“What else is there to talk about?’ Parker said, and sniggered. “Well, okay, if that’s the way you feel: tell me, what have you got in those two parcels?”
Ken had been expecting Parker to ask that question, and he was ready for it.
“Just some things Ann asked me to take to the cleaners.”
“I don’t know why it is but wives always find some errands for us guys to run. Maisie has given me a shopping list as long as my arm. I guess I’ll have to get one of the girls in the office to handle it for me.” Parker drove a couple of blocks without speaking: his plump red face thoughtful. “You know, I think I’ll drive over to Fay’s place in my lunch hour. It doesn’t look as if I’ll see much of her while my ma-in-law’s with us. She’s a regular old ferret, and if I stayed out late, she’d start putting a flea in Maisie’s ear.”
Ken felt a chill crawl up his spine.
“This afternoon? Is she likely to see you so early?”
“That’s not early,” Parker returned and laughed. “I once called on her at eight o’clock in the morning.”
The thought of Parker going to that top-floor apartment and walking into the police turned Ken cold.
“You’ll telephone her first?”
“Oh, sure. She might have someone there. But lunch-time is usually a good time to catch her in.”