"Listen Palmer," he said later. The way he said "listen" was meant to sound
urgent. Actually it made him sound drunk, which he was. Palmer, who was
drunk also, leaned over the table in the Horse and Jockey with a feigned
look of concentration on his face. He had not paid the slightest attention
to anything Dom had said for the past three-quarters of an hour.
"Are you listening? You'd better be..."
"I'm listening. I'm listening. How's your pint?"
"Better than the last one. I spilled that, you know."
"I know, old man. I know. I need to piss. Quite urgently, as it happens."
"Well get a move on then. And then come back here and listen to what I have
to say."
Palmer stood up and lurched in the direction of the toilets. Dom started
rolling a cigarette, using Palmer's tobacco and Rizla papers which he had
left on the table. He was still making an awful job of it when Palmer
returned. "Where was I?" Palmer said.
"You were about to listen to something. That I was about to say. Damn these
Rizlas, I think they're damp."
"I think somebody spilled beer on them. What were you about to say?"
"Is that cigarette machine over there working?"
"Is that it?"
"No of course it's not. I just want a cigarette, and I can't get this Rizla
paper to stick together properly."
"You don't smoke."
"No, but you do. In a minute you'll want another, and you won't be able to
have one, because these Rizla papers of yours are damp. So go and buy a
packet of B&H, there's a good chap. And lend me one."
"In a minute. I'm on tenterhooks. Literally. I want to know what it was you
were going to tell me."
"That nurse..."
"I didn't think she was that good-looking."
"You misunderstand me. I think she may be working for us."
"Quite likely. She was in the infirmary at the ministry, after all. Wearing
one of our staff uniforms. Oh for heaven's sake, give me that."
Parker snatched the failed cigarette out of Dom's hand, nearly spilling what
was left of both their pints in the process. He emptied the tobacco from the
damp Rizla paper into his tobacco pouch, then closed the pouch and tucked it
away in his pocket. "Better get some from the machine I suppose. This
nurse?"
"I don't think she was actually a nurse."
"I see. But working for us, all the same?"
"Yes. That's what I'm worried about..."
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