‘And what did Thayler do?’
‘Lee always wanted money. He agreed.’ There was a bitter expression in the green eyes now. ‘You wondered why Dana’s coat and skirt were hidden in Barclay’s cupboard. Anita was wearing the suit. She went to Barclay’s because she always kept some clothes there. Barclay was away. She changed into her own clothes, leaving Dana’s suit in Barclay’s cupboard, and went on to L’Etoile. You found her there. Then Bannister flung her out. She had nowhere to go. Cerf was still looking for her, so she went to you. You were with Cerf. Maybe Cerf thought you knew too much and came to your place intending to shoot you, only he found Anita there. He shot her. Lee had been hunting for Anita, and had decided to see you and find out if you knew where she was. He arrived too late to stop Cerf killing Anita, but in the struggle, Cerf dropped his gun, but he escaped. While Lee was out at the back looking for him, you turned up. By then Lee thought up a plan to screw every dollar out of Cerf. He could do so now with ease because he had Cerf’s gun. It had Cerf’s initials on it, and it had killed Dana, Leadbetter and Anita. He knocked you out, took Anita in his car to Betillo’s and then phoned me to go over to your place and report on your movements.’ She broke off to stub out her cigarette, her mouth twisted into a jeering little smile. ‘There’s not much more to it. You can more or less guess the rest. Lee got into touch with Cerf and told him to start paying unless he wanted Anita’s body and the gun turned over to the police. Lee asked half a million to begin with, and the money was to be paid at once.’
‘And you’re going to tell me Cerf had, by now, the answer to blackmail,’ I said. ‘He went along tonight to Betillo’s and wiped Thayler out, is that it?’
She nodded and looked away.
‘I warned him Cerf was dangerous,’ she said, her voice suddenly stifled. She put her hand to her eyes. ‘But he was so sure of himself. He laughed at me.’
I got up suddenly, and without a word, walked quickly into her bedroom. I was in there less than ten seconds before she came to the bedroom door to stare at me.
‘What do you want in here?’ she asked sharply.
I looked around the room, ran my fingers through my hair, shook my head.
“You know, baby, my nerves must be bad. I could have sworn I heard someone in here. Didn’t you hear a footfall? A sound as if someone was creeping across the floor?’
Her eyes opened a trifle, and she looked a little nervously round the room. I jerked the window curtains aside. No one lurked behind them. I glanced out into the darkness. Rain splashed on the windows.
‘You’re trying to frighten me,’ she said, her voice shooting up two tones.
‘Only you and I know Cerf’s the killer,’ I said, going to her and looking down into her big green eyes. ‘And neither of us believe it do we?’
Her slim white hand rested on my sleeve.
‘It’s hard to believe,’ she said. ‘If Lee hadn’t told me I wouldn’t have believed it.’
‘Lee telling you doesn’t make me believe it,’ I said, and smiled at her. ‘I don’t kid myself I’m much of a detective, but take a look around. Look at the bed. You haven’t slept in it tonight. Why, the coverlet isn’t even off. Look over there where you’ve thrown the clothes you stripped off just before I tapped on the window.’ I lifted a shoe, held it out to her. ‘You hit him in the neck artery and he bled like hell. I guessed you’d have a little blood on you somewhere. Well, here it is on the side of your shoe.’
She touched her lips with the tip of her tongue.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said crossly, and walked into the sitting room.
I followed her, swinging the shoe in my hand.
‘Don’t you?’ I said. ‘It’s plain enough to me. Substitute in your clever little story Gail Bolus for Jay Franklin Cerf and we shall be getting somewhere. It was you who shot Dana, thinking she was Anita. You who shot Leadbetter, who saw you strip Dana and threatened to expose you. You who shot Anita because you hated her and were determined to square accounts because she stole Thayler from you, and it was you who went round to Betillo’s tonight and shot Thayler because—’ I paused, then asked, ‘You tell me: why did you kill Thayler?’
IV
From the kitchenette there came the whirring grunt of the refrigerator. From the overmantel came the steady tick-tick-tick of the squat, oak-framed clock.
Miss Bolus breathed steadily; her breasts rose and fell under the thin silk wrap lightly and evenly and without emotion. Her hand was steady as she poured more coffee into her cup. She added sugar, stirred the coffee with the spoon. There was a vague, faraway expression on her face.
She said, ‘Are you serious?’
‘Up to now it’s been a beautiful act,’ I said, and sat opposite her, my hand near my hat. “Don’t let it turn corny, baby. The tears, the spontaneous story about Cerf, the calm way you followed me into the bedroom, knowing I’d see your bed hadn’t been slept in were all admirably done: so don’t let’s spoil it. Why did you kill Thayler?’
She looked at me then; her eyes very thoughtful.
‘I didn’t kill him,’ she said steadily. ‘I loved him. It was Cerf. I told you.’
‘I know what you told me, but unfortunately for you your old friend Thayler kept a diary. He made me a present of it before he died. I’ve read it, and what’s in it doesn’t hook up with what you’ve told me. He said Anita was scared of you, and she knew you were gunning for her. That’s why I came here. That’s why I looked your room over. I knew you had only just got back from Coral Gables. I wanted to check up to see if you had been in bed, and with all that blood around I knew you would have taken some of it away with you if you had been there.’ I touched the shoe that stood on the table. ‘Why did you kill him?’
She looked at me for a long moment of time, then laughed. It was a tinny, humourless sound.
‘So the bastard kept a diary,’ she said. ‘That’s funny.’
‘Yeah, diaries have an unpleasant habit of coming home to roost,’ I said.
She sipped her coffee, made a little grimace and set the cup on the table.
‘It’s cold,’ she said.
‘Look, let’s not beat about the bush or whatever it is one beats,’ I said a little tersely. ‘Tell me about Thayler.’
‘Well, the heel had it coming, and the opportunity was too good to miss. I was getting away with the other shootings, why not one more?’ she said carelessly. ‘I’m sorry about Dana,’ she went on. ‘If you had seen her out there in die shadows and the moonlight, dressed in Anita’s evening gown, you would have made the same mistake.’
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘It’s too bad about Dana. I think I would fold my tent and silently steal away if it wasn’t for Dana. The others you plugged were a worthless lot. Dana wasn’t. I can’t let you get away with Dana’s killing.’
She shrugged.
‘There’s not much you can do about it,’ she said.
‘Well, there is,’ I told her. ‘There are two things I can do, I can take the law into my own hands or I can go to the police. I don’t feel like wringing your nice white neck. It’s a pity because it would save a lot of complications, but I have to live with my conscience, and my conscience wouldn’t like me to do that sort of thing. So it’ll have to be the police. It’ll mean I’ll probably get a few years as an accessory, but that can’t be helped.’
‘Cerf won’t like it,’ she reminded me, frowning.
‘That’s right, but he’s had it all his own way up to now. He’ll have to put up with it. Would you care to slip on some clothes before I phone Brandon? He’d probably haul you off to the station as you are, so you’d better dress.’