"God damn you!"
He looked bored. "Shut up. Sit down. Don't try to be the boy hero,
Howard. I'll mark you up some if that's what you want."
I sat in the chair. My knees were weak and my wrists hurt. He got up
quickly, went to the door and opened it and looked out, closed it and
went back to the bunk. "We'll talk about Timmy Warden, Howard."
"What about Timmy?"
"It's too damn late for games. Information keeps you alive. I did a
lot of listening in that camp. I made a business of it. I know that
Timmy stole sixty thousand bucks from his brother and stashed it away
in jars. I know Timmy told you that. I heard him tell you. So don't
waste our time trying to play dumb about it. I'm here and you're here,
and that's the only way it adds up. I got here first. I got here while
you were still in the hospital. I haven't got the money. If I had it, I
wouldn't still be here. That's obvious. I figured Timmy might have told
you where he hid it. I've been waiting for you. What kept you?"
"I don't know any more about it than you do. I know he hid it, but I
don't know where."
He was silent as he thought it over. "Maybe I won't buy that. I came
here on a long shot. I didn't have much to go on. I wanted to be here
and all set when you came after it. It was a long shot, but one town
is the same as another to me. I can't see you coming here to find the
money and not knowing any more than I do. You're a more conservative
type, Howard. You know something I want to know."
"That's right," I said. "I know exactly where it is. I can go and dig
it up right now. That's why I waited a year before I came here. And
that's why I came here to see you instead of going and digging it up."
"Why come at all?"
I shrugged. "I lost my job. I remembered the money. I thought I'd come
here and look around."
"I've spent a year looking around. I know a hell of a lot more about
Timmy Warden, the way he lived, the way his mind worked, than you'll
ever know. And I can't find it."
"Then I won't be able to either, will I?"
"Then you better take off, Howard. Go back where you came from."
"I think I'll stay around."
He leaned forward. "Then you do have some little clue that I don't
have. Maybe it isn't a very good one."
"I don't know any more than you do. I just have more confidence in
myself than I have in you."
That made him laugh. The laughter stung my pride. It was a ludicrous
thought to him that I could do anything in the world he couldn't do.
"You've wasted better than a year on it. At least I haven't done that,"
I said hotly.
He shrugged. "I have to be somewhere. It might as well be here. What's
wasted about it? I've got a good job. Let's pool everything we know and
can remember, and if we can locate it I'll give you a third."
"No," I said, too quickly.