molloy finished his coffee and blueberry pie, and waited for william wilson to finish his.
molloy was a polite person, though maybe not as polite as william wilson.
molloy had learned his polite ways in the street, in the school of hard knocks.
he learned never to let the other guy know what you were thinking.
and the best way to do that was not to think too much.
except about the matter at hand.
that way you did not clutter up your mind.
molloy was starting to get just a little impatient with william wilson, who seemed in no hurry to finish his generous slice of blueberry pie.
i wonder, molloy thought, if his buddy was as slow on the draw as this character. if he was, no wonder he got himself killed.
finally, the last crumb of william wilson’s blueberry pie was scraped off his plate.
feeling better? molloy asked evenly.
much better, thank you, william wilson answered imperturbably.
i have been thinking, william wilson added.
about anything in particular? molloy asked.
ii have decided to confide in you.
oh? about what?
about who collins was looking for.
i thought he was looking for a lot of people. you were even kind enough to give me a list of them.
he was , but he was looking for one guy in particular.
and was this guy on the list?
of course, i would not deliberately mislead you. but he was just on the list, i did not underline him, or put an asterisk beside his name, to call particular attention to him.
you don’t say so, molloy thought, but aloud he just said, go on.
he was looking for frank.
there are a lot of franks in the world. maybe on the list you gave me, i have not had time to peruse it that closely.
frank fuller. you know him?
i know a frank fuller. they call him full tank frank fuller. is that the individual you are referring to?
absolutely. frank fuller. and his pal eddie green.
out of gas eddie green.
that’s him. frank and eddie. takes three of a kind to beat a pair like that. wherever you find frank, you can bet eddie is just around the corner.
so what were our friends frank and eddie up to, that somebody was paying you to look them up?
well, i don’t really know, that is what we were being paid to find out.
and since you are confiding with me now, who might that be?
oh, that is still confidential.
oh. that is still confidential, molloy repeated. so i guess we are not really that much further along, are we?
you can concentrate on frank. and on eddie. maybe you can find out for yourself who is looking for them, and why.
thank you. you have been very helpful. molloy got up. and thank you for the coffee and the blueberry pie, i really appreciate it.
molloy started for the door.
william wilson did not watch him go, but sat staring into space.
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