The Jugger (1966) by Richard Stark

Author:Richard Stark [Stark, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

bucks worth. That's the money he had out in the

open, to explain what he was living on. But the rest

he had hidden away. He had to; he couldn't have

explained it otherwise, see? A hundred and twenty

thousand from eight hundred thousand, that's six

hundred and eighty thousand dollars left over! You

see it, Willis? Six hundred and eighty thousand

dollars! Even if he was spending like crazy the last

five years, buying this house and all, there's still

got to be at least half a million left, at least half a million! And that's a conservative estimate, Willis,

a conservative estimate! Way back in 1915, 1916,

he didn't spend any twenty-five thousand a year

then, not by a long shot. There may be even more than half a million left.'

Parker got to his feet. It was the way he'd

thought. Tiftus had figured Joe's goods closer to the

truth, but Tiftus, too, hadn't been able to think more

sensibly than a box of dough stashed away

somewhere. That was what Tiftus would do, hide

it in a mattress or bury it in the ground out by the

old oak tree, but Joe Sheer had more sense; he

invested it, in safe stocks and good mutual funds,

and let the money work for him.

Parker lit a cigarette, and walked around the

room, back and forth. He said, 'You talked to Joe

Sheer about this, huh?'

'Sure I did. Where you think I got all these

figures?' Younger picked up the two sheets of

paper again and folded them to put back in the

envelope. 'And the names,' he said. 'The figures

and the names, all straight from Sheer.'

'When you told him about the half million, what

did he say?'

Younger smiled, remembering. 'He tried to give

me a lot of crap, Willis,' he said. 'Just like you

tried once or twice.'

'What did he say?'

'He said he'd spent it all. He said the hundred

and twenty thousand was all he had left.'

'But you don't think so.'

'Come off it, Willis. Let me give you the proof. I

put a little pressure on him, and he came up with

the thousand bucks from the flour canister. Not

only that, he told me he'd give me the whole

hundred and twenty thousand, he'd write letters off

and get it all back from the mutual funds and

everywhere and give me the whole damn thing.

Now, would he give me all that if he didn't have a

hell of a lot more stashed away somewhere else?'

Parker nodded, seeing the whole thing. Younger

said, 'If he hadn't of died, I'd of found out where

the rest of it was.'

That was a surprise. It meant Younger hadn't

killed Joe after all. But Younger was still the

trouble Joe had talked about in the letters, the

trouble that had made Joe a stupid old man.

Everything, Joe had given Younger everything,

his history, his friends, his savings, and all he'd

done was make Younger want more. It was a good

thing Joe died when he did, before he started

giving Younger his friends' addresses.

Younger said, 'So I'm not the hick cop you

thought I was, huh?'

Parker looked at him and shook his head. 'No,'

he said.

'There's half a million,' Younger said. 'Half a

million hidden away somewhere. Isn't there,

Willis? Isn't there?'

If it wasn't for the Willis name, he'd kill

Younger right now and clear out of here.

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