"If they think I'll talk. If they were sure of it and had a chance. There wouldn't be much heat over me. Not over this pair of round heels. The kid they killed is real heat. The man with the gun was drunk. I was with the man with the gun. The kid thought he was too drunk to know or care. He had his arms around me when he was shot in the head. When the bullet hit his head, he grabbed onto me so hard I couldn't breathe for a week without it hurting. Then he let go and fell down and tried to get up and went down for good. It was at a farm. They put him in an old cistern and filled it with big rocks. They had his car repainted and sold through channels. If nothing happens in six months or so, they'll stop worrying about me, and maybe they'll stop looking. But I know what I'm going to do. Blond dye job. Maybe glasses. I'll feel better if I don't look like myself." I was wondering how I could keep her away from the motel and still stall long enough to get to the Rasi place at one. She helped out by saying, suddenly, "What's been going on down in Hillston, anyhow? Eloise and her boy friend under the cement. That Stamm girl missing. George knocking himself off. Sounds like it has been pretty wild down there." "I want to talk to you about that." I sensed a new wariness about her. "Just what do you mean?" "I'm new in town. There's been a lot going on. I haven't had anything to do with it. I mean I've been in on it as a bystander, but that's all. But the police like to keep busy. I think it would be better if we didn't go on back through town to the motel. I think it would be better if we went after the money first." "You could be picked up?" "I might be." "But what for? I don't like this. If they pick you up they pick me up. And word would get back to Redding too damn fast." "I'm sorry, but that's the way it is." "I don't like it." "I can't help that. I think we ought to go after the money. When we get it, we can circle around town and get to the motel from the south. Then we can pick up our luggage and be on our way." "Then that means spending too much time in the area with the money on us. Why don't we circle around and get the baggage first? Then when we get the money, we're on our way." "They know where I'm staying. Suppose they're waiting there to pick us up." "Damn it, how did you manage to mess this up, Tal Howard?" "I didn't mess it up. It isn't a big city. I'm a stranger. They're after a man named Fitzmartin." "I remember that name. You said he knows about the money, too." "He doesn't know where it is. You're the only one who knows where it is." "Why are they after him? On account of the girl? They think he took her?" "And they think he was blackmailing George because he found out about Eloise and her boy friend being dead. And they think he killed George, and maybe a private detective named Grassman." "Busy little man, isn't he?"