“Tell me you’re kidding.”
She shrugged.
“No can do,” she said. “Anyway, according to him-his name’s Dick by the way, ironic, huh? — Mitchum did in fact return to the hotel with a woman. The person he described sounds like Gina Sophia. They were in the room together all night.”
“How does he know that?”
“Because they were drunk and loud and playing music and dancing,” Alabama said. “People in the adjoining rooms were complaining. Dick went up personally and knocked on the door four or five times to get them to knock it off.”
“Did he actually see Mitchum?”
Alabama nodded.
“Every time he went up, Mitchum opened the door. Every time, Mitchum apologized and said he’d knock it off, but he always started back up again. Finally, about four in the morning, Dick called the cops. A half-hour later, a cop showed up. Dick took him up to the room and the cop knocked on the door. Mitchum opened it, the cop told him to knock it off or else. That got his attention and things settled down.”
Wilde chewed on it.
“So he was there continuously until at least four,” he said.
“Four-thirty. That’s when the cop showed up, four-thirty. Oh, Dick had one more thing relevant to the issue, but he wanted to squeeze my boobs. I let him and here’s what he told me-”
“You let him?”
“God, Wilde, they’re just boobs. Calm down and listen. The cleaning crew started at five and a housekeeper named Maria went into Mitchum’s room by mistake. He was passed out in bed with a woman. They were both naked. Maria eased back out. Mitchum never knew she opened the door.”
“How did Dick know?”
“One of the other housekeepers ratted on Maria,” Alabama said. “Apparently they don’t get along.”
“Apparently not.”
Alabama exhaled.
“I have a theory,” she said. “Maybe there’s another guy who looks like Robert Mitchum. Maybe he’s the one who frequented that New York club.”
“So you’re saying there are two Robert Mitchums?”
“Three, actually, if you count the original.”
65
Day Two
July 22, 1952
Tuesday Night
The noise turned out to be someone rolling a cleaning cart down the hall, singing mumbled words in a terrible, raspy voice.
Josephine, oh Josephine,
Get your big old lips off of me.
Josephine, oh Josephine,
Get your big old lips off of me.
It’s turning you on, baby,
But it’s making me want to go to sea.
The singing stopped at Bristol’s door, followed by a twist of the knob, a twist that found the bolt thrown from the inside. Waverly and Su-Moon didn’t blink or breathe. The singing started again, glass got swept up then the voice disappeared down the hall. The women waited until it was good and gone, then got the hell out of there.
Outside the storm was even meaner.
Traffic lights swung in the force of the weather.
Except for a few muddled headlights, all the sane people of the world had retreated.
Leaving on Su-Moon’s scooter wasn’t an option.
What to do?
Half a block up the street was a blue neon sign that said California Hotel. They ran for it through sloppy puddles and slippery concrete. It turned out to be a nice place with a crowded bar at the far end of the lobby. They paid more than they wanted but ended up with a nice room on the fifth floor. The concierge managed to wrangle up dry clothes-nothing fancy, just Ts and sweatpants-which he delivered personally with a smile.
“Just leave them in the room when you check out,” he said. “No charge.”
“Thanks. You’re a prince.”
They tipped him good.
Technically, the black book from Bristol’s desk was an address book. To its credit, it did have that type of information, namely names-female names, to be precise-together with addresses and phone numbers.
But there was more.
Much more.
There were dirty little notes about what Bristol had done to them and when.
Red dress spanking 4/22/51
Tied spread on bed 11/4/49
Staked out, Baker Beach, 7/11/52.
Hogtied 2 hours, 9/28/48
“The guy’s a dirty little freak,” Waverly said. “He has a dark side two miles long.”
Su-Moon nodded, then tapped a finger and said, “Look at this one.”
Waverly did.
Michelle
Rooftop blowjob, 3/19/48.
“Rooftop,” Su-Moon said. “There’s our connection, right there.”
“You think?”
She did.
She did indeed.
“I’ll bet you dollars to donuts that blowjob is code for dropped,” she said. “Notice that all the other women have last names and addresses and phone numbers. This one only says, Michelle. That’s because he didn’t want too much incriminating evidence in case this ever got in the wrong hands.” She tapped her finger again. “Even the name Michelle might be code. The date though is probably accurate. We need to find out if anyone got dropped on 3/19/48.”
They checked the envelope.
Inside was a passport and $10,000 cash.
“This was his ticket to ride in case he had to get out of Dodge fast,” Su-Moon said. “He’s not going to be happy about this being gone.”
66
Day Two
July 22, 1952
Tuesday Night
Almost all communications received by River from the man behind the assignments came in written form anonymously delivered in envelopes. River had spoken to the man only twice but it was enough, so when phone rang early in the evening, he recognized the caller as him. “The contract was terminated.”
The voice was deep and controlled.
It made River pull up an image equal to his own.
“I was all set to take her last night,” River said. “A friend of mine got in trouble-something serious. I had to attend to it. That’s why I was late.”
“I buy results, not efforts.”
“You got the result, it was just this morning instead of last night. It was a few hours late. I don’t see the problem.”
“Do you have the woman?”
“I do.”
“You shouldn’t have done that. When a contract is rescinded, you’re to step down. Not doing that interferes with your replacement.”
“I completed the contract before I got the message,” River said. “When I took the woman this morning, I didn’t know you’d rescinded the contract. I didn’t find that out until I got back home.”
Silence.
“Where is she?”
“I have her.”
“Where?”
“Someplace safe,” River said. “Everything’s on track. I can release her or kill her, whichever you want.”
A pause.
“Tell me where you have her.”
“I can’t,” River said. “That’s not the way we do it and you know it. Like you said, you buy a result, not an effort. The result is that I have her.” A beat then, “I don’t understand what anybody wants with her. She’s a nobody.”
“What you understand or don’t understand is not relevant.”
River exhaled.
“We need to meet, face to face.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s time. I’ll buy you a beer.”
A pause.
“You’re playing a dangerous game.”
The line went dead.
Suddenly a hand appeared on River’s shoulder-January’s hand. “Trouble?”