“Sometimes she does.”
“I wanted it verified.”
“If Sylvia told it to you, it’s verified.”
I said, “It involves a trip you took to Hollywood, a short vacation trip.”
She suddenly threw back her head and laughed. “Now You should have seen him trying to be passionate one minute and drowsy the next. I thought I’d laugh right in his face.”
“I understand he finally passed out.”
“Like a light. We parked him on the davenport, covered him up, tucked him in, and sought our virtuous couches.”
“I trust you made him comfortable.”
“Oh, sure.”
I said, “Sylvia said you took his shoes off. Sylvia made the davenport into a bed, and then you tucked him in.”
She hesitated a moment, then said, “That’s right.”
“You put his shoes under the bed, hung his coat over the back of a chair, and left him with his pants on.”
“That’s right.”
“A warm night?”
“Fairly warm. We covered him.”
“You don’t know his name?”
“Heavens, no. Not his last name. We called him John. You said your name was Donald?”
“That’s right.”
“Well, why talk so much about what happened down there in Los Angeles, Donald? What do you want?”
“To talk about what happened in Los Angeles.”
“Why?”
“I’m a detective.”
“A what?”
“A detective.”
“You don’t look it.”
“Private,” I said.
“Say, maybe I’m talking too much.”
“Not enough.”
“How long have you known Sylvia? I don’t remember hearing her speak of you.”
“I met her yesterday afternoon, and went to dinner with her.”
“That’s the first time you met her?”
“That’s right.”
“Say, what are you getting at, anyway? What are you after?”
“Information.”
“Well,” she said, “I guess you’ve got it, and your gain is my loss.”
“How do you mean?”
“My beauty sleep. For whom are you working?”
“The man who was with you.”
“Don’t be silly. He doesn’t know who we are. He couldn’t find us in a hundred years. We checked out of the motor court the next morning so he couldn’t. I was afraid he might get suspicious and resentful.”
“No,” I said. “He hired me. I found you.”
“How?”
“Simple enough. You used sleeping-capsules that a doctor had given Sylvia on a prescription. The gummed label fell off the box and was caught in the back of one of the bureau drawers.”
“Say,” she said, “you might be right at that!”
“It had slipped down behind one of the drawers in the bureau.”
She made a little gesture of disgust. “I thought I was being a smart girl. I suppose I could have got into trouble over that deal. What’s this guy going to think? Does he know he was drugged?”
I nodded. “He figured you’d pulled a fast one on him.”
“Before the label was found or afterward?”
“Before.”
“He wasn’t such a bad sort, only he was a little too obvious and impulsive. I guess he has money. That’s probably half the trouble with him. He feels that just because he buys a girl a good dinner and a few drinks he has the right to move right in and share her life.”
I didn’t say anything.
“Who is he, Donald?”
I said, “Suppose you tell me what you know about him.”
“Any reason why I should?”
“No. Any reason why you shouldn’t?”
She hesitated a moment, looking at me from under long lashes and said, “You seem to cut your cake in big pieces.”
“Why do things halfway?” I asked.
She laughed. “I guess you don’t have to.”
I remained silent.
She said, “Sylvia and I were on the prowl. Sylvia is more impulsive than I am. This fellow was on the make. We needed an escort and we needed someone to pay the check. We—”
“Don’t, Millie,” I said.
“Don’t what?”
“Don’t go on with that line.”
“I thought you wanted to know.”
I said, “You’re an intelligent girl and you’re a good- looking girl. There’s no percentage with that line. It won’t work. How much is Billings paying you?”
“What do you mean?”
I said, “You’ve overlooked a lot of little things. I just wanted to make certain that you knew him before I called them to your attention.”
“What do you mean?”
I said, “If you’d been really adept at the game you’d have insisted I talk with the two of you together. Letting me get you one at a time was a fatal weakness, and shows how amateurish you are.”
“You’re doing the talking now,” she said, her greenishblue eyes hard, wary, and watchful.
“According to Sylvia, he was placed on the couch fully clothed, with only a pillow behind his head. The davenport wasn’t made up into a bed, there were no blankets for him. Sylvia donated a pillow and that was all.”
She hesitated a moment, then said, “Give me another cigarette, Donald.”
I gave her one.
She said, “I could try to juggle this one but I know it wouldn’t do any good. Sylvia phoned me you’d swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. You were young, gullible, and a pushover for a girl who had good-looking legs.”
“I am,” I told her.
She laughed.
“Come on,” she said, after a short silence. “How did you get wise?”
“You mean how much do I know?”
“I’m feeling my way,” she said.
“There were certain things about the story that gave it every appearance of being synthetic,” I told her. “How long have you known John Billings?”
“I just met him. He’s one of Sylvia’s friends.”
“You don’t know all of her friends?”
“Not the ones that have money,” she said, and laughed. “Sylvia plays some things close to her chest.”
“How much did he pay you?”
“Two hundred and fifty bucks. That is, Sylvia passed it over. She said that was my share of the take.”
“Exactly what did she say you were to do in return?”
“She said I could get two hundred and fifty dollars if I was willing to have my picture in a newspaper. She said I’d have to play the part of a fallen woman, but she thought I could be ‘fallen’ in name only.”
“What did you tell her?”
“You’re here, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, that’s the answer.”
“And then you met Billings?”
“Just over cocktails. He passed over the money and took a look at me so he’d know me when he saw me, and I took a look at him so I could identify him, and we had a drink or two, then he and Sylvia went out.”
“Who fixed up the story?”
“Sylvia.”
“Why does he want an alibi? Do you know?”
“No.”
“You mean that you didn’t ask?”
“There were five nice, crisp fifty-dollar bank notes. I wouldn’t have asked a question of any one, let alone the whole five.”
“How much did he pay Sylvia? Do you know?”
“He and Sylvia are—” She held up her hand with the first and second fingers crossed.
I said, “I’m sorry I disturbed you.”
“Don’t mention it. It was all part of the two hundred and fifty bucks. I rather expected you last night but Sylvia telephoned you had to go back to Los Angeles.”
I nodded.
“You must be wearing out airplanes.”
“I’m moving around.”
“Now what do I do?”
“Keep quiet.”
“Do I ring Sylvia and tell her that you were wise all along, that you trapped me and—”