Росс Макдональд - The Name is Archer

“Thank God you’re not,” Illman said.

“What made you think she’d taken up with him?”

“The way he moved around the house, like he owned it. He poured himself a drink while I was there. And he was in his shirtsleeves. A real sharp dresser, though. Custom-made stuff.”

“You have a good eye.”

“For men, she has,” Illman said.

“Lay off me,” she said in a hard voice, with no trace of the Martini drawl. “Or I’ll really walk out on you, and then where will you be?”

“Right where I am now. Sitting pretty.”

“That’s what you think.”

I interrupted their communion. “Do you know anything about this Owen character, Illman?”

“Not a thing. He’s probably some jerk she picked up in Nevada while she was sweating out the divorce.”

“Have you been to San Diego recently?”

“Not for months.”

“That’s true,” Frieda said. “I’ve been keeping close track of Teddy. I have to. Incidentally, it’s getting late and I’m hungry. Go and put on some clothes, darling. You’re prettier with clothes on.”

“More than I’d say for you,” he leered.

I left them and drove back to West Hollywood. The night-blooming girls and their escorts had begun to appear on the Strip. Gusts of music came from the doors that opened for them. But when I turned off Sunset, the streets were deserted, emptied by the television curfew.

All the lights were on in the redwood house on the hillside. I parked in the driveway and knocked on the front door. The draperies over the window beside it were pulled to one side, then fell back into place. A thin voice drifted out to me.

“Is that you, Mr. Archer?”

I said that it was. Clare opened the door inch by inch. Her face was almost haggard.

“I’m so relieved to see you.”

“What’s the trouble?”

“A man was watching the house. He was sitting there at the curb in a long black car. It looked like an undertaker’s car. And it had a Nevada license.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. It lighted up when he drove away. I saw it through the window. He only left a couple of minutes ago.”

“Did you get a look at his face?”

“I’m afraid not. I didn’t dare go out. I was petrified. He shone a searchlight on the window.”

“Take it easy. There are plenty of big black cars in town, and quite a few Nevada licenses. He was probably looking for some other address.”

“No. I had a – a kind of a fatal feeling when I saw him. I just know that he’s connected in some way with Ethel’s disappearance. I’m scared.”

She leaned against the door, breathing quickly. She looked very young and vulnerable. I said:

“What am I going to do with you, kid? I can’t leave you here alone.”

“Are you going away?”

“I have to. I saw Edward. While I was there, he had a visitor from the HP. They found your sister’s car abandoned near San Diego.” I didn’t mention the blood. She had enough on her mind.

“Edward killed her!” she cried. “I knew it.”

“That I doubt. She may not even be dead. I’m going to San Diego to find out.”

“Take me along, won’t you?”

“It wouldn’t be good for your reputation. Besides, you’d be in the way.”

“No, I wouldn’t. I promise. I have friends in San Diego. Just let me drive down there with you, and I can stay with them.”

“You wouldn’t be making this up?”

“Honest, I have friends there. Gretchen Falk and her husband, they’re good friends of Ethel’s and mine. We lived in San Diego for a while, before she married Edward. The Falks will be glad to let me stay with them.”

“Hadn’t you better phone them first?”

“I can’t. The phone’s disconnected. I tried it.”

“Are you sure these people exist?”

“Of course,” she said urgently.

I gave in. I turned out the lights and locked the door and put her bag in my car. Clare stayed very close to me.

As I was backing out, a car pulled in behind me, blocking the entrance to the driveway. I opened the door and got out. It was a black Lincoln with a searchlight mounted over the windshield.

Clare said: “He’s come back.”

The searchlight flashed on. Its bright beam swiveled towards me. I reached for the gun in my shoulder holster and got a firm grip on nothing. Holster and gun were packed in the suitcase in the trunk of my car. The searchlight blinded me.

A black gun emerged from the dazzle, towing a hand and an arm. They belonged to a quick-stepping cube-shaped man in a double-breasted flannel suit. A snap-brim hat was pulled down over his eyes. His mouth was as full of teeth as a barracuda’s. It said:

“Where’s Dewar?”

“Never heard of him.”

“Owen Dewar. You’ve heard of him.”

The gun dragged him forward another step and collided with my breastbone. His free hand palmed my flanks. All I could see was his unchanging smile, framed in brilliant light. I felt a keen desire to do some orthodontic work on it. But the gun was an inhibiting factor.

“You must be thinking of two other parties,” I said.

“No dice. This is the house, and that’s the broad. Out of the car, lady.”

“I will not,” she said in a tiny voice behind me.

“Out, or I’ll blow a hole in your boy friend here.”

Reluctantly, she clambered out. The teeth looked down at her ankles as if they wanted to chew them. I made a move for the gun. It dived into my solar plexus, doubling me over. Its muzzle flicked the side of my head. It pushed me back against the fender of my car. I felt a worm of blood crawling past my ear.

“You coward! Leave him alone.” Clare flung herself at him. He sidestepped neatly, moving on the steady pivot of the gun against my chest. She went to her knees on the blacktop.

“Get up, lady, but keep your voice down. How many boy friends you keep on the string, anyway?”

She got to her feet. “He isn’t my boy friend. Who are you? Where is Ethel?”

“That’s a hot one.” The smile intensified. “You’re Ethel. The question is, where’s Dewar?”

“I don’t know any Dewar.”

“Sure you do, Ethel. You know him well enough to marry him. Now tell me where he is, and nobody gets theirselves hurt.” The flat voice dropped, and added huskily: “Only I haven’t got much time to waste.”

“You’re wrong,” she said. “You’re completely mistaken. I’m not Ethel. I’m Clare. Ethel’s my older sister.”

He stepped back and swung the gun in a quarter-circle, covering us both. “Turn your face to the light. Let’s have a good look at you.”

She did as she was told, striking a rigid pose. He shifted the gun to his left hand, and brought a photograph out of his inside pocket. Looking from it to her face, he shook his head doubtfully.

“I guess you’re leveling at that. You’re younger than this one, and thinner.” He handed her the photograph. “She your sister?”

“Yes. It’s Ethel.”

I caught a glimpse of the picture over her shoulder. It was a blown-up candid shot of two people. One was a pretty blonde who looked like Clare five years from now. She was leaning on the arm of a tall dark man with a hairline moustache. They were smirking at each other, and there was a flower-decked altar in the background.

“Who’s the man?” I said.

“Dewar. Who else?” said the teeth behind the gun. “They got married in Vegas last month. I got this picture from the Chaparral Chapel. It goes with the twenty-five-dollar wedding.” He snatched it out of Clare’s hands and put it back in his pocket. “It took me a couple of weeks to run her down. She used her maiden name, see.”

“Where did you catch up with her? San Diego?”

“I didn’t catch up with her. Would I be here if I did?”