in the woods, very sticky and
very hot. They were going slowly.

They went about seventy yards into the
woods and then Parry said, “I guess this is all right.”

Arbogast turned and looked at the
gun.

Parry looked at the place on Arbogast’s
middle where the gun was aiming. Parry said, “Did you kill
Fellsinger?”

“No.”

“Did you follow me to Fellsinger’s
apartment?”

“No.”

“But you knew Irene Janney had money. You
knew she had two hundred thousand dollars.”