by Helen Jacey
I ignored her, jumping out. ‘He’s not going to die out here. Help me get him inside.’
Lena, unbound, followed. Her cold eyes dispassionately surveyed Lauder. I kept the gun on her, knowing if she had the gun, I’d be dead already.
Elimination.
‘This is a bad idea. You aren’t thinking straight. You’re panicking.’
I pushed her towards him. ‘You’re trained. Stop the bleeding! Now!’
Lena looked at me. ‘You want to save him? You really can’t. I’m a very good shot.’
‘If he dies, you die.’ I raised the gun. ‘So get moving.’
She glared at me back, then sighed. ‘Give me your fucking jacket, then.’
I slipped it off and hurled it at her. Lena caught it. She used the side of the open car door to rip the jacket to long strips. In minutes, she bent over Lauder, feeling his pulse. ‘This is a waste of time. He’s definitely not going to make it.’
‘Just help him!’
She applied her makeshift dressing to his wound. ‘Someone will have to hold it down, hard. But it really isn’t worth it. And if you’re driving, why should I play nurse?’
‘Just get him in the car.’
‘Moving him will kill him. The pain alone could give him a heart attack. Just let him go. Be free.’
‘Do it!’
We met eyes. ‘All right. Have it your way.’ Lena put her hands under his shoulders. ‘Your fella’s heavy. Help, will you?’
Lauder didn’t look good. Motionless, his skin was now bluey gray. Slate gray. Getting him in that car was his only chance. I weighed it up, and slipped the gun into the top of my pants. I could grab it before she could.
Lena and I managed to drag Lauder onto the back seat. His face glistened with cold sweat. I snapped at Lena. ‘Get in the front. You’re driving. You better not do anything stupid or you’re dead.’
I got in the back, carefully lifting Lauder’s head onto my lap. I pressed down on the wound. He whimpered, his eyes rolling. I caught a glimpse of turquoise.
As we drove away, I looked back. The large pool of Lauder’s blood was already sepia.
The desert and the sun would work their magic and make it disappear.
68
A new life in L.A. had been a dream. Criminals like me didn’t get fresh starts. I’d been born under an unlucky star. Recently, the star had been outshone by the glare of Los Angeles’ neon lights and I finally thought I’d escaped its sick beam. Now it was back, all baleful glare. It brought bad luck to me and everything and everybody I touched.
Lauder could be dead. I had no idea. He was ashen, his lips almost blue. He wasn’t making any noise and his eyes were closed. The dressing was a rigid dark brown crust, glued to my hand, and now smelt rotten.
I’d hand him over to the doctors, but I wouldn’t ever learn his fate.
Dusk was falling by the time we pulled into the grounds of the County Hospital. The car crawled around to the signs to the ER. ‘Now what?’ Lena asked. ‘Straight to the morgue?’
‘After they take him you can go. I advise you not to go back to Tatiana Spark’s. Ever.’
‘If I don’t, my mission is compromised. You’ll have more blood on your hands. Sorry for the pun.’ God, she was a bitch, even now.
‘Make something up. Trained liar after all. Tell your Nazi friends Spark cottoned on you weren’t her real daughter. Her baby had a birthmark. Something, anything. You had to run. I don’t give a damn what you say.’
Lena met my eyes in the mirror. I said, ‘Like you said just a little time ago, we have to trust each other. I won’t mention I ever saw you. You won’t mention me.’
Lauder’s head rolled a little in my lap.
Where was the ER entrance?
‘All right. One more thing, Jem. Something you should know. I got curious about my little chum inside. I asked my handler at the Secret Service about you. He didn’t tell me much, just that somebody had done a deal to keep you inside.’
‘What? You’re lying. They didn’t know a thing about me. I never squealed. There was no fucking deal.’ My cheeks felt hot, flushed with frustration and a looming, irrational sense of dread.
‘I’m serious. You being interred? Part of a deal, in return for information. You were kept inside for a reason.’
‘Shut up.’
‘I heard you went on the run, after you killed a few people. That pissed people off. Funny we ended up in the same city. But you know, I actually believe you. You’re just a sweet fool, aren’t you?’
She wanted to twist a knife, one I could never pull out. She would leave me with it, crippled.
It’s the past. Let it go.
I looked down, at Lauder’s face. It had never looked childlike, but it did now. Near to death, he had an innocence.
Yes. Just a fool.
Finally, the car pulled up. I jumped out and yelled for help. In seconds, orderlies swarmed the car, pulling Lauder onto a gurney. It was all a blur. A man’s voice barked in my ear, ‘You gotta wait inside, Miss.’
Lena looked up out of the car window at me, remarkably poised. I held the small case in one hand, and Violet’s purse in the other. I looked down at her. ‘I’m taking all that money and both the guns.’
She nodded. ‘I’m sure we’ll both survive. Well, have a nice life, Jem.’
With that, the car sped away, swallowed up by the big city.
69
The Emergency Room was crammed full. The exhausted receptionist listened as I explained that my friend and I had discovered a man lying on the street, with a gunshot wound. He had managed to give us his name, Randall Lauder from the Vice Squad, before he passed out.
That information would enable his friends and family to rally around. It was all I could do.
I somehow thought up a false name and address to give her. The woman instructed me to sit in the waiting area until the duty cop arrived. He wouldn’t be long. I looked down at the bloodstains on my blouse, and waved my hands at her, and told her I wouldn’t mind going to the ladies’ room. She thought about it, then nodded and pointed down a corridor. In seconds, she was besieged by another disaster. A young boy was being carried in the arms of a distraught father amid a swathe of crying relatives.
Their tragedy, my lucky break.
I turned around and marched straight out of the hospital. A yellow taxi was about to pull away. I ran towards it and jumped in.
‘Where to?’ It was a female voice, somehow familiar. The taxi driver turned around. I recognized her bony face, hollowed out by too many night shifts. Sal, who had taken me to the Miracle Mile Hotel. It felt like a century ago.
She remembered me, too. ‘Hey, still at the Miracle Mile?’
‘Moved out.’
Damn!
‘Didn’t suit you?’ Her eyes roved over my blood-stained blouse and my encrusted hands. ‘You been in an accident or something?’
I snapped I was in a hurry, that I’d left my car in the Palisades. She said no more, putting her foot on the accelerator.
I slumped in the back seat. My past and present had collided like massive rocks. Lena’s parting shot about the deal was cold retaliation. Just that. I’d messed up her business and she wanted to mess with my mind.
What deal, Billy? What did you do?
As the taxi wound along the road, I realized I was nothing to anybody, never had been, never would be. I could challenge Lyntner. I still wanted to find Rhonda, if it wasn’t too late. I could make him talk.
And then I’d leave town. I was cashed up and well armed for a future on the run.
Finally, the gleam of the ocean appeared beyond the hills. Thin lines of streetlights formed an illuminated grid charting our path towards the Palisades.
Thirty minutes later, we found Beatty’s car. I handed Sal ten dollars. ‘I want you to deliver a note to this address.’
I took out my pad and wrote the following words down. ‘I’m leaving town. Thanks for everything. E.’ I folded it up and handed it t
o Sal. I gave her Beatty’s home address.
Beatty didn’t know it yet, but she was rid of me.
Luckily, the moon was almost full, giving enough light to navigate the bumpy terrain.
I took Lena’s gun and left the car. This time, I walked down the road towards the front gate. It was now pitch black.
I reached the courtyard, where two cars were parked. The only light came from a small metal lamp over the back entrance to the main house. I approached, silently. I turned the handle. It opened. Very quietly, I stepped into the gloomy passage.
It smelt of damp. A dusty coiled wall lamp gave a modicum of light. The wallpaper in the hall was ornate and old-fashioned. I crept along.
Wait! A woman’s wail. Absolute distress.
It came from the door at the end of the passage, partially open. The room glowed with low lamplight. A man’s voice growled, stern. Lyntner’s? It was a repetitive sound, as if he was repeating himself, again and again. Reminiscent of a nun forcing a child to repeat a penance.
I peered through the crack. A middle-aged woman sat upright at a table. Lyntner leant over her.
Her skin was colorless. Her gray hair was pulled in a tight bun, and she wore a white nurse’s uniform. Her shoulders sagged in despair. This had to be Janice. She set down a pen and pushed away a handwritten note. Her hands rested on the table, shaking. Lyntner held a pistol by the barrel, gesturing towards her.
‘Now take the gun.’ Lyntner growled at her.
‘No. I beg you,’ she whimpered. ‘Let me go. I won’t say anything, please. Please, Freddie. This is me, darling.’
He struck her around the face with the pistol grip. ‘Get it in your dumb head. I’m not your darling and never was. Take the gun!’
Lyntner was planning on a fake suicide for Janice and then taking her money. Was Tatiana Spark still alive upstairs? Had he changed the will? Clearly, he had made up his mind to murder Lena the moment she got back. Nobody else knew about the daughter. Nobody except Martell. Did Lyntner know that, too?
Janice began to wail again, but he shoved the side of his free hand into her mouth.
Bite the bastard.
He hissed, ‘Do it. Do it now.’
‘No! I beg you…’ Her eyes implored him. ‘Oh, God, no! You love me!’
‘Shut up.’ He tried to force the gun into her hand.
I burst in, pointing Lena’s revolver at Lyntner. ‘Don’t touch her!’
Lyntner spun around. He masked his shock quickly enough with a slimy smile. ‘Well, Miss Slate. What a surprise.’
‘Drop the gun! Now! Hands up.’
He dropped the weapon onto the desk. It clattered loudly. He raised his hands back up.
I trained my gun on him. ‘Get away from him!’ I spat at Janice. The poor woman was paralyzed.
‘Hey!’ I yelled at her. ‘Wanna live? Get the hell out of here!’
Janice seemed to register, finally scrambling out of her chair. I turned to Lyntner. ‘You killed Darlene and the others. You’re after Tatiana’s money. Where is she?’
‘She’s upstairs. She’s all right!’ Janice turned to me. ‘He hasn’t hurt her.’
He didn’t need to. If his homicidal plan worked, could sit it out, until she died of natural causes. Lyntner pulled as sincere an expression as he could. ‘Think about it. Wouldn’t serious wealth give you the life you deserve? You could live how you want, where you want.’
Janice whimpered. I kept my aim on Lyntner. ‘Shut up. Where’s Rhonda?’
‘Who?’
‘Don’t act dumb. Rhonda. Shimmer’s girlfriend.’ I turned to Janice. ‘You know where?’
She shrugged, helpless. ‘I don’t know her.’ She had no reason to lie now.
Lyntner laughed. ‘You mean Slim Caziel’s stooge? Don’t tell me she had a girlfriend.’
Was this the truth? I stepped forward. ‘You paid Caziel. You took Darlene to The Flamayon. You killed them.’
‘Just paid him to drug them. I wanted sleazy pictures, that’s all. It was easy to get them there. Slim knew Frank. He told him to meet him at The Flamayon, he had something on him. Something from the past. But after I left, guess Slim was greedy, went too far. Peddling pictures of dead people was too tempting. I just wanted Darlene disgraced, but there you go. People like value for money.’
‘Why involve Shimmer?’
‘From my perspective, she added the required degenerate factor.’ He sounded patronizing.
I saw red. ‘You’re the degenerate. Get on the floor. On your front. Now!’ Lyntner got down. I turned back to Janice. ‘Check on Tatiana.’ Did I want her to call the police? No, not now.
Janice was shaking. Her world had collapsed and shock was setting in. She was useless in this condition; I’d have to handle her later. Lyntner looked up at me. ‘Elvira, let’s talk. Think straight.’ He wasn’t giving up.
‘Did you kill Slim Caziel?’ I screamed.
‘What? He’s dead? Guess he had it coming. Look, we’re talking over a million dollars at stake. You’ll get half.’
I moved further into the room, positioning myself so nobody could come from the hallway. Janice had moved. Now she was hovering nearer to Lyntner. Was she hoping he’d say it was all a mistake? The fool. I turned slightly. ‘What are you doing? He wants you dead! Get out!’
Lyntner grabbed his chance, suddenly kicking out, striking her shin with his heel. Janice stumbled and fell. I fired, missing his arm by a fraction. Shit! I pulled again, but he was fast, too fast, jumping to his feet. He grabbed his gun from the desk, grabbed Janice’s hair, pulling her towards him. He immediately shot her through the temple. Blood sprayed out as she crumpled onto the floor.
I gasped, pulling the trigger and fired. He screamed. A hit? He was staggering towards me, the gun aimed at me. I rolled to the ground, aiming upwards, anywhere on his torso, firing again.
Suddenly he froze, staring at me, something like shock on his face. His knees buckled forward. I rolled back, gasping, to get out of the way of his falling body.
Panting, I got up. Jelly legs again, my heart pounding. Janice’s body was inert. Lyntner’s convulsed slightly before lying motionless. He was dead.
Now what? Now where? Back to the Astral, to collect my things? To Mexico? To Canada? The clock could be ticking, propelling unknown events my way. Would my note hold off Beatty’s anger? Would Lauder somehow survive, quick enough to name me, to name my plan to go to Spark’s? I wanted him to live, but living, he would hunt me down.
I had the cash, I had a gun, I had a car.
Get out, now!
I let out an involuntary sob.
I couldn’t bear the fact a dying lady lay upstairs, probably terrified.
I had to see her.
70
Tatiana Spark was frail, sitting up in a four poster bed, a shawl around her shoulders, propped up by pillows. Her eyes were sunken, her cheekbones high, covered in papery skin. Bottles of medication were lined up on the large mantelpiece. The only light was moonlight, through the open window.
‘Sophia?’ Her voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper.
I entered the room. Could she even see me?
‘Sophia’s gone.’ I walked towards the bed.
Her head adjusted, trying to follow the sound of my voice. ‘I heard shooting. What is it? Who are you?’
‘I’m a friend.’
‘Where’s Janice? What’s happening down there? Where’s Sophia?’
I sat on the bed. ‘Miss Spark. I have something to tell you. You have to be very brave.’
There was a cough. ‘Leave it to me, Booby.’
I turned. Beatty Falaise stood in the doorway, a gun in her hand. She couldn’t have got my note yet, not if she was here. She summoned me back out of the room. I got up and went over to her. Beatty pulled the door shut after us.
She looked tired in the moonlight. Her voice was terse. ‘I figured you might be here.’ She eyed the revolver in my hands.
I met her eyes. ‘You call
ed the cops?’
‘Not yet. Wanted to see the mess you were in first. Find out why you didn’t call me.’
She didn’t sound angry. Something else, I couldn’t tell what exactly. I could tell her everything and leave. Or tell her nothing. Either way, she’d be a fool to stop me and the weapon reinforced the point. But she was here, and the cops weren’t. I spoke low, and fast. ‘I followed the phony Sophia Spark. Caught her. She’s a spy, trying to catch war criminals, using Spark’s as a base.’ And then I had to drop the most unlikely bombshell. ‘Turns out I know her.’
To give her credit, Beatty didn’t bat an eyelid. I rapidly explained everything that had happened since we parted. She let out a sigh. ‘So we were right about Lyntner.’
‘Yeah. You should leave now. I don’t want to drag you down.’
‘So you’re running?’
‘No other choice, is there?’ I glared at her.
Beatty put her finger under my chin, as if I was a child. ‘There is. You are gonna let me fix this.’
Fix it? Two dead bodies and a dying witness who had heard a shoot out? A cop who might rally round and who wouldn’t take too kindly to me doing my own thing?
‘Go back to that motel and stay put. All right? You gotta trust me, which I guess is hard for you. So, will you? Say it.’