He went over to the wardrobe and looked at it for a moment and then touched it with his gloved hand, shutting the little door. He looked around then, and certain facts occurred to him. If the money had been where Skip had expected it to be, there wouldn’t have been a search.

The search had been successful, though, or they’d still be here.

It occurred to Big Tom to wonder where Mrs. Havermann was.

He stood in the middle of the room, undecided, listening for any scratch of sound. The sense of warning drilled through him again, but he resisted it. The curiosity was like a nagging itch inside his brain. He wanted to see what was in the rest of the house, make sure what had happened here, allay the hope that the money might remain.

He waited for another minute, listening to the creaking stillness punctuated now and then by the dog’s yapping, and then went back into the hall.

Skip walked out to the car and approached it opposite the driver’s seat. He heard Eddie say something, and Karen lifted her head and smoothed her hair; and a slight smile touched Skip’s mouth, increasing the foxy look, narrowing his thin lips. He stood close to Eddie’s door, and Eddie rolled down the glass.

“I’m going back,” Skip said.

The two in the car looked out as if not understanding what he’d said. Karen’s wet eyes gleamed in the dimness. All at once Eddie caught on and said, “Chrissakes, for why? You must be nuts.”

“Ah, I just . . .” Skip’s manner was completely relaxed. “I just want one more chance. The dough’s there. Got to be.”

“But she’s dead in there,” Karen said, leaning past Eddie, her voice shaking. “You can’t go back!”

“Yell a little louder,” Skip encouraged. “I don’t think they quite heard that in the diner.”

“Please! Please—let’s not go back,” she begged.

“Like I say,” he went on, “the money’s in there, maybe lying some perfectly ordinary place we just forgot to look at, some place I’d notice right away if I went back.”

“You’re crazy,” Eddie said. “How do you know the cops aren’t there right now?”

“Why should they be?” Skip demanded.

“Didn’t you hear what she said about Stolz coming?” Eddie’s nervous tension made his words jump.

“Ah, she just made it up to get rid of us.” There was a moment of silence and then Skip said, “You remember what Karen told us, she was kind of sweet on Stolz? Hell, she must have been. She died trying to save his dough for him.”