Finally I reached the phone over and called Bernie Ohls at home.
'You know what time it is?' he said when he answered.
'I need the owner of a black Buick sedan, late model, California tags.' I gave him the number.
'Sure, Marlowe. I was reading my kid a story, but hell, I'll go right down and open up the hall of records and look this up personal and hand-carry it right over to you.'
'Couple of guys driving that thing roughed me up, told me to stay away from the Carmen Sternwood case.'
'Gee, I hope it didn't spoil your good looks, Marlowe.'
'I figure it's Simpson, but maybe the license plates will tell me something.'
'And maybe they won't,' Ohls said. 'I'll call you in the morning.'
'You got an ID yet on the corpse off Beverly Glen?'
'Tentative,' Ohls said. 'Neighborhood dog showed up with the hand. Proud as hell, wagging his tail. His owner nearly croaked. Assuming it goes with the other parts of the body, the victim is a B-picture actress named Lola Monforte. Last known address was a flop on Melrose, but she hasn't been there in several months.'
'That's it?'
'That's all so far,' Ohls said. 'Us coppers just have to plod along, you know. We ain't geniuses like you private-license boys. I figure you'll have it all solved for us by the time I get you this car registration.'
'Any connection to Bonsentir? Or Simpson?'
'Don't know,' Ohls said. 'Hard to find out.'
Ohls hung up. Outside the rain came down in a light steady drizzle. Not hard enough to wash gullies in the canyons where people built expensive houses on sand and runoff. Just enough to keep the reservoirs from drying up and to help the lawns a little. I opened the window. The damp mysterious smell of a wet night came in.
The ache in my head had dulled. My collar was soaked from the ice pack and I dropped the nearly melted cubes on the rug. It was after ten on a rainy night in the city of the angels. No one knocked on the door. No one called. No one was interested in my travel plans. No one seemed much concerned about my health.
I called Vivian Regan. The phone rang a long time before the horsefaced maid answered. She was sorry but Mrs. Regan had taken a sleeping pill and gone to bed. Was there a message? No message. I hung up the phone and went back to staring at the misting rain which drifted down as silently as snow.
CHAPTER 19
Ohls called while I was drinking my second cup of coffee and trying to decide about breakfast. My head felt like the inside of a snare drum.
'Buick's registered to an outfit called Neville Realty Trust, got an address in the Neville Valley, up north.'
I got a pencil. Ohls gave me the address.
'Any names attached?' I said.
'Not on the registration. I haven't looked any further. Figure that's your job.'
'Sure,' I said. 'No one sapped you.'
'My heart bleeds,' Ohls said and hung up.
***
In my office with coffee and a roll I'd picked up in the drugstore downstairs, I got out my map book. The Neville Valley was maybe 200 miles northeast of Los Angeles on the other side of the San Gabriel Mountains.
I called my client.
When Norris came on the phone, I said, 'Marlowe. With a report.'
'How very kind of you, Mr. Marlowe,' Norris said.
'Looking for Carmen so far has got me threatened by a tough Mexican, involved in a mutilation murder, slugged with brass knuckles and sapped by person or persons unknown.'
'Good heavens, sir, I never wanted you to get hurt.'
'Nor did I, Norris,' I said, 'but the point is this thing is a much larger thing than it looked like it was going to be.'
'As I have said, sir, the General left me well provided for. I could pay you a rather handsome fee.'
'No need for that, Norris. There's so much money floating around the fringes of this case that it's hard not to twist an ankle stepping over it. I'll find a fee okay. But it seems like more dangerous going than either of us thought when I started.'
'I anticipated only whatever danger Miss Carmen presented, sir.'
'Which is not inconsiderable. But it's beginning to look attractive to me now.'
'Do you wish to withdraw, sir?'
'You bet I do,' I said. 'But I won't. I just wanted you to know what was happening.'
'I rather expected that you would not withdraw, sir. Might you give me some of the details?' I did.
When I was through there was a quiet pause. Then Norris said, 'I'm sure you will be adequate to the task, Mr. Marlowe.'
