'Simpson? Yes. He's more than that-he's, ah, he's dependent on him, I think.'
'Dependent?'
'He's his doctor, but more than that he seems to be like a confessor, some sort of priest, as well as physician.'
'And Eddie wouldn't talk to me about any of this when I asked him because you'd told him it was hush- hush.'
'Yes. If Randolph's confidence is violated he is very unpredictable. It's not even that he's cruel, though he probably is. It's that he is so rich, so indescribably wealthy, that he does whatever he will, without thought, simply because he can.'
'I'm glad for him,' I said. 'I'll settle for just ordinary riches, like yours. Shall we fly off to Tahiti and build a fairy-tale castle?'
'I wish we could,' Vivian said. 'It would be very attractive to think about it.'
'You don't know who might be tailing me in a black Buick sedan, do you?'
Her whole body stiffened.
'My God,' she said. 'What if it's Randolph?'
'I'll take care of Randolph,' I said. 'He'll think he was in an avalanche.'
'Maybe it's not Randolph,' she said.
'Maybe not,' I said. 'Maybe it's Eddie. Or maybe it's the cops, though they don't usually do tail jobs in Buicks. Or maybe kindly Dr. Claude is having me followed. Or maybe it's a member of the Philip Marlowe Fan Club trying to get up her courage to ask for my autograph.'
'Will you take care of me, Marlowe?'
'Sure thing,' I said. 'And I'll find Carmen too. I was tired of chess puzzles anyway.'
CHAPTER 17
The Cypress Club was hopping. A doorman that was dressed like an admiral in the Yugoslavian navy opened the doors for me and I went into the hushed tension of the gambling club. I shook my head at the hat check girl and kept my hat on my head. In the main room there were people gathered under lowered lights around the tables. Everyone looked as if they were watching surgery. No one talked loudly, the bored voices of the dealers droned their dealer patter, the sound of chips and the whir of the roulette wheel was as loud as any human voice. It was never clear to me why people gambled since they seemed to enjoy it so little.
I drifted into the bar and ordered a Bacardi cocktail.
'Eddie around?' I said to the bartender.
'Don't know no Eddie, pal.'
'Sure you don't,' I said. 'You never heard of Eddie Mars. He doesn't own this clip joint. You don't know who owns it. You just work here.'
'If it turned out that I did know this Eddie guy, who should I say was asking?'
'Marlowe,' I said.
The bartender polished the bartop vigorously.
'I see anybody might know this Eddie, I'll make mention of your name.'
'That'd be dandy,' I said.
The bartender moved on down the bar. I turned and looked out at the main room. A tall jasper with a pencil moustache was making thousand-dollar bets at the baccarat table and losing them. He was obviously drunk and his face was very flushed. A silver-blonde lady with a mink stole and a long cigarette holder was tugging at his arm and crying. He paid her no mind. Just kept laying down the big pictures and losing them and taking another one out of the slim ostrich-skin wallet he took from his inside pocket. Finally the blonde swore at him and released his arm and stalked out of the place. The tall thin guy never looked at her, or after her when she left.
The bartender moved back down the bar toward me.
'Be easier if he just mailed Mars a check,' I said, nodding at the tall drunk losing his money.
'Ain't that the truth,' the bartender said. He nodded past my shoulder. 'Mr. Mars will see you now,' he said.
I turned and Eddie Mars was there, a different gray suit and shirt. This time with a sapphire tie pin in a different gray tie.
'Heard you were asking about me, soldier.'
'Yeah. We need to talk.'
Mars nodded and slid onto the barstool next to me. He waited.
'I talked with Vivian tonight,' I said.
Mars' face showed nothing.
'She told me what she knows about Carmen and Bonsentir and Simpson and how you said you'd help her because you love her.'
'She told you a lot, soldier.'
'Yeah. She's in trouble and she knows it,' I said. 'She's looking for help.'
'So why you telling me this?' Mars said. He took a cigarette out of a silver case and put it in his mouth. The
