When I went in with the drinks she had a gun in her hand. It was a small automatic with a pearl grip. It jumped up at me and her eyes were full of horror.
I stopped, with a glass in each hand, and said: «Maybe this hot wind has got you crazy too. I’m a private detective. I’ll prove it if you let me.»
She nodded slightly and her face was white. I went over slowly and put a glass down beside her, and went back and set mine down and got a card out that had no bent corners. She was sitting down, smoothing one blue knee with her left hand, and holding the gun on the other. I put the card down beside her drink and sat with mine.
«Never let a guy get that close to you,» I said. «Not if you mean business. And your safety catch is on.»
She flashed her eyes down, shivered, and put the gun back in her bag. She drank half the drink without stopping, put the glass down hard and picked the card up.
«I don’t give many people that liquor,» I said. «I can’t afford to.»
Her lips curled. «I supposed you would want money.»
«Huh?»
She didn’t say anything. Her hand was close to her bag again.
«Don’t forget the safety catch,» I said. Her hand stopped. I went on: «This fellow I called Waldo is quite tall, say fiveeleven, slim, dark, brown eyes with a lot of glitter. Nose and mouth too thin. Dark suit, white handkerchief showing, and in a hurry to find you. Am I getting anywhere?»
She took her glass again. «So that’s Waldo,» she said. «Well, what about him?» Her voice seemed to have a slight liquor edge now.
«Well, a funny thing. There’s a cocktail bar across the street… Say, where have you been all evening?»
«Sitting in my car,» she said coldly, «most of the time.»
«Didn’t you see a fuss across the street up the block?»
Her eyes tried to say no and missed. Her lips said: «I knew there was some kind of disturbance. I saw policemen and red searchlights. I supposed someone had been hurt.»
«Someone was. And this Waldo was looking for you before that. In the cocktail bar. He described you and your clothes.»
Her eyes were set like rivets now and had the same amount of expression. Her mouth began to tremble and kept on trembling.
«I was in there,» I said, «talking to the kid that runs it. There was nobody in there but a drunk on a stool and the kid and myself. The drunk wasn’t paying any attention to anything. Then Waldo came in and asked about you and we said no, we hadn’t seen you and he started to leave.»
I sipped my drink. I like an effect as well as the next fellow. Her eyes ate me.
«Just started to leave. Then this drunk that wasn’t paying any attention to anyone called him Waldo and took a gun out. He shot him twice — I snapped my fingers twice — ’ ’like that. Dead.»
She fooled me. She laughed in my face. «So my husband hired you to spy on me,» she said. «I might have known the whole thing was an act. You and your Waldo.»
I gawked at her.
«I never thought of him as jealous,» she snapped. «Not of a man who had been our chauffeur anyhow. A little about Stan, of course — that’s natural. But Joseph Coates —»
I made motions in the air. «Lady, one of us has this book open at the wrong page,» I grunted. «I don’t know anybody named Stan or Joseph Coates. So help me, I didn’t even know you had a chauffeur. People around here don’t run to them. As for husbands — yeah, we do have a husband once in a while. Not often enough.»
She shook her head slowly and her hand stayed near her bag and her blue eyes had glitters in them.
«Not good enough, Mr. Marlowe. No, not nearly good enough. I know you private detectives. You’re all rotten. You tricked me into your apartment, if it is your apartment. More likely it’s the apartment of some horrible man who will swear anything for a few dollars. Now you’re trying to scare me. So you can blackmail me — as well as get money from my husband. All right,» she said breathlessly, «how much do I have to pay?»
I put my empty glass aside and leaned back. «Pardon me if I light a cigarette,» I said. «My nerves are frayed.»
I lit it while she watched me without enough fear for any real guilt to be under it. «So Joseph Coates is his name,» I said. «The guy that killed him in the cocktail bar called him Waldo.»
She smiled a bit disgustedly, but almost tolerantly. «Don’t stall. How much?»
«Why were you trying to meet this Joseph Coates?»
«I was going to buy something he stole from me, of course. Something that’s valuable in the ordinary way too. Almost fifteen thousand dollars. The man I loved gave it to me. He’s dead. There! He’s dead! He died in a burning plane. Now, go back and tell my husband that, you slimy little rat!»
«I’m not little and I’m not a rat,» I said.
«You’re still slimy. And don’t bother about telling my husband. I’ll tell him myself. He probably knows anyway.»
I grinned. «That’s smart. Just what was I supposed to find out?»
She grabbed her glass and finished what was left of her drink. «So he thinks I’m meeting Joseph. Well, perhaps I was. But not to make love. Not with a chauffeur. Not with a bum I picked off the front step and gave a job to. I don’t have to dig down that far, if I want to play around.»
«Lady,» I said, «you don’t indeed.»
«Now, I’m going,» she said. «You just try and stop me.» She snatched the pearl-handled gun out of her bag. I didn’t move.
«Why, you nasty little string of nothing,» she stormed. «How do I know you’re a private detective at all? You might be a crook. This card you gave me doesn’t mean anything. Anybody can have cards printed.»
«Sure,» I said. «And I suppose I’m smart enough to live here two years because you were going to move in today so I could blackmail you for not meeting a man named Joseph Coates who was bumped off across the street under the name of Waldo. Have you got the money to buy this something that cost fifteen grand?»
«Oh! You think you’ll hold me up, I suppose!»
«Oh!» I mimicked her, «I’m a stick-up artist now, am I? Lady, will you please either put that gun away or take the safety catch off? It hurts my professional feelings to see a nice gun made a monkey of that way.»
«You’re a full portion of what I don’t like,» she said. «Get out of my way.»
I didn’t move. She didn’t move. We were both sitting down — and not even close to each other.
«Let me in on one secret before you go,» I pleaded. «What in hell did you take the apartment down on the floor below for? Just to meet a guy down on the street?»
«Stop being silly,» she snapped. «I didn’t. I lied. It’s his apartment.»
«Joseph Coates’?»
She nodded sharply.
«Does my description of Waldo sound like Joseph Coates?»
She nodded sharply again.
«All right. That’s one fact learned at last. Don’t you realize Waldo described your clothes before he was shot — when he was looking for you — that the description was passed on to the police — that the police don’t know who Waldo is — and are looking for somebody in those clothes to help tell them? Don’t you get that much?»
The gun suddenly started to shake in her hand. She looked down at it, sort of vacantly, and slowly put it back in her bag.
«I’m a fool,» she whispered, «to be even talking to you.» She stared at me for a long time, then pulled in a deep breath. «He told me where he was staying. He didn’t seem afraid. I guess blackmailers are like that. He was to meet me on the street, but I was late. It was full of police when I got here. So I went back and sat in my car for a while. Then I came up to Joseph’s apartment and knocked. Then I went back to my car and waited again. I came up here three times in all. The last time I walked up a flight to take the elevator. I had already been seen twice on the third floor. I met you. That’s all.»