Vegas with him—we were married at Gretna Green—I thought he was a wrestling promoter. I knew he worked as a pinball machine collector before that, but that seemed fairly innocent. He didn’t tell me different.”
“How did you meet him?”
“In line of duty, I suppose you’d call it. I had a patient by the name of Speed who used to be Joe’s boss. Joe came to see this Speed in the hospital. Joe is a good-looking man, and I guess I fell.” She was leaning against the padded headboard with her knees turned sideways under her. On the other side of the red chenille desert that lay between us, her thighs rose under the blue skirt like the slopes of blue mountain foothills.
“This Speed,” I said. “What was the matter with him?”
“You probably know, or you wouldn’t ask.” The reclining slopes of her body shifted, and my nerves recorded the seismic vibrations. “Mr. Speed had a bullet wound in the stomach.”
“But that didn’t give you any ideas about Mr. Speed’s employee?”
“I hate to admit I must have been naïve. Mr. Speed said it was an accident. He shot himself cleaning a gun, at least that was his story.”
“So you married Joe, who probably shot Speed himself.” I made the suggestion at random, fishing for facts.
Her eyes widened, black and depthless beneath their amber surfaces. “Oh. Joe and Herman Speed were always good friends. When Joe took over, Mr. Speed gave him pointers about the business—”
“What business?”
“The pinball machines and the wrestling contracts and various other things.”
“All Dowser’s things?”
“I guess so. I didn’t know Joe’s business. He kept me up here in L.A., you see, and Joe and I weren’t very good friends after the first week. Joe had a pleasant trick of slapping people. That’s why I bought my gun. It cooled him off but I was still afraid of him, and he knew it. It didn’t make for marital confidences.”
“But you know what Dowser wants him for?”
“I have a rough idea. He absconded with something valuable of Dowser’s. But Dowser won’t catch him either.” She looked at the watch on her slim brown wrist. “He’s probably in Mexico by now. Over the hills and far away.”
“You think he went to Mexico?”
“That’s what it looks like to me. I’ll never see him again,” she added bitterly.
“Is that going to ruin your life?”
She sat up straight, her face set in angry planes. “Look what he did. Married me under false pretences, took me for a ride, and now he’s stood me up. Left me to take a beating from Dowser and his dirty rotten crew. The dirty rotten coward.”
“Tell me where he went last night?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“I want to have the pleasure of hitting him over the head with a blackjack. If I bring him in, that will clear you with Dowser, won’t it?”
“It will if you’re man enough to do it. You weren’t last night.”
There was no answer to that. “Tell me about last night. I’d like to get it straight. I met your boy friend Dalling in a bar—I think he was expecting me—and he drove me out to Oasis—”
“Dalling is not my boy friend.”
“All right, he likes you, though.” I was careful about the tense. “He was worried about you.”
“Keith is a terrible worrier. What next?”
“He parked down the road and stayed in his car. Joe slipped out of the house while I was talking to you at the door, and sapped me. Now it’s your turn.”
“To sap you?”
“To say what happened after that. Did he see Dalling’s car?”
“Yes. He went after it, but Keith got away. Joe came back in a rage and told me to pack, we were leaving. We were off in fifteen minutes. You were still unconscious, and I think that saved your life. He made me drive him into Los Angeles though I didn’t want to do it. I suspected he was after Keith for giving away his hideout. I could tell he blamed me for it, because Keith was my friend.
Not
my boy friend.
“He was so blind mad he
“How did you meet him?”
“In line of duty, I suppose you’d call it. I had a patient by the name of Speed who used to be Joe’s boss. Joe came to see this Speed in the hospital. Joe is a good-looking man, and I guess I fell.” She was leaning against the padded headboard with her knees turned sideways under her. On the other side of the red chenille desert that lay between us, her thighs rose under the blue skirt like the slopes of blue mountain foothills.
“This Speed,” I said. “What was the matter with him?”
“You probably know, or you wouldn’t ask.” The reclining slopes of her body shifted, and my nerves recorded the seismic vibrations. “Mr. Speed had a bullet wound in the stomach.”
“But that didn’t give you any ideas about Mr. Speed’s employee?”
“I hate to admit I must have been naïve. Mr. Speed said it was an accident. He shot himself cleaning a gun, at least that was his story.”
“So you married Joe, who probably shot Speed himself.” I made the suggestion at random, fishing for facts.
Her eyes widened, black and depthless beneath their amber surfaces. “Oh. Joe and Herman Speed were always good friends. When Joe took over, Mr. Speed gave him pointers about the business—”
“What business?”
“The pinball machines and the wrestling contracts and various other things.”
“All Dowser’s things?”
“I guess so. I didn’t know Joe’s business. He kept me up here in L.A., you see, and Joe and I weren’t very good friends after the first week. Joe had a pleasant trick of slapping people. That’s why I bought my gun. It cooled him off but I was still afraid of him, and he knew it. It didn’t make for marital confidences.”
“But you know what Dowser wants him for?”
“I have a rough idea. He absconded with something valuable of Dowser’s. But Dowser won’t catch him either.” She looked at the watch on her slim brown wrist. “He’s probably in Mexico by now. Over the hills and far away.”
“You think he went to Mexico?”
“That’s what it looks like to me. I’ll never see him again,” she added bitterly.
“Is that going to ruin your life?”
She sat up straight, her face set in angry planes. “Look what he did. Married me under false pretences, took me for a ride, and now he’s stood me up. Left me to take a beating from Dowser and his dirty rotten crew. The dirty rotten coward.”
“Tell me where he went last night?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“I want to have the pleasure of hitting him over the head with a blackjack. If I bring him in, that will clear you with Dowser, won’t it?”
“It will if you’re man enough to do it. You weren’t last night.”
There was no answer to that. “Tell me about last night. I’d like to get it straight. I met your boy friend Dalling in a bar—I think he was expecting me—and he drove me out to Oasis—”
“Dalling is not my boy friend.”
“All right, he likes you, though.” I was careful about the tense. “He was worried about you.”
“Keith is a terrible worrier. What next?”
“He parked down the road and stayed in his car. Joe slipped out of the house while I was talking to you at the door, and sapped me. Now it’s your turn.”
“To sap you?”
“To say what happened after that. Did he see Dalling’s car?”
“Yes. He went after it, but Keith got away. Joe came back in a rage and told me to pack, we were leaving. We were off in fifteen minutes. You were still unconscious, and I think that saved your life. He made me drive him into Los Angeles though I didn’t want to do it. I suspected he was after Keith for giving away his hideout. I could tell he blamed me for it, because Keith was my friend.
Not
my boy friend.
“He was so blind mad he
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