If Souki had told him, Souki had also told Marshland. I wasn’t getting ahead very fast, but I was making progress. I got into the Buick, started the engine and stared across the garden at the Pacific. I couldn’t go on like this. I would have to do something that would bring the secrets out into the open. But what?
I lit a cigarette and flicked the match out of the car. Then I drove slowly down the private road, thinking.
Perelli had told Francon he was playing card with Joe Betillo at Delmonico’s bar on the night of the kidnapping. He had said he left Betillo at ten-thirty. Betillo had said it was nine-thirty. Why? Was Betillo in this or was bribed. If who was bribed, who had bribed him? The evening was before me. Maybe it might be a good idea to check Perelli’s alibi. I was in the mood for trouble. Two girls had been murdered this day. A tall, unknown gentleman in sunglasses had tried to lay me among the sweet peas. The fourth richest woman in the world had told me a number of lies. It might be an idea to top off the day with a visit to Delmonico’s Bar, the toughest dive on the Coast.
I felt in the mood to be tough. I decided to go there.
II
Paula’s cool voice floated over the line: ‘Good evening. Universal Services.’
‘Are you all alone there?’ I asked, pushing my hat to the back of my head and wiping my forehead. The call-box was as hot as a circus tent, and the last occupant had fallen in a vat of Night and Day, the aristocrat of perfumes, to judge by the smell she had left behind
‘Oh, Vic; yes, I’m alone. How did you get on?’
‘Nothing to get excited about. Promise me something, will you?’
‘What?’