I walked out of the hospital trying to look like someone who worked in ahospital. The cab arrived ten minutes later. I was home by seven p.m.
The Seville was parked in front; somethingelse Milo had taken care of.
The taxi driver had hit several potholes1 in West Hollywood. The city that loves decorating avoids the unglamorousstuff.
Pain on each impact had been reassuring2; I could stand it.
I stashed3 the Percocet in my medicine cabinet, opened a fresh bottle ofextra-strength Advil.
I hadn’t heard from Milo since yesterday’shospital visit. Maybe that meant progress.
I reached him in his car. “Thanks for getting my wheels home.”
“That wasn’t me, that was Robin4. Are you being a good patient?”
“I’m home.”
“Rick okayed that?”
“Rick and I reached a meeting of the minds.”
Silence. “Real smart move, Alex.”
“If you listened to him, you’d be wearing better ties.”
More silence.
“I’m fine,” I said. “Thanks for handling Hauser.”
“As much as I handled.”
“I’ve got problems ahead?”
“There’ll be some shit to deal with, but those in the know say you’ll beokay. Meanwhile, the asshole’s in the jail ward5 wearing yellow pajamas6 andlooking at inkblots. What happened, he imploded7?”
“He made bad decisions and projected them onto me. How badly did I woundhim?”
“He won’t be playing soccer any time soon. Allison’s little shooter came inhandy, huh?”
“Sure did,” I said. “Did you find any properties Nora Dowd owns in or near805?”
“Back in the swing,” he said. “Just like that.”
“On sound advice.”
“Whose?”
“My own.”
He laughed. “As a matter of fact, Nora’s got three 805 deeds to her name.Condo in Carpinteria, couple of houses in Goleta.All of which have been leased out long term. Her tenants8 have never met her but they like her because she keeps the rent low.”
“BNB manages the buildings?”
“No, a Santa Barbaracompany does. I spoke9 to the manager. Nora gets checks in the mail, nevervisits. That’s it, Alex. No tryst-pad, no direct link to Camarillo,no Malibugetaway. Maybe she and Meserve made the calls and took off for that tropicalvacation.”
I said, “Do the brothers own anything out there?”
“Why would that matter? Billy’s a mope and Brad hates Meserve. So farlooking for Peaty’s hidey-holes has been a big zero. Once I finish with ArmandoVasquez, I’ll look into private flights.”
“What’s to do on Vasquez?”
“Second interview. First time was last night, call from Vasquez’s D.P.D. at11 p.m., Armando wanted to talk. Faithful public servant that I am, I trudgedover. The agenda was Vasquez embellishing10 the phone call story. Claiming thenight of the murder wasn’t the first time, same thing happened a week or sobefore, he can’t remember exactly when or how many times. No hang-ups, justsomeone whispering that Peaty was a dangerous pervert11, could hurt Vasquez’swife and kids. D.A. wants to blunt any justification12 defense13 so I’ve got tostick with it, meanwhile they’ll be pulling a month’s worth of phone records.While I was there I showed Vasquez my photo collection. He’s never seen theGaidelases, Nora, or Meserve. The thing is, I finally got a shot of Billy, andVasquez also doesn’t recognize him. But I’m sure Billy’s been to the apartmentwith Brad. Meaning Vasquez, not being there during the day, is pretty useless.Like everything else I’ve come up with.”
“Anything you need me to do?”
“I need you to heal up and not be a foolish mummy. One other thing that cameup is Peaty’s body just got claimed by a cousin from Nevada. She asked to speak to the D incharge, says she left a bunch of messages, thanks again, Idiot Tom. I’msqueezing her in tomorrow afternoon, to see if she can shed some light onPeaty’s psyche14, D.A.’s orders. With the defense painting him as a psycho-brute,I’m supposed to learn his good points.”
“Speaking of Idiot Tom.” I recounted Beamish’s disgusted expression.
“Wouldn’t surprise me. Maybe Beamish remembers more stolen fruit…whatelse…oh, yeah, I called some taxidermy supply houses. No record of Nora orMeserve buying creepy accoutrements. Okay, here I am at Le Grande Lockup readyfor Mr. Vasquez. Time to add a few more lies to my daily diet.”
Daybreak brought the worst headache of my life, stiff limbs, a cottonymouth. A palmful of Advils and three cups of black coffee later, I was movingfine. If I kept my breathing shallow.
I phoned Allison, thanked her message tape for its mistress’s presence ofmind, apologized for getting her involved in serious ugliness.
I told Robin’s tape I was eager to see its mistress.
No listing for Albert Beamish. I tried his law firm. A crisp-voicedreceptionist said, “Mr. Beamish rarely comes in. I think the last time I sawhim was…has to be months.”
“Emeritus.”
“Some of the partners have professorships so we like the term.”
“Is Mr. Beamish a professor?”
“No,” she said, “he never liked teaching. His thing was litigation.”
I reached Beamish’s Tudor at eleven a.m. The same Indonesian maid answered.
“Yes!” She beamed. “Mister home!”
Moments later the old man came shuffling15 out, wearing a saggy16 white cardiganover a brown knit shirt, pink-striped seersucker pants, and the same houseslippers with wolves’ heads on the toes.
His sneer17 was virtuoso18. “The prodigal19 policeman arrives. What does it take tomotivate you people?”
“There’ve been some problems with the phones,” I said.
He cackled with the joy of omniscience20, cleared his throat four times,hacked up something wet and swallowed it. “My tax dollars put to good use.”
“What did you call about, sir?”
“You don’t know?”
“That’s why I’m here.”
“You still haven’t seen the message? Then how did you—”
“I figured it out, Mr. Beamish, from the look of contempt on your face whenI drove by.”
“The look of…” A puckered21, lipless mouth curled ambiguously. “A veritableSherlock.”
“What’s the message?” I said.
“When you talk you flinch22, young man.”
“I’m a little sore, Mr. Beamish.”
“Carousing on my dollar?”
I unbuttoned my jacket, undid23 a couple of shirt buttons, and revealed thebandages around my middle.
“Broken ribs24?”
“A few.”
“Same thing happened to me when I was in the army,” he said. “Not combatheroics, I was stationed in Bayonne, New Jersey25, and some Irish lout26 from Brooklynbacked a Jeep right into me. But for the grace of a few inches, I’d have endedup childless, singing soprano, and voting Democrat27.”
I smiled.
“Don’t do that,” he said. “Got to hurt like hell.”
“Then don’t be funny,” I said.
He smiled. A real smile, devoid28 of scorn. “Army doctors couldn’t do a damnthing to patch me, just wrapped the ribs and told me to wait. When I mended,they shipped me off to the ETO.”
“No medical progress since then.”
“When did this happen to you? Not that I really care.”
“Two days ago. Not that it’s any of your business.”
He gave a start. Glared. Plucked brown fabric29 from his sunken chest. Brokeinto arid30 laughter, coughed up more mucus. When the wheezing31 stopped, he said,“How about a drink? It’s almost noon.”
As I followed him through dim, dusty, high-ceilinged rooms full of Georgianantiques and Chinese porcelain32, he said, “How’d the other guy fare?”
“Worse than me.”
“Good.”
We sat at a round table in his octagonal breakfast room, just off a kitchenwhose stainless33 steel counters and chipped white cabinets said it hadn’t beenaltered for half a century.
Mullion windows looked out to a shade garden. The table was seasonedmahogany, cigarette burned and water-marked, circled by four Queen Anne chairs.The wall covering was a pale green silk Asian print, crowded with peonies andbluebirds and fictitious34 vines, faded white in spots. A solitary35 framed photohung on the wall. Black and white, also diminished by decades of ultraviolet.
When Beamish left to fetch the drinks, I took a look at the picture. Alanky, light-haired young man in an army captain’s uniform stood arm and armwith a pretty young woman. Her cloche hat rested on dark curls. She wore afitted summer suit and held a bouquet36.
Big ship in the background. U.S.S. something. A fountain-penned caption37 inthe lower right border read:4/7/45, Long Beach: Betty and Al. Back from the warat last!
Beamish returned with a cut-crystal decanter and a pair of matchingold-fashioned glasses, lowered himself to a chair slowly, struggling to hidehis own wince38. Then changing his mind.
“Eventually,” he said, “you don’t need to be beat on to ache. Nature does itall by her cruel self.” He poured us each two fingers, slid my tumbler acrossthe table.
“Thanks for the encouragement.” I held mine up.
He grunted39 and drank. I imagined Milo inforty years, hacking40 and swigging and pronouncing about the sorry state theworld had gotten itself into. Old and white-haired.
The fantasy ended when I got to heterosexual and rich.
Beamish and I drank. The whiskey was a single malt, peaty, sweetish goingdown, with a nice after-burn that reminded you it was alcohol.
He licked the spot where his lips used to be, put his glass down. “This isthe good stuff, Lord knows why I brought it out.”
“Uncharacteristic burst of generosity,” I said.
“You’re an insolent41 one—none of the obsequiousness42 of a public servant.”
“I’m not one. I’m a psychologist.”
“A what—no, don’t answer, I heard you fine. One of those, eh? The fatdetective sent you over here to deal with an unbalanced old fossil?”
“All my idea.” I gave him a short explanation of my relationship to thepolice. Expected the worst.
Beamish drank some more and tweaked the tip of his nose. “When Rebecca diedI saw no point in living. My children insisted I see a psychiatrist43 and sent meto a Jewish chap in Beverly Hills.He prescribed pills I never took and referred me to a Jewish woman psychologistin his office. I rejected her out-of-hand as a high-priced babysitter but mychildren coerced44 me. Turned out, they were right. She helped me.”
“I’m glad.”
“Sometimes it’s still difficult,” he said. “Too much damned space on thebed—ah, enough mawkishness45, if we sit here too much longer you’ll send me abill. Here’s the message I left the fat detective: A woman came by three daysago, poking46 around that one’s pile of logs.”
Pointing in the general direction of Nora’s house. “I went over and askedher what she was doing and she said she was looking for her cousin, Nora. Itold her Nora hadn’t been seen in a while and that the police may very well suspectNora of nefarious47 activity. She didn’t seem at all surprised by thatpossibility—is it ‘Doctor’?”
“Alex is fine.”
“Did you cheat on your exams?” he snapped.
“No—”
“Then you earned your damned degree, souse it, for God’s sake. One thing Idetest is the ersatz familiarity the beatniks ushered48 in. You and I may bedrinking my best single malt, sir, but if you addressed me by my Christianname, I’d toss you out on your ear.”
“That would be painful, under the circumstances,” I said.
He worked his lips. Conceded a smile. “What’s your family name?”
“Delaware.”
“Now, then, Dr. Delaware…wherewas I…”
“The cousin didn’t seem surprised.”
“On the contrary,” said Beamish. “The possibility that Nora was undersuspicion seemed downright syntonic. ” He grinned. “A psychological term, Ilearned it from Dr. Ruth Goldberg.”
“A-plus,” I said. “Any reason the cousin wasn’t surprised?”
“I pressed her on that but she was not forthcoming. Quite the contrary, shewas eager to leave and I had to prevail upon her to leave her name and phonenumber.”
Another slow rise from the table and a five-minute absence allowed me tofinish my scotch49. Beamish reappeared holding a piece of white paper folded to atwo-inch square. Gnarled fingers labored50 at unfolding and smoothing.
Half a sheet of heavy-stock letterhead stationery51.
Martin, Crutch52, and Melvyn
A Legal Corporation
Olive Streetaddress, long list of small-print names, Beamish’s near the top.
At the bottom of the page, shaky handwriting in black fountain pen, smearedaround the edges.
Marcia Peaty.A 702 number.
“I looked it up, that’s Las Vegas,”said Beamish. “Though she didn’t seem like the Vegas type.”
“She’s the Dowds’ cousin?”
“So she said and it doesn’t seem the kind of thing one would pretend. Shewasn’t particularly well-bred, but not vulgar, and nowadays that’s anaccomplishment—”
I refolded the paper. “Thanks.”
“A little light just switched on in your eyes, Dr. Delaware. Have I been useful?”
“More than you might imagine.”
“Would you care to tell me why?”
“I’d like to but I can’t.”
As I started to rise, Beamish poured me another finger of scotch. “That’sfifteen dollars’ worth. Don’t sip53 standing54 up, terribly vulgar.”
“Thanks, but I’ve had enough, sir.”
“Temperance is the last refuge of cowards.”
I laughed.
He pinged the rim55 of his glass. “It’s absolutely necessary that you boltlike a panicky horse?”
“I’m afraid so, Mr. Beamish.”
I waited for him to get to his feet.
He said, “Later, then? Once you’ve put them all away, would you let me knowwhat I’ve accomplished56?”
“Them?”
“That one, her brothers—nasty lot, just as I told you the first time you and the fat detective came traipsing around.”
“Persimmons,” I said.
“That, of course,” he said. “But you’re after more than purloined57 fruit.”
收听单词发音 |
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potholes
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| n.壶穴( pothole的名词复数 ) | |
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reassuring
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| a.使人消除恐惧和疑虑的，使人放心的 | |
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stashed
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| v.贮藏( stash的过去式和过去分词 )；隐藏；藏匿；藏起 | |
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robin
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| n.知更鸟，红襟鸟 | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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pajamas
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| n.睡衣裤 | |
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imploded
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| v.（使）向心聚爆( implode的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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tenants
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| n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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embellishing
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| v.美化( embellish的现在分词 )；装饰；修饰；润色 | |
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pervert
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| n.堕落者，反常者；vt.误用，滥用；使人堕落，使入邪路 | |
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justification
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| n.正当的理由；辩解的理由 | |
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defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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psyche
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| n.精神；灵魂 | |
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shuffling
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| adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式 | |
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saggy
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| 松懈的，下垂的 | |
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sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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virtuoso
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| n.精于某种艺术或乐器的专家，行家里手 | |
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prodigal
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| adj.浪费的，挥霍的，放荡的 | |
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omniscience
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| n.全知，全知者，上帝 | |
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puckered
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| v.（使某物）起褶子或皱纹( pucker的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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flinch
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| v.畏缩，退缩 | |
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Undid
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| v. 解开, 复原 | |
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ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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jersey
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| n.运动衫 | |
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lout
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| n.粗鄙的人；举止粗鲁的人 | |
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democrat
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| n.民主主义者，民主人士；民主党党员 | |
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devoid
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| adj.全无的，缺乏的 | |
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fabric
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| n.织物，织品，布；构造，结构，组织 | |
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arid
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| adj.干旱的；(土地)贫瘠的 | |
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wheezing
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| v.喘息，发出呼哧呼哧的喘息声( wheeze的现在分词 )；哮鸣 | |
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porcelain
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| n.瓷；adj.瓷的，瓷制的 | |
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stainless
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| adj.无瑕疵的，不锈的 | |
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fictitious
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| adj.虚构的，假设的；空头的 | |
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solitary
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| adj.孤独的，独立的，荒凉的；n.隐士 | |
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bouquet
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| n.花束，酒香 | |
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caption
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| n.说明，字幕，标题；v.加上标题，加上说明 | |
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wince
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| n.畏缩，退避，（因痛苦，苦恼等)面部肌肉抽动；v.畏缩，退缩，退避 | |
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grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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hacking
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| n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动 | |
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insolent
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| adj.傲慢的，无理的 | |
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obsequiousness
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| 媚骨 | |
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psychiatrist
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| n.精神病专家；精神病医师 | |
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coerced
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| v.迫使做( coerce的过去式和过去分词 )；强迫；（以武力、惩罚、威胁等手段）控制；支配 | |
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mawkishness
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poking
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| n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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nefarious
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| adj.恶毒的，极坏的 | |
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ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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stationery
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| n.文具；(配套的)信笺信封 | |
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crutch
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| n.T字形拐杖；支持，依靠，精神支柱 | |
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sip
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| v.小口地喝，抿，呷；n.一小口的量 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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rim
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| n.(圆物的)边，轮缘；边界 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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purloined
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| v.偷窃( purloin的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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