Линда Ла Плант: Cold Blood

‘I’ve got more bottled water swilling around inside me than the main water tank.’ Rosie kicked off her shoes and chucked her coat aside, hurling her purse on to the sofa, and then, with her hands on her wide hips, she beamed from ear to ear. ‘I think we just got lucky.’

‘You want some coffee?’

‘No, sit down and listen, right now. Go on, siddown. Okay, now, you ever heard of a very famous movie star called Elizabeth Seal?’

‘Nope.’

Rosie threw her hands up in the air. ‘Of course you have, The Maple Tree , you remember that one. And you gotta remember The Swamp and Mask of Vanessa , yes?’

‘Nope.’

‘For chrissakes, we saw it on cable. The movie star Elizabeth Seal is famous, you gotta know who I’m talking about, late seventies, eighties, she was... huge!’

‘Have you been drinking with her?’

Rosie flopped down on the sofa bed, which creaked ominously. ‘Don’t be dumb, as if Elizabeth Seal would be out drinkin’ water with me in Joe’s Diner. She’s a big movie star! Maybe you heard of the name Caley? Elizabeth Caley? That’s her married name.’

‘Nope.’

‘Holy shit, I don’t believe you. Elizabeth and Robert Caley have been headlines, well, almost a year ago they were. Every paper ran their story, even the TV, it was headlines because of her bein’ so famous. Their daughter went missing, you listening? Their eighteen-year-old daughter, Anna Louise Caley, disappeared.’

Lorraine was trying to recall their names but she still had a blank. Nothing new in that, there were big gaps of months, even years, when she hadn’t even recalled her own name, never mind anyone else’s.

Rosie sipped the coffee. She was so excited she was sweating, her eyes bright like a child’s. ‘She disappeared without trace. They had the police involved, they had mystics, psychics, ’cos they had a big reward on offer. But they got no ransom note, no phone calls, no notes, nothin’. Like she just disappeared into thin air. Cops reckoned she might have been kidnapped and it went wrong and they killed her... They think she’s been bumped off and...’

Half an hour later, Lorraine was sitting with her head in her hands, still unsure what Rosie was so excited about. ‘I mean, Rosie, if according to this Phyllis woman the Caleys have hired the top private investigation agencies, why come to us?’

‘Because nobody has found her yet and they’re still spending thousands. They’re mega rich, Lorraine, and they keep on shellin’ dough out.’

Lorraine held up her hand. ‘Wait, wait, Rosie, please, just you hear me out now. If the... Caleys, yes? have already over the past... how long did you say?’

‘Eleven months or so, happened during Mardi Gras in New Orleans,’ Rosie said eagerly.

‘What? In New Orleans? Are you serious?’

‘Yeah, what you think, I’m makin’ all this up?’

Lorraine sighed. ‘Rosie, if it went down in New Orleans they’re not likely to hire private dicks located in LA, are they?’

‘Yes, they already have, Phyllis told me. Cops were working on it here as well, they live here, right?’

Lorraine raised her eyes to the ceiling. ‘If they have paid out all this money and still got no result, what makes you think they would be willing to shell out some more, say, to us, which I presume is what all this hysteria is about?’

‘I’m not hysterical, for chrissakes.’

‘Okay, but facts are facts, Rosie. Why do you think they’d be interested in taking on Page Investigations Agency, i.e. you and me? Just because you’re in AA with the family’s secretary is not what I would call a great introduction.’

Rosie yelled, ‘I never fuckin’ mentioned you were a soak, I built you up, said you were one of the best. I even gave a good line about havin’ Rooney as part of our team, you know, him bein’ ex-Captain, that kind of thing. She was impressed, she was real impressed.’

‘She was?’

The sarcasm was lost on Rosie. ‘Yeah, she was. I gave her our card and she said she was gonna talk to Mrs Caley.’

‘Oh, and when she’s talked, then what?’

‘Look, she’s trusted by them, worked for them for years, right? And she knows that Elizabeth Caley is desperate, like going nuts, because she just wants to know what happened to her daughter, and she’ll pay anythin’ to find out.’

‘And you gave them our card?’

‘ Yes! An’ I’m not stupid, you know, ’cos first I was all upset, right? Like tellin’ her about my partner quitting, but soon as I smelled a big fish on the line I sort of made out the new job you got offered was some big murder investigation, not just actin’ as a store detective. I’m not dumb, I know how to spin a good yarn when I need to. I said you was in demand.’

‘So how long do we wait for her to get back?’

The phone rang. Lorraine stubbed out her cigarette, nodding to it. ‘That’ll be Jake, you got him all wired up. He’s been looking for you so you answer it.’

Rosie snatched up the phone. But it wasn’t Jake, it was Phyllis, and she wanted details of Page Investigations’ company background sent round as soon as possible for Mrs Caley. She replaced the receiver with a smirk.

‘See? She did talk to her, just like I

The following morning, after a hurried session on the word processor, they had what they felt looked like a reasonable folder, Lorraine giving full details of all her recommendations as a police lieutenant, listing the cases she had been involved with. They also included as part of Page Investigations’ team the experienced and dedicated ex-Captain William Rooney, recently retired from the Pasadena precinct.

Rosie went off to deliver the freshly printed folder to the Caleys’ home in Beverly Hills. Lorraine sat in the empty office brooding over the new events. She had a couple of days before she had to give the store job a yes or a no so she didn’t see any reason why she shouldn’t hang in there. Rosie may be right, they might be able to earn a few bucks, but she somehow doubted it.

The buzzer on the office front door sounded as Bill Rooney wove in with an over-bright ‘Hi, you called, didn’t you? So as I was just passin’...’

‘Oh yeah? Via which bar, Bill?’

Rooney gave her the finger as he squashed himself into Rosie’s swivel chair. He looked unshaven and well hungover, his big, florid face and bulbous nose a shade of mulberry. One side of his shirt collar stuck up at an angle, and his tie was food-stained and pulled to one side; the seat of his pants was shiny, and the whole suit had a crumpled, worn-too-often look.

‘You look in good shape,’ Lorraine said, smiling.

‘I feel it, I feel real good. Lost half my pension on the PI agency I never got off the ground — in fact, I think the paint’s still wet on the door. Never was a businessman, never any good with figures, an’ the bastard that sold me the place must have seen me coming — he fuckin’ saw “sucker” written right across my forehead. I got a computer compatible with no one, least of all myself, a cock-eyed telephone system, and I had my mobile no more than half an hour before I lost it. I hadn’t gotten the insurance arranged, so I got no cover, an’ now I can’t sell the equipment for what I paid for it. So, I don’t know about passing any overflow cases to you, I’m looking around for myself, business pretty thin on the ground. You got much going?’

He looked over the office and smiled. ‘I see business is flourishing, can hardly hear myself talk for the sound of telephones ringing!’

‘Very witty, considering your own fiasco.’ Lorraine fetched some clean mugs and prepared coffee. Rooney had glossed over the fact that he had been in no shape to run an agency — with Ellen dying, and making arrangements for her funeral, he had been in a deep depression for weeks. Lorraine felt sorry for him, as for all his bluff manner he was probably lonely, and she watched out of the corner of her eye as he leaned on Rosie’s desk and looked at the new Page Investigations Agency folder.