Dalmas and the girl sat in a small booth with hard seats and looped-back green curtains. There were high partitions between the booths. There was a long bar down the other side of the room and a big juke box at the end of it. Now and then, when there wasn’t enough noise, the bartender put a nickel in the juke box.
The waiter put two small glasses of brandy on the table and Mianne Crayle downed hers at a gulp. A little light came into her shadowed eyes. She peeled a black and white gauntlet off her right hand and sat playing with the empty fingers of it, staring down at the table. After a little while the waiter came back with a couple of brandy highballs.
When he had gone away again Mianne Crayle began to speak in a low, clear voice, without raising her head: «I wasn’t the first of his women by several dozen. I wouldn’t have been the last — by that many more. But he had his decent side. And believe it or not he didn’t pay my room rent.»
Dalmas nodded, didn’t say anything. The girl went on without looking at him: «He was a heel in a lot of ways. When he was sober he had the dark blue sulks. When he was lit up he was vile. When he was nicely edged he was a pretty good sort of guy besides being the best smut director in Hollywood. He could get more smooth sexy tripe past the Hays office than any other three men.»
Dalmas said without expression: «He was on his way out. Smut is on its way out, and that was all he knew.»
The girl looked at him briefly, lowered her eyes again and drank a little of her highball. She took a tiny handkerchief out of the pocket of her sports jacket and patted her lips.
The people on the other side of the partition were making a great deal of noise.
Mianne Crayle said: «We had lunch on the balcony. Derek was drunk and on the way to get drunker. He had something on his mind. Something that worried him a lot.»
Dalmas smiled faintly. «Maybe it was the twenty grand somebody was trying to pry loose from him — or didn’t you know about that?»
«It might have been that. Derek was a bit tight about money.»
«His liquor cost him a lot,» Dalmas said dryly. «And that motor cruiser he liked to play about in — down below the border.»
The girl lifted her head with a quick jerk. There were sharp lights of pain in her dark eyes. She said very slowly: «He bought all his liquor at Ensenada. Brought it in himself. He had to be careful — with the quantity he put away.»
Dalmas nodded. A cold smile played about the corners of his mouth. He finished his drink and put a cigarette in his mouth, felt in his pocket for a match. The holder on the table was empty.
«Finish your story, Miss Crayle,» he said.
«We went up to the apartment. He got two fresh bottles out and said he was going to get good and drunk … Then we quarreled … I couldn’t stand any more of it. I went away. When I got home I began to worry about him. I called up but he wouldn’t answer the phone. I went back finally … and let myself in with the key I had … and he was dead in the chair.»
After a moment Dalmas said: «Why didn’t you tell me some of that over the phone?»
She pressed the heels of her hands together, said very softly: «I was terribly afraid … And there was something… wrong.» Dalmas put his head back against the partition, stared at her with his eyes half closed.
«It’s an old gag,» she said. «I’m almost ashamed to spring it. But Derek Walden was left-handed… I’d know about that, wouldn’t I?»
Dalmas said very softly: «A lot of people must have known that — but one of them might have got careless.»
Dalmas stared at Mianne Crayle’s empty glove. She was twisting it between her fingers.
«Walden was left-handed,» he said slowly. «That means he didn’t suicide. The gun was in his other hand. There was no sign of a struggle and the hole in his temple was powder-burned, looked as if the shot came from about the right angle. That means whoever shot him was someone who could get in there and get close to him. Or else he was paralyzed drunk, and in that case whoever did it had to have a key.»
Mianne Crayle pushed the glove away from her. She clenched her hands. «Don’t make it any plainer,» she said sharply. «I know the police will think I did it. Well — I didn’t. I loved the poor damn fool. What do you think of that?»
Dalmas said without emotion: «You could have done it, Miss Crayle. They’ll think of that, won’t they? And you might be smart enough to act the way you have afterwards. They’ll think of that, too.»
«That wouldn’t be smart,» she said bitterly. «Just smart-aleck.»
«Smart-aleck kill!» Dalmas laughed grimly. «Not bad.» He ran his fingers through his crisp hair. «No, I don’t think we can pin it on you — and maybe the cops won’t know he was left-handed … until somebody else gets a chance to find things out.»
He leaned over the table a little, put his hands on the edge as if to get up. His eyes narrowed thoughtfully on her face.
«There’s one man downtown that might give me a break. He’s all cop, but he’s an old guy and don’t give a damn about his publicity. Maybe if you went down with me, let him size you up and hear the story, he’d stall the case a few hours and hold out on the papers.»
He looked at her questioningly. She drew her glove on and said quietly: «Let’s go.»
FIVE
When the elevator doors at the Merrivale closed, the big man put his newspaper down from in front of his face and yawned. He got up slowly from the settee in the corner and loafed across the small but sedate lobby. He squeezed himself into a booth at the end of a row of house phones. He dropped a coin in the slot and dialed with a thick forefinger, forming the number with his lips.
After a pause he leaned close to the mouthpiece and said: «This is Denny. I’m at the Merrivale. Our man just came in. I lost him outside and came here to wait for him to get back.»
He had a heavy voice with a burr in it. He listened to the voice at the other end, nodded and hung up without saying anything more. He went out of the booth, crossed to the elevators. On the way he dropped a cigar butt into a glazed jar full of white sand.
In the elevator he said: «Ten,» and took his hat off. He had straight black hair that was damp with perspiration, a wide, flat face and small eyes. His clothes were unpressed, but not shabby. He was a studio dick and he worked for Eclipse Films.
He got out at the tenth floor and went along a dim corridor, turned a corner and knocked at a door. There was a sound of steps inside. The door opened. Dalmas opened it.
The big man went in, dropped his hat casually on the bed, sat down in an easy chair by the window without being asked.
He said: «Hi, boy. I hear you need some help.»
Dalmas looked at him for a moment without answering. Then he said slowly, frowningly: «Maybe — for a tail. I asked for Collins. I thought you’d be too easy to spot.»
He turned away and went into the bathroom, came out with two glasses. He mixed the drinks on the bureau, handed one. The big man drank, smacked his lips and put his glass down on the sill of the open window. He took a short, chubby cigar out of his vest pocket.
«Collins wasn’t around,» he said. «And I was just countin’ my thumbs. So the big cheese give me the job. Is it footwork?»
«I don’t know. Probably not,» Dalmas said indifferently.
«If it’s a tail in a car, I’m okey. I brought my little coupe.»
Dalmas took his glass and sat down on the side of the bed. He stared at the big man with a faint smile. The big man bit the end off his cigar and spit it out.