“Heard on the wire about Willie and Chinatown. How’s he doing?”
“He’s going to make it, but it was close. Too close.”
“You were there?”
“I was. How’s the Bender case coming? Got the killer yet?”
“Why should I spill to you?” Oldham said brusquely.
“No reason that I know of other than we’re both trying to get to the same spot.”
“We’ve made some progress. We fished his car out of the ocean.”
“I heard. You know a guy named Darren Paley, manages the Jade Lion in Chinatown?”
“Is that why you two were there?”
“Do you know him?”
“I know of him. Is he involved in what happened to Bender?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. And you might want to patrol the western half of the Malibu beaches, say around one to four in the morning.”
“For what?”
“What do you think?”
“Smuggling? What?”
“The usual,” replied Archer.
“You seen this action?”
“Maybe I have. And it’s not just dope.”
“What else?” asked Oldham.
“Try people on for size.”
This seemed to get Oldham excited. “I want you to come in and make a statement and tell us what you know.”
“Why? I heard you boys weren’t working extra hard to get Bender’s killer.”
Oldham didn’t answer right away. “Who’d you hear that from?”
“Is it true?”
Again, Oldham didn’t answer right away. “Where are you?”
“Seventy-six station in Malibu.”
“I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Eighteen minutes later the old Plymouth lurched into the parking lot of the gas station and Phil Oldham rolled himself out.
“Let’s walk,” he told Archer.
They headed to the beach. It seemed to be a popular spot for confidential talk, thought Archer.
The tide was coming in, so they kept to high ground as the breakers covered their discussions and the seagulls fought against the wind in making their dives for mealtime.
Oldham looked even pastier than before, his clothes grungier, but his eyes were bright and alert, and the man looked pissed.
“Your source was right,” he said as they walked along. Oldham’s hands were shoved deep into his pants pockets and the remains of a stogie rolled around in his mouth. “Soon as we pulled the car from the water I got assigned to another case.”
“You can’t just sweep a corpse under the rug.”
Oldham shot him a glance. “Can’t you, Archer?”
“I thought you county cops were immune from the LAPD disease.”
“Says you.”
“No, says you.”
“Then maybe I was wrong.” Oldham turned and hurled the stogie toward the water.
“I promised Bender’s widow I’d find out what happened.”
“I checked into Bender. He was a good guy, but he had a lot of unpaid bills. They were threatening to take the house.”
Archer stopped walking and looked at him. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. I guess he’d borrowed big against it when his business wasn’t doing too good. He couldn’t make the mortgage payments. They were foreclosing on it.”
“But his widow still has the house.”
“That’s because the debt got paid off. I didn’t dig deep enough to find out how. I didn’t have the chance.”
“But this sort of changes things.”
“How?”
Archer looked off for a few moments and studied the breakers coming in. “Even good guys can make bad choices when things get desperate.”
“How do you mean?”
Archer continued to stare out at the rising ocean. And in that moment certain things seemed to come together with startling clarity. “How much was the mortgage on Bender’s house?”
“What? Oh, about five grand, something like that.”
“No private dick is going to make that running down regular cases in a couple of weeks.”
“What are you getting at, Archer?”
“Like I said, good guys make bad choices when they get pushed.”
“You talking about Bender?”
“I’m talking about all of us.”
Chapter 60
Archer drove back into town and dropped the film off from the previous night with the same guy, and asked for another rush job. Then he checked with the private lab where Dash had taken the powder samples for analysis.
A stern-looking man in a white lab coat confirmed to Archer that they were indeed heroin.
Archer took the certified lab report with him and headed across town to Green and Ransome. Both name partners were in today, so he took Cecily Ransome first.
She was dressed in navy blue slacks and an oversize dark green sweater that covered her narrow hips. She had on a black beret and an uncomfortable look as she sat at her desk with a pen in hand and a film script set in front of her. She laid her pen aside. “So, what do you have to report?”
“I brought a partner up here to work with me.”
“Okay.”
“He got shot last night in Chinatown. I almost did, too.”
Ransome jerked forward. “What! Is he going to be okay?”
“Yes, but not for lack of trying by the guys doing the shooting.”
“Does this have to do with Ellie?”
“I think it does, yes.”
“Tell me what you know.”
“Strange things going on in Malibu. Trucks come and trucks go. And dope crates and people in hoods go with them.”
Ransome flushed so deeply Archer thought she might collapse. “P-people in h-hoods?”
“Smugglers, Miss Ransome. A slavery ring. It’s a business. Just a really nasty one.”
“Do you think Ellie found out about this and that’s why she’s gone missing?”
“Could be, yes.”
“Do you know who’s involved?”
“Chinatown is involved, that’s for sure.”
“The Jade Lion you mentioned?”
“I believe so, yes.”
Ransome looked down at the document in front of her, with her brow furrowed. “Then you may want to look at this.”
“What is it?”
She spun it around. “Ellie left this script for me about two weeks ago. She wasn’t paid to write it, she did it on her own.”
He read over a couple pages. “Just give me the shorthand of what the story’s about.”
Ransome’s voice trembled. “Chinatown, the mob, dope dealers, and... other things. Like... a slavery ring. It... it must be a coincidence.”
“I don’t believe in coincidences. Tell me more.”
“It’s dark and violent. Very different from what I normally see from Ellie. Right on the edge, and it has a remarkable feeling of authenticity. Like she knows that world intimately. And it has a terrific female lead. I mean, this might have Oscar written all over it.”
“Why would she give the script to you?”
“Because she wants me to direct the film. And I think I might want to.”
“So the question becomes: How does she know that world intimately?”
“You said you found Jade Lion matchbooks in her desk. She might have gone there, for research.”
Archer looked dubiously at her. “I don’t see that happening. The guy who runs the place doesn’t really like folks snooping around. I can personally attest to that.” But something else occurred to him. “Does she have a star in mind for the film?”
“Yes. She left a note about casting.” Ransome rummaged around and picked up a piece of paper. Before she could say anything, Archer spoke.
“Is the lead actress, by chance, Samantha Lourdes?”
Fear flitted through Ransome’s features as she looked down at the paper she held. “Yes. What is going on, Archer?”
“A little piece of the puzzle just fell into place, but there’s a lot more to go.”