“They are. But they have to pick their battles, and low-hanging fruit brings faster headlines. Paley is a cobra sheathed in armor. The cops go after him, they need to be ready for war. And he’s got mob ties. That complicates things. It always does.”

  Archer told Nichols about the actress and what he had seen going on there.

  He nodded before Archer was finished. “Blackmail to a tee. Unless she gets other ‘famous friends’ to take the bait, she gets outed. It’s been done before and it works great.”

  “And if all of these people get outed?”

  “Film business takes a hit, city takes a hit, LAPD takes a hit. Why the hands-off on the Jade makes sense. Plus, they figure if you’re stupid enough to get yourself in that kind of jam, you take your own medicine and don’t look for rescue from the official machinery.”

  “You seem to know a lot about this,” said Archer.

  “Oh, didn’t I mention? The mob-backed gambling ring guy I was nosing around on that got me stuck in this contraption for life?”

  “Darren Paley?” said a slack-jawed Archer.

  “I couldn’t prove anything back then and he skated free. And the dirty cops were all over it providing him cover. But it was Paley all right.”

  “Where’d he get all the scars?”

  “Paley grew up rough and tumble back in Chicago; it’s made him hard as steel. Among other prison stints, he got sent to the pen at Joliet on a murder charge, but it got overturned and he walked free after a year. He was only eighteen. He’s got no heart and ice in his veins. He’ll kill someone one minute and forget it the next. He was a hero in the war. Shot down twenty-some Luftwaffe planes when he was with the Army Air Corps. When that wasn’t a thrill enough for the guy, he got his orders shifted and took his battle to the dirt with the regular Army. Word was they’d have to pull him off Krauts after he’d already killed them because he kept beating and shooting and knifing them. He got thrown out of the army in 1944 for stealing guns and ammo and selling it. The brass didn’t court-martial him because he was such a ‘hero’ in combat and they didn’t want the bad press. Then he jumped right into bed with the mob. This was up in Vegas. He was doing the gambling ring operation on behalf of the Vegas mob, who didn’t want to leave all the illegal dollars to the local boys. Later, he moved here full-time, and now he’s running the Jade. Never turn your back on the man, because he’ll stick a very large knife in it.”

  “What’d he do for the mob in Vegas other than run a gambling ring down here?”

  “Knee and back breaker for Lansky, Siegel, Cohen, and boys like that. And he was really good at his job. He moved up quickly. They were probably sorry to see him go. But my thinking is they’re still connected at the hip. That’s my spiel on Paley, now talk to me about your case.”

  Archer went on to explain about Lamb’s disappearance and the dead Cedric Bender being found at her home.

  “I actually met Bender a couple times,” said Nichols. “I didn’t know about his death. He was a good egg. Square and straight.”

  “County cops seem to be keeping it under wraps. And they haven’t been to Lamb’s place of business yet, either.”

  “Sounds like they got orders to slow-walk this. You got other angles to work, Archer?”

  “A few. Hopefully, one will pan out. Anything else you can tell me about Paley?”

  “He’s got plenty of smarts. Enough to get some of the solid action.”

  “So he might have partners in all the stuff at the Jade?”

  “My guess would be yes,” replied Nichols.

  “Well, he was talking to the lady from Malibu. They obviously know each other. She said her husband has lots of businesses.”

  “And maybe one of them is the Jade,” said Nichols.

  “Well, they’re not paying the electric bill and the hired help off one kind of booze.”

  “Blackmail, selling dope, and making stag films bring in a nice living. What’s next on your to-do list?”

  Archer looked at his watch. “Having dinner with the prettiest girl in town, and I can’t be late.”

  Chapter 36

  ARCHER PICKED CALLAHAN UP AT EIGHT on the dot outside the Universal gate. She was wearing black slacks, a white blouse with a collared neck, a black trench coat, and three-inch red heels. She looked like a million bucks, while Archer was still walking around with sand in his pants. Still, he felt like a Rockefeller with her sitting next to him.

  She gave him directions to West Sunset Boulevard, where he pulled into a drive-in called Tiny Naylor’s. Hollywood High School was right across the street. They slid into the only open slot because the place was packed.

  “You weren’t kidding about the burger joint,” he said.

  “Calling Tiny Naylor’s a burger joint is like calling the Mona Lisa a sketch. This place has class, Archer. And you don’t have to get burgers and shakes. You can have a rib eye, baked potato, corn on the damn cob, and lots more, and it’s delivered right to your car. And it’s got a famous clientele because they don’t have to get out of their car and show their faces.”

  Archer looked at an ancient Packard next to them. “Those folks having milkshakes look familiar.”

  Callahan followed Archer’s gaze, and gasped when she saw who it was. “Gee, Archer, I wonder why? It’s only Kate Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.”

  Archer began leaning out the window to get a better look but Callahan said, “Oh, for crying out loud, leave them alone. Guys like you are the reason they come to places like this, so people won’t go gaga.”

  He gave her a funny look. “But don’t movie stars want that? Isn’t that why they work so hard to get famous?”

  “It’s complicated,” said Callahan slowly. “Yes, they want to become stars because that’s what movies do for you. And no, they don’t want to be gawked at like zoo animals.”

  “Well, I don’t see how you straddle that fence.”

  “You don’t, Archer, which is why two big stars are here in an old Packard wearing sunglasses when it’s nighttime. And of course the other reason is that Tracy’s married. And he’s Catholic.”

  “Sounds like a match not made in heaven.”

  As they ordered from the waitress, a giant man lumbered across the parking lot.

  “Who’s that?” asked Archer. “The front four for the LA Rams rolled up into one guy?”

  The waitress looked where he pointed. “Oh, no, that’s Tiny Naylor. He owns this joint.”

  Callahan laughed dismissively and said, “And you call yourself a detective.”

  As they ate in the car, Archer laid out for Callahan all that he had learned. She shivered when he told her what he had discovered about Darren Paley.

  “Omigod, Archer, he sounds like everybody’s worst nightmare.”

  “Yeah, he does,” said Archer quietly as he cut into his steak.

  “Don’t you get scared sometimes?”

  He glanced at her to find the woman gazing worriedly at him. “Everybody gets scared, Liberty. I’m no exception and I’m no hero coming in to save the day, either. They make those up in your business, not mine. I’m just one guy hitting the bricks and trying to grab the end of a firecracker fuse and see where it’ll lead me before it blows up in my hand.”

  “That’s a pretty good line, Archer. Maybe you should write for the movies.”

  “All I want to do right now is find Eleanor Lamb and Bender’s killer. That’s plenty.”

  Callahan slid a forkful of mashed potatoes into her mouth. “Do you think anybody else might end up dead?”

  “I wouldn’t bet against it.”

  “Including Ellie?”

  “I won’t sugarcoat it. It’s been long enough that I’m more likely to find her body instead of her breathing.”

  Callahan slowly put her fork down and turned to him, taking his hand. “Archer, what would you say if I got you a screen test with Jack Webb for Dragnet? Would you go?”

  He looked at her with a bemused expression. “And how exactly would you do that?”

  “A guy I know knows a guy who knows Webb. That’s how this town works. With your looks and experience and how you carry yourself, Archer, you could be a star in no time.”

  “You mean by being a fake cop solving phony crimes and reading off lines somebody else wrote for me to say?”

  “Well, you’d make a lot more money and nobody would be trying to kill you for real.”

  “Is that where all this is coming from? You’re worried I might get hurt?”

  “You’ve already been hurt, Archer,” she snapped. “And almost killed, twice, or three times just in the last few days. I lost count.”

  Archer sat back and drank his coffee. “There’s a price to be paid for everything we do in life, Liberty.”

  “But in your line of work the price you pay is pretty damn high for what you get back.”

  “I’m not knocking what you do for a living. I’m proud of you. You’re good at what you do and you work hard. Now, don’t take this the wrong way, but you wearing a toga in some Roman flick with a bunch of fake lions, how does that help anybody? John Wayne pretending to be a soldier taking out Nazis doesn’t get rid of the real bad guys.”

  “But it does give people hope. I mean, that’s why they shot all those wartime pictures showing us winning.”

  Archer’s face darkened. “That’s true. But the real soldiers won the war. And it’s not about hope. This whole town is based on a fantasy and the fuel for the whole damn thing is money. But when someone dies in my line of work the blood isn’t fake, and they don’t get back up when the director calls ‘cut.’ They stay dead. So if I can keep that from happening to one person then my payoff is pretty good from where I’m sitting. I’ll pack my lunch and my gun and go back the next day and try to do it all over again. And if that means I have to take on the likes of Darren Paley, I will. I don’t want to be John Wayne looking tough and being anything but. And besides, I never learned how to ride a damn horse.”

  He lit up a Lucky and blew smoke out the open window.

  “You’ve been saving that up for a while, haven’t you?” she asked, side-eyeing him.

  “Maybe I have.” He looked over and saw that his words had had a crushing effect on the woman. “And now, I’m going to walk some of it back.”

  “What?”

  “Remember when we were driving through the mountains to Bay Town?”

  Her eyes widened at this. “How can I ever forget, seeing as what happened.”

  “You said you needed something else besides talent to make it in Hollywood. You said you needed—”

  “—the It factor, yeah. The camera has to find something in you, something maybe you don’t even know you have.”

  “Well, you have it, whatever it is. Plus the talent and everything else a star needs. Every room you go into, you light it up like a bonfire. Everybody turns to look. You can talk a cop out of a felony arrest, because I’ve seen you do it. You walked into Midnight Moods and took it over. I know Monroe is coming on like nobody’s business, but you can be bigger than she’ll ever be.” He nodded at the Packard. “More legendary than Hepburn even.”

  “Oh come on, Archer. I’m—”

  “I’m being serious here, Liberty! So just listen up.”

  And Callahan closed her mouth.

  “You can have this town in the palm of your hand. If you want to.” He suddenly gripped her hand. “But I saw that woman at the Jade made to feel like she was worth nothing. And she was a star, Liberty. Right at the very top. And they were chewing her up and spitting her out.”

  Her big eyes opened wider and seemed to peek into Archer’s soul. “So you’re wondering why I’m working so hard to get there?”

  He stared at her for so long, he almost forgot to answer. “Yeah. I am.”

  She glanced over at the old Packard where two Hollywood legends sat coiled around one another. “Everybody has to get to where they have to look in the mirror and say, ‘Is it really worth it?’”

  “And do you know what your answer will be?” asked Archer.

  “I think it’s one of those things where you won’t know the answer until you absolutely have to ask yourself the question, for real.” She looked at him. “But what you just said now makes any answer I have to give…a little easier.”

  They kept holding hands and staring out the window at the darkened sky.

  Chapter 37

  ARCHER DROPPED CALLAHAN OFF AT HER PLACE and hit the road. He arrived in Bay Town before eleven o’clock. He had a one-bedroom apartment near his office, which was located in a dilapidated building but the rent was next to nothing. He slept a full eight hours, showered and shaved, and dressed in clean clothes. Then he packed what he needed, had breakfast at a diner around the corner, and walked out feeling a lot better about things.

  He walked into the offices of Willie Dash’s Very Private Investigations at nine sharp.

  Connie Morrison hadn’t changed in the three years he had known her. Professional, efficient, blond hair parted with precision, she greeted Archer with a smile and said, “He’s waiting for you.”

  Archer hung his fedora on the wall hook and headed to see Willie Dash.

  The man was sitting on a Murphy bed that was in the down position from the wall. He had on a pair of reading glasses and was studying a newspaper.

  An unopened bottle of scotch was on the table next to him.

  Dash was in his midsixties, about five-seven, burly, and barrel-chested with a face of flint but a charming manner lurking right below. He had a brain with more in it than any man Archer had ever met, and fine-honed, crime-busting instincts to match. When Archer had first met him, Dash had worn a black toupee that was about as fake-looking as one could purchase or make. He had now become resigned to wearing his baldness publicly. His jowls were lengthening with each passing year, but the mind was still sharp and so was the tongue.

  “Sit, Archer,” he said without glancing up. “Just been reading some stories about crime in LA.” He took off his glasses and looked over at Archer as he settled onto the edge of a faux-leather davenport. “And you seem to be right in the middle of it. And I got a call from Jake Nichols late last night. Said you went to see him.”

  “I did. He was very helpful.”

  “What he mainly did was fill you in on the Jade and that lowlife Darren Paley.”

  “Who Jake was investigating when he got shot by a couple of corrupt coppers.”

  Dash laid the paper aside, straightened his plastic suspenders, and finished knotting his bowtie. “Which makes what you’re doing personal to Jake. And also to me. How does the case stand right now?”

  Archer pulled out the contract Ransome had signed plus the check for $500 and handed them to Dash, who glanced at the signature and amount and then handed them back. “Leave those with Connie on your way out. Now, spill everything to me that you got on this.”

  Archer went through the case point by point, ending with his conversation with Nichols, but he did add that he’d had dinner with Callahan after that.

  “This Bernadette Bonham knows the Jade?” asked Dash. “And Paley?”

  “Sure seemed like it. She went right there after getting back from France.”

  “No, I think she went right there after meeting you, Archer. Paley’s a killer all right, but he’s no dummy. He can add two and two as well as any man. He knows of your involvement. He will have talked to the Chinese girl directing traffic at the Jade, and the doorman you tussled with, and the barman and everyone else you ran into that night, and they will have described you to a tee. That description will fit the one that Bonham would have given him. So he knows you were snooping around the place and probably saw stuff you shouldn’t have. Bonham will add your name to the pile, because you told her who you were, and from that Paley will get more info on you, which he’s no doubt already done. And more information on me, because you work at this firm. Now, where have you been staying in LA?”

  “With Liberty.”

  “Not good, Archer. You want to stay as far away from her as you can right now.”

  “Yeah, I can see that.”

  “Think real hard on this. Any sign of someone following you when you picked Liberty up from the studio, drove her to dinner, and then back to her place last night?”

  “No. I always check on that. There was no tail.”

  “Okay, second question, did you tell anyone about Liberty? That you were friends? That you hung out with her? Aside from Lamb knowing, of course.”

  Archer thought back. “I don’t think so.”

  “That’s not quite good enough. Think some more.”

  “I did tell Cecily Ransome when she asked what actress I was having dinner with when Lamb approached us.”

  “Okay. And you were at a party with her, right? On New Year’s Eve. People saw you two together.”

  “Yes, but I don’t think any of those people are involved.”

  “Again, not good enough because you can’t possibly know that to be true.”

  “You’re right. What should I do about it?”

  “Have you called Liberty this morning?”

  “No.”

  “Do it now.”

  “Shit!” exclaimed Archer as he picked up the phone on Dash’s desk and dialed the number. As it was ringing Dash said, “Could she be at the studio?”

  “No, she told me she had the morning off. I—Hello? Liberty, it’s Archer,” he said, his features full of relief. “Yeah, I’m in Bay Town with Willie. Look, um, until I can get this thing figured out, I won’t be able to see you again. What? No, it’s for your protection. That’s right. It’s gotten to a funny point, Liberty. And…and can you find another place to lie low for a while? Just until all this gets sorted out? Right, someplace no one will know you’re there. Yeah, like a hotel. But not under your real name. Right, look, I’m sorry about this. I…sure. Yeah, call Connie with where you’ll be staying. Me? No, I’ll find another place. Okay, thanks, thanks a lot. And please be careful and make sure no one is watching your place or follows you, and that includes at the studios…Okay, I will, thanks.”

  He hung up and looked at Dash. “She took that well, considering what I was asking.”