`If you're thinking of Laguna Perdida, your thinking is way out of line. Stella is one of the good ones, one of the best-'
`I'm not interested in your opinion. I suggest you get off my place before I call the police.'
I left them together, three well-intentioned people who couldn't seem to stop hurting each other. Stella had the courage to lift her hand to me in farewell.
21
I WENT NEXT door to the Hillmans. Turning in past their mailbox, I heard the noise of a sports car coming down the driveway. I stopped in the middle of the narrow blacktop so that Dick Leandro had to stop, too.
He sat there looking at me rather sulkily from under his hair, as if I'd halted him in the middle of a Grand Prix. I got out and walked over to the side of his car and patted the hood.
`Nice car.'
`I like it.'
`You have any other cars?'
`Just this one,' he said. `Listen, I hear they f-found Tom, is that the true word?'
`He hasn't been found yet, but he's running free.'
`Hey, that's great,' he said without enthusiasm. `Listen, do you know where Skipper is? Mrs. Hillman says he hasn't been home all night.'
He looked up at me with puzzled anxiety.
`I wouldn't worry about him. He can look after himself.'
`Yeah, sure, but do you know where he is? I want to ta-talk to him.'
`What about?'
`That's between him and I. It's a personal matter.'
I said unpleasantly: `Do you and Mr. Hillman share a lot of secrets?'
'I w-wouldn't say that. He advises me. He gives me g-good advice.'
The young man was almost babbling with fear and hostility. I let him go and drove up to the house. Elaine Hillman was the one I wanted to see, and she let me in herself.
She looked better than she had the last time I'd seen her. She was well groomed and well dressed, in a tailored sharkskin suit which concealed the shrinkage of her body. She was even able to smile at me.
`I got your good news, Mr. Archer.'
`Good news?' I couldn't think of any.
`That Tom is definitely alive. Lieutenant Bastian passed the word to me. Come in and tell me more.'
She led me across the reception hall, making a detour to avoid the area under the chandelier, and into the sitting room. She said almost brightly, as if she was determined to be cheerful: `I call this the waiting room. It's like a dentist's waiting room. But the waiting is almost over, don't you think?'
Her voice curled up thinly at the end, betraying her tension.
`Yes. I really think so.'
`Good. I couldn't stand much more of this. None of us could. These days have been very difficult.'
`I know. I'm sorry.'
`Don't be sorry. You've brought us good news.'
She perched on the chesterfield. `Now sit down and tell me the rest of it.'
I sat beside her. `There isn't much more, and not all of it is good. But Tom is alive, and free, and very likely still in Los Angeles. I traced him from the Barcelona Hotel, where he was hiding, to downtown Los Angeles. He was seen getting off a bus in the main station around ten o'clock last night. I'm going back there this afternoon to see if I can find him.'
`I wish my husband was here to share this,' she said. `I'm a little worried about him. He left the house early last evening and hasn't been back since.'
She looked around the room as if it felt strange without him.
I said: `He probably got word that Tom was alive.'
`From whom?'
I left the question unanswered.
`But he wouldn't go without telling me.'
`Not unless he had a reason.'
`What possible reason could he have for keeping me in the dark?'
`I don't know, Mrs. Hillman.'
`Is he going out of his mind, do you think?'
`I doubt it. He probably spent the night in Los Angeles searching for Tom. I know he had breakfast this morning with Susanna Drew.'
