Private Eyes

visualize?”

Nod.

“Is she still illiterate?”

Faint nod. “Tried to… She couldn’t…”

“How’d she manage to do her job?” I said. “Taking orders, totaling the check?”

Unintelligible sounds from Ramp.

Milo said, “C’mon, dammit, stop blubbering.”

Ramp lifted his head slightly. “Memory. She knew everything… the whole menu… by heart. When there’s… a special… she… we rehearse it.”

“And filling out the check?” said Milo.

“I…” Look of exhaustion.

“You take care of it,” I said. “You take care of her. Just like the old days back at the studio. What was she, a country girl, came out west to be a star?”

“Appalachia,” he said. “Hill… billy.”

“Poor girl from the sticks,” I said. “You knew she’d never make it in pictures, especially not being able to read lines. Did you help her keep it secret for a while?”

Nod. “Joel…”

“Joel blew her cover?”

He nodded. Belched and let his head loll. “Pictures for him.”

“He caused her to lose her contract at the studio and then hired her as a model?”

Nod.

Milo said, “How’d she get a driver’s license?”

“Written tests… memorized all of them.”

“Must have taken a long time.”

Ramp nodded and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. He lowered his head to the table again. This time Milo let him remain there.

“Have she and McCloskey maintained contact all these years?” I said.

Ramp’s head shot up with surprising speed. “No- she hated… it… not what she wanted.”

“What wasn’t?”

“The baby. Noel…” Wince. “Loved him, but…”

“But what, Don?”

Beseeching look.

“What, Don?”

“Rape.”

“McCloskey got her pregnant by raping her?”

Nod. “All the time.”

“All the time what, Don?” said Milo.

“Rape.”

“He raped her all the time?”

Nod.

“Why didn’t you protect her from that?” said Milo.

Ramp began to sob. The tears landed in his mustache and beaded in the greasy hairs.

He tried to say something, choked.

Milo put his finger under Ramp’s chin. Used a napkin to dab the weeping man’s face.

“What, Don?” he said gently.

“Everyone,” said Ramp, tears flowing.

“Everyone raped her?”

Sob. Gulp. “Had her… She’s not…” Struggling to lift his hand, he tapped his head.

“She’s not bright,” said Milo. “Everyone took advantage of her.”

Nod. Tears.

“Everyone, Don?”

Ramp’s head lolled and dipped. His eyes closed. Saliva trickled down one side of his mouth.

Milo said, “Okay, Don,” and lowered Ramp’s face to the table once more.

I followed Milo back to the bar. The two of us sat and watched Ramp for a while. He began to snore.

“The studio wild bunch,” I said. “The dumb, illiterate girl everyone passed around.”

“How’d you know?”

“From the way Noel acted just before. We were talking about his mother. He mentioned she said that working anywhere else wouldn’t be the same, started to elaborate, and stopped. When I pressed him on it, he got mad and left. That struck me as unusual. He’s a kid who controls his emotions- needs to be in control. Typical for someone growing up with a druggie or alkie parent. So I knew whatever it was that made him blow up had to be important. Then when Ramp started talking, it all fit.”

“Illiterate,” said Milo. “Living that way, all these years, never knowing when someone was going to blow her cover. Ramp taking care of her and the kid out of guilt.”

“Or compassion, or both. Guess he is a genuine soft guy.”

“Yeah,” he said again, glancing over at Ramp and shaking his head.

I said, “It explains Bethel’s willingness to wait tables while Ramp and Gina lived like royalty. She was used to being the doormat. Failed at acting and got into heavy dope and God knows what else. Topped it off by getting pregnant by the guy everyone hated. Posed for pictures that probably weren’t high fashion. The way she’s built isn’t exactly suited to Vogue. It adds up to subterranean self- esteem, Milo. She probably figures what Ramp gave her is more than she deserves. And now she’s in danger of losing even that.”

He ran his hand over his face.

“What?” I said.

“If McCloskey exposed Bethel, then raped her, why would she freak out when she found out he was dead?”

“Maybe it was still a loss to her. Maybe she harbored some small bit of good feeling toward him. For giving her Noel.”

Milo spun on the stool. Ramp snored louder.

“Or,” said Milo, “what if it was more than some little bit of good feeling? What if she and McCloskey have been in contact with each other? Misery loving company. A common enemy.”

I said, “Gina?”

“They both could’ve hated her. McCloskey for whatever reason he had in the first place, Bethel out of jealousy- the haves against the have-nots. What if she wasn’t quite so happy playing the underdog? And what if there was another ingredient sweetening the relationship- money? Blackmail.”

“Over what?”

“Who knows? But Gina was a member of the wild group.”

“You said you didn’t uncover any dirt on her.”

“So she was better than the others at keeping it quiet- making her secret worth even more. Weren’t you the one who told me secrets were coin of the realm out here? So what if McCloskey and Bethel took that literally? If McCloskey had been Bethel’s partner in something nasty, it would make sense for her to bolt after hearing he was dead.”

“Joel and Bethel, Noel and Melissa,” I said. “Too goddam ugly. I hope you’re wrong.”

“I know,” he said. “I keep coming up with them. But we didn’t write the movie- we’re just reviewing it.”

He continued to look pained.

I said, “What if Noel ran down McCloskey? He’s the first one I thought of when I heard a car had been the weapon. Cars are his thing- he has access to all of Gina’s. Think we should open all those garages, see if any of the classics have front-end damage?”

“Waste of time,” he said. “He wouldn’t have used one of those. Too conspicuous.”