“So if she didn’t hire Bender, who did? Because Bender was clearly investigating something that ended up getting him killed.”
“I found a Wheeldex with a curious name on it, a company called PID. And I discovered from looking at his bank records that Bender had gotten several large payments from PID. Large enough for him to pay off his mortgage of five grand.”
“PID? Did that ring a bell with you?”
“Maybe, but I needed confirmation. So I phoned the number on the Wheeldex card. Can you guess whose number it is?”
“Tell me.”
“The Jade Lion.”
“The Jade! But where does PID come in?”
“What’s Paley’s middle name? Do you know?”
“I know everything about the guy. It’s Isaac.”
“So his initials are DIP. Now flip that around.”
“Damn. DIP becomes PID. So he hired Bender. But why?”
“Bender must’ve known Paley was bad news, but he was hard up for money. So he was a good guy who made a deal with the devil. And Paley paid way above the going rate. So Bender’s widow is going to be okay.”
“But what did Paley hire him to do, Archer?”
“Bender was hired by Paley to find out who was drinking out of his dope trough. And Bender found out it was Bonham selling to Green.”
“Okay, I see where this is going, all right,” said Nichols.
Archer continued, “If Bonham learned that Bender was investigating him and might finger him to Paley, it would be a motive for Bonham to kill the guy. Bender was beaten up pretty badly. They probably worked him over to make him talk. And then Bonham kills him and dumps the body in Lamb’s house, not only to throw suspicion off him, but also to scare the blackmailing Lamb into going on the run and getting off his back.”
“Rings true to me, Archer. Nice bit of deduction.”
“Yeah, only now I just have to prove it.”
Chapter 67
Archer left the idle hour and drove to the hospital to check on Morrison and Willie. The former was sitting like a statue in the same chair, her hand gripping one of Willie’s. The latter was still unconscious, but now looking far more alive than dead.
Archer called Callahan from the hospital and made arrangements to drive over and pick her up from the studio in Burbank, and take her to where she was staying.
She was waiting outside of Warners wearing a brown overcoat and clutching her purse with both hands.
Archer had been to so many studios lately he figured they should give him a SAG card.
He opened the passenger door of the rental and motioned her in.
“This isn’t the Delahaye,” she remarked.
“Hell, what is?”
Callahan told him she was staying at an apartment in Brentwood rented by a friend of hers who had just gone away to shoot a movie in Mexico for Paramount. It was in a pink stucco building and nicely laid out with Spanish tile floors the color of sunset; grainy, darkened wooden beams; plaster walls; and ceiling fans in every room, and a balcony with wrought iron railing overlooking a courtyard garden with a trickling fountain in the center.
They had picked up some dinner from a nearby deli and brought it to the apartment. Archer had driven a circuitous route and backtracked twice to make sure no one was following them.
Callahan changed into white linen slacks and a light green long-sleeved blouse and put her hair up with a clip. She poured out some white wine, and they sat on the balcony and ate and listened to the strengthening wind and the fountain.
“So, Willie is really doing okay?” she asked.
“I talked to the doctors. He’s out of danger. He’s going to make it.”
“Thank God.”
“Thank the doc and Willie being too stubborn to die. Got a question,” he said, taking a sip of the wine. “I found out from a banker guy that women can’t get a loan for a house without a man signing, too.”
Callahan set her wine down and glanced at him. “That’s right.”
“So how did you manage it?”
She took a bite of food. “Somebody at Universal helped me. The studios, well, they understand the problem. Single actresses make enough money to buy a home but can’t get a loan. So they have men who will guarantee the loan.”
“Guarantee the loan? What do they get in return? You mean you have to pay them?”
She glanced at him. “Yes. They get a monthly fee. It’s an added cost women have to pay.”
Archer looked down. “I’m sorry, Liberty.”
“For what?”
“That you have to go through crap like that. You make way more than me, but I don’t need you to cosign a house loan.”
“It’s just the way things are, Archer.”
“And that doesn’t make them right.”
“Forget it. I’m doing fine.”
“How’s the new film coming?” he asked after a few moments of silence.
“I play a frustrated housewife married to an American scientist secretly working for the Soviets. My part has some real meat to it. She turns out to be very heroic.”
“That’s great. What about that other film you were looking at doing, Dial M for Murder? You thought you had a shot at the lead?”
She took a drink of wine and shook her head. “I did a screen test, and I thought it went okay. But the thing is I’m not a big star, Archer, and Hitchcock only works with the best. I heard they want Grace Kelly for the lead. She’s all over town right now. Hell, she’ll probably get the lead in Rear Window, too. But there are other roles in both films I can try for.”
“Hey, it’s still Hitchcock, right?”
She mustered a smile. “Yes, it is. So, how is the case coming?”
“It’s coming maybe faster than before.”
“And Darren Paley?”
“We’re zeroing in on him, Liberty, have no fear.”
She said sharply, “But I do have fear, Archer, for you.”
He put an arm around her shoulders and squeezed. “I know this one has been close.”
“ ‘Close’ doesn’t come close to describing it.”
“After what happened to Willie, I can’t walk away from it, Liberty. You know that.”
She finished her wine and poured them some more. “I know it so well I can’t sleep.”
He dipped his head. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your problem. It’s mine.”
“That doesn’t seem fair.”
“Since when is life that? Sometimes you make your own bed and sometimes you make somebody else’s and have to sleep in it.” She looked around and her expression lightened. “Sherry, the gal that rents this place, was really keen to meet you, Archer.”
“Why was that?” he said, looking surprised.
“I showed her your picture. I can’t imagine what she saw in it,” she added in an impish tone.
“Don’t mess with my ego, Liberty, it’s right where I like it.”
She smiled. “Sherry knows Ellie, too. She was working on a picture with her before Ellie disappeared. I told her what happened. She’s really upset about it, too.”
“Is that right?”
“Yes.” She glanced at him with a mischievous look. “I also told Sherry about our date at Chasen’s. She joked that she was going to crash it so she could meet, as she said, the world’s most handsome gumshoe.”
This had a remarkable effect on Archer. He sat up straight and his expression was tight and focused. “You told your friend Sherry that I was a private detective and that we were having dinner at Chasen’s on New Year’s Eve?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Do you think she could have told Lamb that?”