Raymond Chandler 10 страница

I looked at my watch. Nine fifty‑ four. Time to go home and get your slippers on and play over a game of chess. Time for a tall cool drink and a long quiet pipe. Time to sit with your feet up and think of nothing. Time to start yawning over your magazine. Time to be a human being, a householder, a man with nothing to do but rest and suck in the night air and rebuild the brain for tomorrow.

A man in the blue‑ gray jail uniform came along between the cells reading numbers. He stopped in front of mine and unlocked the door and gave me the hard stare they think they have to wear on their pans forever and forever and forever. I’m a cop, brother, I’m tough, watch your step, brother, or we’ll fix you up so you’ll crawl on your hands and knees, brother, snap out of it, brother, let’s get a load of the truth, brother, let’s go, and let’s not forget we’re tough guys, we’re cops, and we do what we like with punks like you.

“Out, ” he said.

I stepped out of the cell and he relocked the door and jerked his thumb and we went along to a wide steel gate and he unlocked that and we went through and he relocked it and the keys tinkled pleasantly on the big steel ring and after a while we went through a steel door that was painted like wood on the outside and battleship gray on the inside.

Degarmo was standing there by the counter talking to the desk sergeant.

He turned his metallic blue eyes on me and said: “How you doing? ”

“Fine. ”

“Like our jail? ”

“I like your jail fine. ”

“Captain Webber wants to talk to you. ”

“That’s fine, ” I said.

“Don’t you know any words but fine? ”

“Not right now, ” I said. “Not in here. ”

“You’re limping a little, ” he said. “You trip over something? ”

“Yeah, ” I said. “I tripped over a blackjack. It jumped up and bit me behind the left knee. ”

“That’s too bad, ” Degarmo said, blank‑ eyed. “Get your stuff from the property clerk. ”

“I’ve got it, ” I said. “It wasn’t taken away from me. ”

“Well, that’s fine, ” he said.

“It sure is, ” I said. “It’s fine. ”

The desk sergeant lifted his shaggy head and gave us both a long stare. “You ought to see Cooney’s little Irish nose, ” he said. “If you want to see something fine. It’s spread over his face like syrup on a waffle. ”

Degarmo said absently: “What’s the matter? He get in a fight? ”

“I wouldn’t know, ” the desk sergeant said. “Maybe it was the same blackjack that jumped up and bit him. ”

“For a desk sergeant you talk too damn much, ” Degarmo said.

“A desk sergeant always talks too God damn much, ” the desk sergeant said. “Maybe that’s why he isn’t a lieutenant on homicide. ”

“You see how we are here, ” Degarmo said. “Just one great big happy family. ”

“With beaming smiles on our faces, ” the desk sergeant said, “and our arms spread wide in welcome, and a rock in each hand. ”

Degarmo jerked his head at me and we went out.

Captain Webber pushed his sharp bent nose across the desk at me and said: “Sit down. ”

I sat down in a round‑ backed wooden armchair and eased my left leg away from the sharp edge of the seat. It was a large neat corner office. Degarmo sat at the end of the desk and crossed his legs and rubbed his ankle thoughtfully, looked out of a window.

Webber went on: “You asked for trouble, and you got it. You were doing fifty‑ five miles an hour in a residential zone and you attempted to get away from a police car that signaled you to stop with its siren and red spotlight. You were abusive when stopped and you struck an officer in the face. ”

I said nothing. Webber picked a match off his desk and broke it in half and threw the pieces over his shoulder.

“Or are they lying–as usual? ” he asked.

“I didn’t see their report, ” I said. “I was probably doing fifty‑ five in a residential district, or anyhow within city limits. The police car was parked outside a house I visited. It followed me when I drove away and I didn’t at that time know it was a police car. It had no good reason to follow me and I didn’t like the look of it. I went a little fast, but all I was trying to do was get to a better lighted part of town. ”

Degarmo moved his eyes to give me a bleak meaningless stare.

Webber snapped his teeth impatiently.

He said: “After you knew it was a police car you made a half turn in the middle of the block and still tried to get away. Is that right? ”

I said: “Yes. It’s going to take a little frank talk to explain that. ”

“I’m not afraid of a little frank talk, ” Webber said. “I tend to kind of specialize in frank talk. ”

I said: “These cops that picked me up were parked in front of the house where George Talley’s wife lives. They were there before I got there. George Talley is the man. who used to be a private detective down here. I wanted to see him. Degarmo knows why I wanted to see him. ”

Degarmo picked a match out of his pocket and chewed on the soft end of it quietly. He nodded, without expression. Webber didn’t look at him.

I said: “You are a stupid man, Degarmo. Everything you do is stupid, and done in a stupid way. When you went up against me yesterday in front of Almore’s house you had to get tough when there was nothing to get tough about. You had to make me curious when I had nothing to be curious about. You even had to drop hints which showed me how I could satisfy that curiosity, if it became important. All you had to do to protect your friends was keep your mouth shut until I made a move. I never would have made one, and you would have saved all this. ”

Webber said: “What the devil has all this got to do with your being arrested in the twelve hundred block on Westmore Street? ”

“It has to do with the Almore case, ” I said. “George Talley worked on the Almore case–until he was pinched for drunk driving. ”

“Well, I never worked on the Almore case, ” Webber snapped. “I don’t know who stuck the first knife into Julius Caesar either. Stick to the point, can’t you? ”

“I am sticking to the point. Degarmo knows about the Almore case and he doesn’t like it talked about. Even your prowl car boys know about it. Cooney and Dobbs had no reason to follow me unless it was because I visited the wife of a man who had worked on the Almore case. I wasn’t doing fifty‑ five miles an hour when they started to follow me. I tried to get away from them because I had a good idea I might get beaten up for going there. Degarmo had given me that idea. ”

Webber looked quickly at Degarmo. Degarmo’s hard blue eyes looked across the room at the wall in front of him.

I said: “And I didn’t bust Cooney in the nose until after he had forced me to drink whiskey and then hit me in the stomach when I drank it, so that I would spill it down my coat front and smell of it. This can’t be the first time you have heard of that trick, captain. ”

Webber broke another match. He leaned back and looked at his small tight knuckles. He looked again at Degarmo and said: “If you got made chief of police today, you might let me in on it. ”

Degarmo said: “Hell, the shamus just got a couple of playful taps. Kind of kidding. If a guy can’t take a joke–”

Webber said: “You put Cooney and Dobbs over there? ”

“Well–yes, I did, ” Degarmo said. “I don’t see where we have to put up with these snoopers coming into our town and stirring up a lot of dead leaves just to promote themselves a job and work a couple of old suckers for a big fee. Guys like that need a good sharp lesson. ”

“Is that how it looks to you? ” Webber asked.

“That’s exactly how it looks to me, ” Degarmo said.

“I wonder what fellows like you need, ” Webber said. “Right now I think you need a little air. Would you please take it, lieutenant? ”

Degarmo opened his mouth slowly. “You mean you want me to breeze on out? ”

Webber leaned forward suddenly and his sharp little chin seemed to cut the air like the forefoot of a cruiser. “Would you be so kind? ”

Degarmo stood up slowly, a dark flush staining his cheekbones.

He leaned a hard hand flat on the desk and looked at Webber.

There was a little charged silence. He said: “Okay, captain. But you’re playing this wrong. ”

Webber didn’t answer him. Degarmo walked to the door and out.

Webber waited for the door to close before he spoke.

“Is it your line that you can tie this Almore business a year and a half ago to the shooting in Lavery’s place today? Or is it just a smoke screen you’re laying down because you know damn well Kingsley’s wife shot Layery? ”

I said: “It was tied to Lavery before he was shot. In a rough sort of way, perhaps only with a granny knot. But enough to make a man think. ”

“I’ve been into this matter a little more thoroughly than you might think, ” Webber said coldly. “Although I never had anything personally to do with the death of Almore’s wife and I wasn’t chief of detectives at that time. If you didn’t even know Almore yesterday morning, you must have heard a lot about him since. ”

I told him exactly what I had heard, both from Miss Fromsett and from the Graysons.

“Then it’s your theory that Lavery may have blackmailed Dr. Almore? ” he asked at the end. “And that that may have something to do with the murder? ”

“It’s not a theory. It’s no more than a possibility. I wouldn’t be doing a job if I ignored it. The relations, if any, between Lavery and Almore might have been deep and dangerous or just the merest acquaintance, or not even that. For all I positively know they may never even have spoken to each other. But if there was nothing funny about the Almore case, why get so tough with anybody who shows an interest in it? It could be coincidence that George Talley was hooked for drunk driving just when he was working on it. It could be coincidence that Almore called a cop because I stared at his house, and that Lavery was shot before I could talk to him a second time. But it’s no coincidence that two of your men were watching Talley’s home tonight, ready, willing and able to make trouble for me, if I went there. ”

“I grant you that, ” Webber said. “And I’m not done with that incident. Do you want to file charges? ”

“Life’s too short for me to be filing charges of assault against police officers, ” I said.

He winced a little. “Then we’ll wash all that out and charge it to experience, ” he said. “And as I understand you were not even booked, you’re free to go home any time you want to. And if I were you, I’d leave Captain Webber to deal with the Lavery case and with any remote connection it might turn out to have with the Almore case. ”

I said: “And with any remote connection it might have with a woman named Muriel Chess being found drowned in a mountain lake near Puma Point yesterday? ”

He raised his little eyebrows. “You think that? ”

“Only you might not know her as Muriel Chess. Supposing that you knew her at all you might have known her as Mildred Haviland, who used to be Dr. Almore’s office nurse. Who put Mrs. Almore to bed the night she was found dead in the garage, and who, if there was any hanky‑ panky about that, might know who it was, and be bribed or scared into leaving town shortly thereafter. ”

Webber picked up two matches and broke them. His small bleak eyes were fixed on my face. He said nothing.

“And at that point, ” I said, “you run into a real basic coincidence, the only one I’m willing to admit in the whole picture. For this Mildred Haviland met a man named Bill Chess in a Riverside beer parlor and for reasons of her own married him and went to live with him at Little Fawn Lake. And Little Fawn Lake was the property of a man whose wife was intimate with Lavery, who had found Mrs. Almore’s body. That’s what I call a real coincidence. It can’t be anything else but, but it’s basic, fundamental. Everything else flows from it. ”

Webber got up from his desk and went over to the water cooler and drank two paper cups of water. He crushed the cups slowly in his hand and twisted them into a bail and dropped the ball into a brown metal basket under the cooler. He walked to the windows and stood looking out over the bay. This was before the dim‑ out went into effect, and there were many lights in the yacht harbor.

He came slowly back to the desk and sat down. He reached up and pinched his nose. He was making up his mind about something.

He said slowly: “I can’t see what the hell sense there is in trying to mix that up with something that happened a year and a half later. ”

“Okay, ” I said, “and thanks for giving me so much of your time. ” I got up to go.

“Your leg feel pretty bad? ” he asked, as I leaned down to rub it.

“Bad enough, but it’s getting better. ”

“Police business, ” he said almost gently, “is a hell of a problem. It’s a good deal like politics. It asks for the highest type of men, and there’s nothing in it to attract the highest type of men. So we have to work with what we get–and we get things like this. ”

“I know, ” I said. “I’ve always known that. I’m not bitter about it. Goodnight, Captain Webber. ”

“Wait a minute, ” he said. “Sit down a minute. If we’ve got to have the Almore case in this, let’s drag it out into the open and look at it. ”

“It’s about time somebody did that, ” I said. I sat down again.

Webber said quietly: “I suppose some people think we’re just a bunch of crooks down here. I suppose they think a fellow kills his wife and then calls me up on the phone and says: ‘Hi, Cap, I got a little murder down here cluttering up the front room. And I’ve got five hundred iron men that are not working. ’ And then I say: ‘Fine. Hold everything and I’ll be right down with a

blanket. ’”

“Not quite that bad, ” I said.

“What did you want to see Talley about when you went to his house tonight? ”

“He had some line on Florence Almore’s death. Her parents hired him to follow it up, but he never told them what it was. ”

“And you thought he would tell you? ” Webber asked sarcastically.

“All I could do was try. ”

“Or was it just that Degarmo getting tough with you made you feel like getting tough right back at him? ”

“There might be a little of that in it too, ” I said.

“Talley was a petty blackmailer, ” Webber said contemptuously. “On more than one occasion. Any way to get rid of him was good enough. So I’ll tell you what it was he had. He had a slipper he had stolen from Florence Almore’s foot. ”

“A slipper? ”

He smiled faintly. “Just a slipper. It was later found hidden in his house. It was a green velvet dancing pump with some little stones set into the heel. It was custom made, by a man in Hollywood who makes theatrical footwear and such. Now ask me what was important about this slipper? ”

“What was important about it, captain? ”

“She had two pair of them, exactly alike, made on the same order. It seems that is not unusual. In case one of them gets scuffed or some drunken ox tries to walk up a lady’s leg. ” He paused and smiled thinly. “It seems that one pair had never been worn. ”

“I think I’m beginning to get it, ” I said.

He leaned back and tapped the arms of his chair. He waited.

“The walk from the side door of the house to the garage is rough concrete, ” I said. “Fairly rough. Suppose she didn’t walk it, but was carried. And suppose whoever carried her put her slippers on–and got one that had not been worn. ”

“Yes? ”

“And suppose Talley noticed this while Lavery was telephoning to the doctor, who was out on his rounds. So he took the unworn slipper, regarding it as evidence that Florence Almore had been murdered. ”

Webber nodded his head. “It was evidence if he left it where it was, for the police to find it. After he took it, it was just evidence that he was a rat. ”

“Was a monoxide test made of her blood? ”

He put his hands flat on his desk and looked down at them. “Yes, ” he said. “And there was monoxide all right. Also the investigating officers were satisfied with appearances. There was no sign of violence. They were satisfied that Dr. Alrnore had not murdered his wife. Perhaps they were wrong. I think the investigation was a little superficial. ”

“And who was in charge of it? ” I asked.

“I think you know the answer to that. ”

“When the police came, didn’t they notice that a slipper was missing? ”

“When the police came there was no slipper missing. You must remember that Dr. Almore was back at his home, in response to Lavery’s call, before the police were called. All we know about the missing shoe is from Talley himself. He might have taken the unworn shoe from the house. The side door was unlocked. The maids were asleep. The objection to that is that he wouldn’t have been likely to know there was an unworn slipper to take. I wouldn’t put it past him to think of it. He’s a sharp sneaky little devil. But I can’t fix the necessary knowledge on him. ”

We sat there and looked at each other, thinking about it.

“Unless, ” Webber said slowly, “we can suppose that this nurse of Almore’s was involved with Talley in a scheme to put the bite on Almore. It’s possible. There are things in favor of it. There are more things against it. What reason have you for claiming that the girl drowned up in the mountains was this nurse? ”

“Two reasons, neither one conclusive separately, but pretty powerful taken together. A tough guy who looked and acted like Deganno was up there a few weeks ago showing a photograph of Mildred Haviland that looked something like Muriel Chess. Different hair and eyebrows and so on, but a fair resemblance. Nobody helped him much. He called himself De Soto and said he was a Los Angeles cop. There isn’t any Los Angeles cop named De Soto. When Muriel Chess heard about it, she looked scared. If it was Degarmo, that’s easily established. The other reason is that a golden anklet with a heart on it was hidden in a box of powdered sugar in the Chess cabin. It was found after her death, after her husband had been arrested. On the back of the heart was engraved: Al to Mildred. June 28^th, 1938. With all my love. ”

“It could have been some other Al and some other Mildred, ” Webber said.

“You don’t really believe that, captain. ”

He leaned forward and made a hole in the air with his forefinger. “What do you want to make of all this exactly? ”

“I want to make it that Kingsley’s wife didn’t shoot Lavery. That his death had something to do with the Almore business. And with Mildred Haviland. And possibly with Dr. Almore. I want to make it that Kingsley’s wife disappeared because something happened that gave her a bad fright, that she may or may not have guilty knowledge, but that she hasn’t murdered anybody. There’s five hundred dollars in it for me, if I can determine that. It’s legitimate to try. ”

He nodded. “Certainly it is. And I’m the man that would help you, if I could see any grounds for it. We haven’t found the woman, but the time has been very short. But I can’t help you put something on one of my boys. ”

I said: “I heard you call Degarmo Al. But I was thinking of Almore. His name’s Albert. ”

Webber looked at his thumb. “But he was never married to the girl, ” he said quietly. “Degarmo was. I can tell you she led him a pretty dance. A lot of what seems bad in him is the result of it. ”

I sat very still. After a moment I said: “I’m beginning to see things I didn’t know existed. What kind of a girl was she? ”.

“Smart, smooth and no good. She had a way with men. She could make them crawl over her shoes. The big boob would tear your head off right now, if you said anything against her. She divorced him, but that didn’t end it for him. ”

“Does he know she is dead? ”

Webber sat quiet for a long moment before he said: “Not from anything he has said. But how could he help it, if it’s the same girl? ”

“He never found her in the mountains–so far as we know. ”

I stood up and leaned down on the desk. “Look, captain, you’re not kidding me, are you? ”

“No. Not one damn bit. Some men are like that and some women can make them like it. If you think Degarmo went up there looking for her because he wanted to hurt her, you’re as wet as a bar towel. ”

“I never quite thought that, ” I said. “It would be possible, provided Degarmo knew the country up there pretty well. Whoever murdered the girl did. ”

“This is all between us, ” he said. “I’d like you to keep it that way. ”

I nodded, but I didn’t promise him. I said goodnight again and left. He looked after me as I went down the room. He looked hurt and sad.

The Chrysler was in the police lot at the side of the building with the keys in the ignition and none of the fenders smashed. Cooney hadn’t made good on his threat. I drove back to Hollywood and went up to my apartment in the Bristol. It was late, almost midnight.

The green and ivory hallway was empty of all sound except that a telephone bell was ringing in one of the apartments. It rang insistently and got louder as I came near to my door. I unlocked the door. It was my telephone.

I walked across the room in darkness to where the phone stood on the ledge of an oak desk against the side wall. It must have rung at least ten times before I got to it.

I lifted it out of the cradle and answered, and it was Derace Kingsley on the line.

His voice sounded tight and brittle and strained. “Good Lord, where in hell have you been? ” he snapped. “I’ve been trying to reach you for hours. ”

“All right. I’m here now, ” I said. “What is it? ”

“I’ve heard from her. ”

I held the telephone very tight and drew my breath in slowly and let it out slowly. “Go ahead, ” I said.

“I’m not far away. I’ll be over there in five or six minutes. Be prepared to move. ” He hung up.

I stood there holding the telephone halfway between my ear and the cradle. Then I put it down very slowly and looked at the hand that had held it. It was half open and clenched stiff, as if it was still holding the instrument.

The discreet midnight tapping sounded on the door and I went over and opened it. Kingsley looked as big as a horse in a creamy shetland sports coat with a green and yellow scarf around the neck inside the loosely turned up collar. A dark reddish brown snapbrim hat was pulled low on his forehead and under its brim, his eyes looked like the eyes of a sick animal.

Miss Fromsett was with him. She was wearing slacks and sandals and dark green coat and no hat and her hair had a wicked luster. In her ears hung ear drops made of a pair of tiny artificial gardenia blooms, hanging one above the other, two on each ear. Gillerlain Regal, the Champagne of Perfumes, came in at the door with her.

I shut the door and indicated the furniture and said: “A drink will probably help. ”

Miss Fromsett sat in an armchair and crossed her legs and looked around for cigarettes. She found one and lit it with a long casual flourish and smiled bleakly at a corner of the ceiling.

Kingsley stood in the middle of the floor trying to bite his chin. I went out to the dinette and mixed three drinks and brought them in and handed them. I went over to the chair by the chess table with mine.

Kingsley said: “What have you been doing and what’s the matter with the leg? ”

I said: “A cop kicked me. A present from the Bay City police department. It’s a regular service they give down there. As to where I’ve been–in jail for drunk driving. And from the expression on your face, I think I may be right back there soon. ”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, ” he said shortly. “I haven’t the foggiest idea. This is no time to kid around. ”

“All right, don’t, ” I said. “What did you hear and where is she? ”

He sat down with his drink and flexed the fingers of his right hand, and put it inside his coat. It came out with an envelope, a long one.

“You have to take this to her, ” he said. “Five hundred dollars. She wanted more, but this is all I could raise. I cashed a check at a nightclub. It wasn’t easy. She has to get out of town. ”

I said: “Out of what town? ”

“Bay City somewhere. I don’t know where. She’ll meet you at a place called the Peacock Lounge, on Arguello Boulevard, at Eighth Street, or near it. ”

I looked at Miss Fromsett. She was still looking at the corner of the ceiling as if she had just come along for the ride.

Kingsley tossed the envelope across and it fell on the chess table. I looked inside. It was money all right. That much of his story made sense. I let it lie on the small polished table with its inlaid squares of brown and pale gold.

I said: “What’s the matter with her drawing her own money? Any hotel would clear a check for her. Most of them would cash one. Has her bank account got lockjaw or something? ”

“That’s no way to talk, ” Kingsley said heavily. “She’s in trouble. I don’t know how she knows she’s in trouble. Unless a pickup order has been broadcast. Has it? ”

I said I didn’t know. I hadn’t had much time to listen to police calls. I had been too busy listening to live policemen.

Kingsley said: “Well, she won’t risk cashing a check now. It was all right before. But not now. ” He lifted his eyes slowly and gave me one of the emptiest stares I had ever seen.

“All right, we can’t make sense where there isn’t any, ” I said.

“So she’s in Bay City. Did you talk to her? ”

“No. Miss Fromsett talked to her. She called the office. It was just after hours but that cop from the beach, Captain Webber, was with me. Miss Fromsett naturally didn’t want her to talk at all then. She told her to call back. She wouldn’t give any number we could call. ”

I looked at Miss Fromsett. She brought her glance down from the ceiling and pointed it at the top of my head. There was nothing in her eyes at all. They were like drawn curtains.

Kingsley went on: “I didn’t want to talk to her. She didn’t want to talk to me. I don’t want to see her. I guess there’s no doubt she shot Lavery. Webber seemed quite sure of it. ”

“That doesn’t mean anything, ” I said. “What he says and what he thinks don’t even have to be on the same map. I don’t like her knowing the cops were after her. It’s a long time since anybody listened to the police short wave for amusement. So she called back later. And then? ”

“It was almost half‑ past six, ” Kingsley said. “We had to sit there in the office and wait for her to call. You tell him. ” He turned his head to the girl.

Miss Fromsett said: “I took the call in Mr. Kingsley’s office. He was sitting right beside me, but he didn’t speak. She said to send the money down to the Peacock place and asked who would bring it. ”

“Did she sound scared? ”

“Not in the least. Completely calm. I might say, icy calm. She had it all worked out. She realized somebody would have to bring the money she might not know. She seemed to know Derry–Mr. Kingsley wouldn’t bring it. ”

“Call him Derry, ” I said. “I’ll be able to guess who you mean. ”

She smiled faintly. “She will go into this Peacock Lounge every hour about fifteen minutes past the hour. I–I guess I assumed you would be the one to go. I described you to her. And you’re to wear Derry’s scarf. I described that. He keeps some clothes at the office and this was among them. It’s distinctive enough. ”

It was all of that. It was an affair of fat green kidneys laid down on an egg yolk background. It would be almost as distinctive as if I went in there wheeling a red, white and blue wheelbarrow.

“For a blimp brain she’s doing all right, ” I said.

“This is no time to fool around, ” Kingsley put in sharply.

“You said that before, ” I told him. “You’ve got a hell of a crust assuming I’ll go down there and take a getaway stake to somebody I know the police are looking for. ”

He twisted a hand on his knee and his face twisted into a crooked grin.

“I admit it’s a bit thick, ” he said. “Well, how about it? ”

“It makes accessories after the fact out of all three of us. That might not be too tough for her husband and his confidential secretary to talk out of, but what they would do to me would be nobody’s dream of a vacation. ”

“I’m going to make it worth your while, ” he said. “And we wouldn’t be accessories, if she hasn’t done anything. ”

“I’m willing to suppose it, ” I said. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be talking to you. And in addition to that, if I decide she did do any murder, I’m going to turn her over to the police. ”

“She won’t talk to you, ” he said.

I reached for the envelope and put it in my pocket. “She will, if she wants this. ” I looked at my strap watch. “If I start right away, I might make the one‑ fifteen deadline. They must know her by heart in that bar after all these hours. That makes it nice too. ”

“She’s dyed her hair dark brown, ” Miss Fromsett said. “That ought to help a little. ”

I said: “It doesn’t help me to think she is just an innocent wayfarer. ” I finished my drink and stood up. Kingsley swallowed his at a gulp and stood up and got the scarf off his neck and handed it to me.

“What did you do to get the police on your neck down there? ” he asked.

“I was using some information Miss Fromsett very kindly got for me. And that led to my looking for a man named Talley who worked on the Almore case. And that led to the clink. They had the house staked. Talley was a dick the Graysons hired, ” I added, looking at the tall dark girl. “You’ll probably be able to explain to him what it’s all about. It doesn’t matter anyway. I haven’t time to go into it now. You two want to wait here? ”