“Why would I take her silly old coin?”
“Well—it’s worth a lot of money. She thinks you might need money. I gather she was not too generous.”
She laughed, a tight sneering little laugh. “No,” she said. “Mrs. Elizabeth Bright Murdock would not rate as very generous.”
“Maybe you just took it for spite, kind of,” I said hopefully.
“Maybe I ought to slap your face.” She killed her cigarette in Morny’s copper goldfish bowl, speared the crushed stub absently with the letter opener and dropped it into the wastebasket.
“Passing on from that to perhaps more important matters,” I said, “will you give him a divorce?”
“For twenty-five grand,” she said, not looking at me, “I should be glad to.”
“You’re not in love with the guy, huh?”
“You’re breaking my heart, Marlowe.”
“He’s in love with you,” I said. “After all you did marry him.”
She looked at me lazily. “Mister, don’t think I didn’t pay for that mistake.” She lit another cigarette. “But a girl has to live. And it isn’t always as easy as it looks. And so a girl can make a mistake, marry the wrong guy and the wrong family, looking for something that isn’t there. Security, or whatever.”
“But not needing any love to do it,” I said.
“I don’t want to be too cynical, Marlowe. But you’d be surprised how many girls marry to find a home, especially girls whose arm muscles are all tired out fighting off the kind of optimists that come into these gin and glitter joints.”
“You had a home and you gave it up.”
“It got to be too dear. That port-sodden old fake made the bargain too tough. How do you like her for a client?”
“I’ve had worse.”
She picked a shred of tobacco off her lip. “You notice what she’s doing to that girl?”
“Merle? I noticed she bullied her.”
“It isn’t just that. She has her cutting out dolls. The girl had a shock of some kind and the old brute has used the effect of it to dominate the girl completely. In company she yells at her but in private she’s apt to be stroking her hair and whispering in her ear. And the kid sort of shivers.”
“I didn’t quite get all that,” I said.
“The kid’s in love with Leslie, but she doesn’t know it. Emotionally she’s about ten years old. Something funny is going to happen in that family one of these days. I’m glad I won’t be there.”
I said: “You’re a smart girl, Linda. And you’re tough and you’re wise. I suppose when you married him you thought you could get your hands on plenty.”
She curled her lip. “I thought it would at least be a vacation. It wasn’t even that. That’s a smart ruthless woman, Marlowe. Whatever she’s got you doing, it’s not what she says. She’s up to something. Watch your step.”
“Would she kill a couple of men?”
She laughed.
“No kidding,” I said. “A couple of men have been killed and one of them at least is connected with rare coins.”
“I don’t get it,” she looked at me levelly. “Murdered, you mean?”
I nodded.
“You tell Morny all that?”
“About one of them.”
“You tell the cops?”
“About one of them. The same one.”
She moved her eyes over my face. We stared at each other. She looked a little pale, or just tired. I thought she had grown a little paler than before.
“You’re making that up,” she said between her teeth.
I grinned and nodded. She seemed to relax then.
“About the Brasher Doubloon?” I said. “You didn’t take it. Okay. About the divorce, what?”
“That’s none of your affair.”
“I agree. Well, thanks for talking to me. Do you know a fellow named Vannier?”
“Yes.” Her face froze hard now. “Not well. He’s a friend of Lois.”
“A very good friend.”
“One of these days he’s apt to turn out to be a small quiet funeral too.”
“Hints,” I said, “have sort of been thrown in that direction. There’s something about the guy. Every time his
