Back in his room, Duffy rang Sam. He said, “Do you feel like doing me a favour?”
Sam said, “Aw, forget it, will you? Alice’s only a little dumb; she don’t know what it is to want things.”
Duffy’s mouth twisted. “You lay off Alice. She’s right. See? Alice is goddam right. If I’d got the sense of a louse, I’d be doing a job of work instead of trying to be a big shot. Well, I ain’t got the sense, and what’s more, I’m getting a kick out of this. What I want you to do is to keep your ear open down at headquarters. I want you to keep an eye on English. That bird’s been pulling too many fast ones to make me sleep easy. Will you do that, Sam?”
Sam seemed puzzled. “Sure,” he said. “I’ll do any little thing like that.”
Duffy said, “You’ll keep me in touch. If anything starts popping, gimme a buzz?”
Sam said, “Sure,” then he said, “You know what you’re doing?” He sounded worried.
Duffy said, “I’m bucking something that thinks it’s too big for me, but ain’t.” He added, “’Bye, soldier,” and dropped the receiver on its prong.
Outside, he could hear the rain beating down. He went over to the bed and lay flat, one leg hanging over the side. He scratched the side of his face gently with his nail. “I wonder…” he said to himself, then he heard someone walk past his door. He heard Gilroy say, “She don’t wear ’em. It saves time.” Shep said something in his tinny voice, but Duffy couldn’t hear.
In time, the sound of the rain lulled him.