“You remembered Keko’s mother?”
“Well — she was one of the first. And seventeen years later, a seventeen-year-old kid turned in some glossies; and we decided to use her on the gatefold. You know that body. The female body has always been important to me, and Keko’s was very much to my liking. Later she had the good luck to hook into Larry Zion, and he made her famous. When I saw her in her first movie — you’ll be surprised to hear this — I decided to marry her. And that’s when she broke it to me. She’d found her mother’s diary. Naturally, she couldn’t marry me if she were my daughter.”
“Did you believe it?”
“The dates weren’t that convincing, and you can’t tell me I was the only possibility. Maybe Keko had somebody forge the whole thing. She was in orbit most of the time. Her big object was to make herself hard to predict. I thought at the time that she really did want to marry me, in a way, and that she pulled out that diary to give herself an excuse to say no. The psychological ins and outs of that girl. As far as incest goes — I don’t advocate it, but it doesn’t totally turn me off. I didn’t lose any hair. But I couldn’t marry her after that. I’m known for some far-out positions, but I doubt if my public would back me in that one.”
“How well established was she then? Did she want anything else from you?”
“She wanted to cut me down. I suppose she was carrying a kind of grudge. As much as I love to ball, I’m considered a male supremacist — do you realize that? I’ve had complaints that sex for me is a form of reverse castration. That I don’t give a damn if they come or not. I deny that — I like it better when it’s mutual, and I’ve got a good stable of actors around here. She stayed a couple of months with me. When it’s time for them to go, I give them a check and a pat. It’s the best way. I remember Keko wanted to hang on. The only way I could get her out of the pad was convince her I was an uncharming heel, and I think she held it against me. She showed me the diary after we’d been in bed for eighteen straight hours. After. Do you see the point? She didn’t show it to me at the start. Draw your own conclusions. I took it in my stride, as they say.”
“She didn’t want a cash settlement in exchange for being left out of your will?”
“She already had cash. She was getting a hundred and fifty G’s a picture. She wanted satisfaction, which I was careful not to give her.”
“Could she have hurt you with that diary?”
“Oh, yes. She was one of the top box-office stars that year.”
“Did Kate Thackera know about it?”
“She never said so. But Kate did need cash at various times; and yes, I think I would have heard about it if she did know.”
“How long after Keko showed you the diary did she die?”
“Two or three years. She was getting nuttier by the week. All her marriages flopped. Funnily enough, I think if she’d married me, it might have straightened her out. She kept getting in worse and worse trouble with the studio. Slipping at the box office. Her mother had died of cancer, and she thought she had it. She was deep into drugs — three suicide tries in a year. That was nothing new. She tried it when she was with me, and that’s why I threw her out. If they want to kill themselves, do it elsewhere is the way I look at it.”
“The last day, Oscar.”
“Yes. She phoned me and said if I wanted that diary and some pictures, to come and see her.”
“What pictures?”
For the first time, Oscar showed traces of embarrassment. “The kind of bird who’s attracted to me sometimes likes to get pounded a little, Shayne. The punishment thing. Well, if they want me to belt them, I’m glad to oblige. I’ve never used whips. And Keko had the kind of skin you could bruise with a dirty look. That’s well known — her makeup people had to be creative artists. These were gag shots from the old days. They looked worse than they were.”
“Pictures of Keko after a beating?”
“A beating! Don’t be silly. After a little strenuous sex.”
“And she wanted to give them back to you before she killed herself.”
“She was closing the books. That was the line she used. She played it like a bad movie.”
“Did Kate see those photographs?”
“I keep telling you. The only thing she knew was that I was there. That was bad enough, because there was plenty of excitement around that suicide. I didn’t want the world to know I was balling Keko a couple of hours before she gobbled sleeping pills and got in the tub. People would think I had something to do with it.”
He reached for the bottle. “I’m going to be bombed in another minute, and that’s uncharacteristic. I told you all this so you’ll know the kind of case they can put together. And you’re right; they can murder me with it. The trouble with the kind of cover-up job they did on Keko is, if there’s a slight shift in the wind it can blow away overnight. The first one to get to the D.A. buys himself out. Consolidated-Famous has no clout at all any more. Larry Zion couldn’t fix a ticket for speeding.”
He drank. “Are you selling me that gatefold?”
“Hell, no.”
“The price would be higher than two hundred shares, but you know that. Do you ever do contingency work?”
“Often.”
“Then what kind of deal can we cut? I didn’t have a damn thing to do with blowing up Kate Thackera. Find out who did before eleven o’clock tomorrow morning, and I’ll put a thousand shares in your name. You’ll want that in writing. I’ll be glad to do it, unless I’m too drunk to hold a pen.”
“Has anybody told you that Kate was the one who tried to kill Larry Zion on the highway yesterday?”
Clearly nobody had. “You mean she was driving that red car? Work on it, Shayne, work on it! Larry doesn’t go in for turning the other cheek. And if you want something else—he saw Keko Brannon that same afternoon.”
“How do you know?”
“I saw a script he left for her, and it was dated that morning. The cops don’t know this — somebody ripped off the top page; and to them, it was just a mimeographed movie script. All right, it’s your baby, Shayne. You figure it out. Now will you get out of here and let me get some sleep?”
Chapter 11
Oscar had one more drink while Shayne dressed. The cognac was slipping down more smoothly. At least he wasn’t making faces.
“One more of these will finish me,” he said. “I absolutely have to sleep. But I’m interested. Where do you start on a thing like this?”
“First, I make a few phone calls.”
“In other words, Oscar, mind your own business. I accept that. So long as you understand that only one thing matters to me, and that’s results.”
Oscar had forgotten his promise to put their deal in writing. Shayne reminded him. Oscar wrote it out on a sheet of yellow paper and signed it.
“I had trouble getting in,” Shayne said, putting the agreement in his wallet, “and I may have trouble getting out unless you’re with me. I want everybody to know we’re friends.”
Oscar brushed his hair again and came with him, wearing only his terrycloth robe. The party quickened as he passed through, though none of the guests looked at him directly. The blonde guard tied up in the parked car began flopping around and making gobbling noises when the door opened.