by Sue Grafton
“You don’t think she’d contest it?”
“Derek, I can’t speculate about what Glen might do. Talk to her.”
“Well, I guess I will when she gets back.”
“I’m assuming the money was put in some kind of trust fund since Kitty’s just seventeen. Who was named executor? You?”
“No, no. The bank. I don’t think Bobby had a very high opinion of me. To tell you the truth, I’m a little worried about how this might look. Bobby claims someone’s trying to kill him and then it turns out Kitty inherits all this money when he dies.”
“I’m sure the police will have a chat with her.”
“But you don’t think she had anything to do with Bobby’s accident, do you?”
Ah, the subtext of his visit.
I said, “Frankly, I’d find it hard to believe, but Homicide might see it differently. They might also want to take a look at you while they’re at it.”
“Me?!” He managed to pack a lot of punctuation into one syllable.
“What if something happens to Kitty? Who gets the money then? She’s not exactly in the best of health.”
He looked at me uncomfortably, probably wishing he’d never come in. He must have harbored the vague notion that I could reassure him. Instead, I’d only broadened the basis for his anxieties. He wound up the conversation and got up moments later, telling me he’d be in touch. When he turned to go, I could see that the golf shirt was sticking to his back and I could smell the tension in his sweat.
“Oh, Derek,” I called after him. “Does the name Blackman mean anything to you?”
“Not that I know. Why?”
“Just curious. I appreciate your coming in,” I said. “If you find out anything else, please let me know.”
“I will.”
Once he was gone, I put in a quick call to a friend of mine at the telephone company and asked about S. Blackman. He said he d check into it and call me back. I went down to the parking lot and hauled out the cardboard box I’d picked up from Bobby’s garage. I went back up to the office and checked the contents, taking the items out one by one. It was all just as I remembered it: a couple of radiology manuals, some medical texts, paper clips, ballpoint pens, scratch pads. Nothing of significance that I could see. I hauled the box back out and shoved it into the backseat again, thinking I’d drop it back at Bobby’s house next time I was there.
What to try next? I couldn’t think of a thing.
I went home.
As I pulled into a parking place out front, I found myself scanning the walk for signs of Lila Sams. For a woman I’d only seen three or four times in my life, she was looming large, spoiling any sense of serenity I’d come to attach to the notion of “home.” I locked my car and went around to the backyard, glancing at the rear of Henry s house to see if he was there. The back door was open and I caught the spicy scent of yeast and cinnamon through the screen. I peered in and spotted Henry sitting at the table with a coffee mug and the afternoon paper in front of him.
“Henry?”
He looked up. “Well, Kinsey. There you are.” He came over and unlatched the screen, holding the door open for me. “Come in, come in. Would you like some coffee? I’ve got a pan of sweet rolls coming out in a minute.”
I entered hesitantly, still half expecting Lila Sams to jump out like a tarantula. “I didn’t want to interrupt anything,” I said. “Is Lila here?”
“No, no. She had some business to take care of, but she should be back by six. I’m taking her out to dinner tonight. We have reservations at the Crystal Palace.”
“Oh, wow, impressive,” I said. Henry pulled a chair out for me and then poured me some coffee while I looked around. Lila had apparently taken her fine hand to the place. The curtains were new: avocado green cotton with a print of salt and pepper shakers, vegetable clusters, and wooden spoons, tied back with green bows. There were matching placemats and napkins, with accessories in a contrasting pumpkin shade. There was a new trivet on the counter with a homely saying in wrought-iron curlicue. I thought it said, “God Bless Our Biscuits,” but that couldn’t have been right.
“You’ve fixed the place up,” I said.
His face brightened and he looked around. “You like it? It was Lila’s idea. I tell you, the woman has made such a difference in my life.”
“Well, that’s good. I’m glad to hear that,” I said.
“She’s made me feel… I don’t know, vital is the word I guess. Ready to start all over again.”
I wondered if he was going to pass right over her accusations about my cheating him. He got up and opened the oven door, checking the sweet rolls, which he apparently decided were not quite done. He shoved them back and shut the oven, leaving the pumpkin-colored mitt on his right hand like a boxing glove.
I shifted uncomfortably on the stool where I was perched. “I thought maybe you and I should have a talk about Lila’s accusations about the rent.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it,” he said. “She was just in one of her moods.”
“But Henry, I don’t want you to feel like I’m cheating you. Don’t you think we should get that ironed out?”
“No. Piffle. I don’t feel you’re cheating me.”
“But she does.”
“No no, not at all. You misunderstood.”
“Misunderstood?” I said incredulously.
“Look, this is all my fault and I’m sorry I didn’t get it straightened out at the time. Lila flew off the handle and she realizes that. In fact, I’m sure she means to apologize.
She and I had a long talk about it afterwards and I know she felt bad. It had nothing to do with you personally. She’s a little high-strung, but she’s just the dearest woman you’ll ever meet. Once you get to know her, you’ll see what a wonderful person she is.”
“I hope so,” I said. “What worried me is that she and Rosie had that tiff and then she took off after me. I wasn’t sure what was going on.”
Henry laughed. “Well, I wouldn’t take that too seriously. You know Rosie. She gets into tiffs with everyone. Lila’s fine. She’s got a heart of gold and she’s just as loyal as a little pup.”
“I just don’t want to see you going off the deep end,” I said. It was one of those sayings that doesn’t really mean anything but somehow it seemed to apply.
“No need to worry about that,” he said mildly. “I’ve been around a long time, you know, and I haven’t gone off the deep end yet.”
He checked the sweet rolls again, and this time, he took them out and put the pan on the trivet to cool. He glanced over at me. “I haven’t had a chance to tell you. She and I are going into a real-estate venture together.”
“Oh really?”
“Which is how the subject of your rent came up in the first place. Rental income affects the overall value of the property and that was her main concern. She said she didn’t mean to interfere in our relationship at all. She’s hard-headed when it comes to business but she didn’t want to look like she was butting in.”
“What kind of real-estate venture?”
“Well, she owns some property she’s going to put up as collateral, and with this place thrown in, we’ll just about have the down payment on the property we want.”
“Something here in town?”
“I better not say. She swore me to secrecy. I mean, it’s not firm yet anyway, but I’ll tell you about it when we get the deal put together. It should be happening in the next couple of days. I had to swear I’d keep mum.”
“I don’t understand,” I said. “You’re selling your house?”
“I can’t even begin to understand the details. Too complicated for me,” he said.
“I wasn’t aware that she was involved in real estate.”
“Oh, she’s been doing this sort of thing for years. She was married to some big wheeler-dealer in New Mexico, and when he died, he left her very well off. She’s got a bundle. Does real-estate investments almost as a hobby, she says.”
“And she’s from New Mexico? I thought someone told me it was Idaho.”
“Oh, she’s lived everywhere. She’s a gypsy at heart. She’s even talking me into it. You know, just take off into the sunset. Big RV and a map of the States. Go where the road takes us. I feel like she’s added twenty years to my life.”
I wanted to question him more closely, but I heard Lila’s “yoo hoo” at the screen door and her face appeared, wreathed in saucy curls. She put a hand to her cheek when she saw me, turning all sheepish and coy.
“Oh, Kinsey. I bet I know just what you’re doing here,” she said. She came into the kitchen and paused for a moment, hands clasped in front of her as though she might drop to her knees in prayer. “Now don’t say a word until I get this out,” she went on. She paused to peer over at Henry. “Oh Henry, you did tell her how sorry I was to fuss at her that way.” She was using a special “little” voice.
Henry put an arm around her, giving her a squeeze. “I’ve already explained and I’m sure she understands,” he said. “I don’t want you to worry any more about that.”
“But I do worry, Puddy, and I won’t feel right about it ‘til I tell her myself.”
Puddy?
She came over to the stool where I was perched and took my right hand, pressing it between her own.
“I am so sorry. I tell you I am so apologetic for what I said to you and I beg your forgiveness.” Her tone was contrite and I thought Puddy was going to get all choked up. She was making deep eye contact with me and a couple of her rings were digging into my fingers rather painfully. She had apparently turned the ring around so that the stones were palm inward, producing maximum effect as she tightened her grip.
I said, “Oh, that’s all right. Don’t think another thing about it. I’m sure I won’t.”
Just to show her what a brick I was, I got up and put my left arm around her just the way Henry had. I gave her the same little squeeze, easing my foot across the toe of her right shoe and leaning forward slightly. She pulled back from the waist, but I managed to keep my foot where it was so that we were standing hip to hip. We locked eyes for a moment. She gave me a gooey smile and then eased her grip. I shifted my weight from her foot, but not before two coins of color had appeared high up on her cheeks like a cockatiel.
Puddy seemed pleased that we’d come to this new understanding and I was too. I made my excuses and departed soon after that. Lila had stopped looking at me altogether by then and I noticed that she had sat down abruptly, easing off one shoe.
Chapter 17
*
I let myself into my apartment and poured a glass of wine and then I made myself a sandwich with creamed cheese and thinly sliced cucumbers and onions on dark bread. I cut it in half and used a piece of paper toweling as a combination napkin and dinner plate, toting sandwich and wineglass into the bathroom. I opened my bathroom window a crack and ate standing in the tub, peering out at intervals to see if Henry and Lila were departing for their dinner date. At 6:45, they came around the corner of the building and Henry unlocked his car, opening the door for her on the passenger side. I eased into an upright position, ducking back out of sight until I heard him start the car and pull away.
I’d finished dinner by then and I had nothing to do in the way of dishes except to wad up my paper towel and throw it in the trash, feeling inordinately pleased with myself. I traded my sandals for tennis shoes, grabbed up my master keys, my key picks, penknife, and a flashlight, then headed down the block to Moza Lowenstein’s house, where I rang the bell. She peered out of the side window at me in perplexity, the opened the door.
“I couldn’t think who it was at this hour,” she said. “I thought Lila must be coming back for something she forgot.”
I don’t ordinarily visit Moza and I could tell she was wondering what I was doing on her doorstep. She moved back and admitted me, smiling timidly. The television was tuned to a rerun of “M.A.S.H.,” helicopters whipping up a cloud of dust.
“I thought I’d do a little background check on Lila Sams,” I said, while “Suicide Is Painless” played merrily.
“Oh, but she’s just gone out,” Moza said in haste. It was already occurring to her that I was up to no good and I guess she thought she could head me off.
“Is this her room back here?” I asked, moving into the corridor. I knew Moza’s bedroom was the one at the end of the hall to the left. I figured Lila’s must be the former “spare” room.
Moza lumbered after me. She’s a big woman, suffering from some condition that makes her feet swell. Her expression was a cross between pain and bewilderment.
I tried the knob. Lila’s door was locked.
“You can’t go in there.”
“Really?”
She was looking fearful by now and she didn’t seem reassured by the sight of the master key I was easing into the keyhole. This was a simple house lock requiring only a skeleton key, several styles of which I had on a ring.
“You don’t understand,” she said again. “That’s locked.”
“No, it’s not. See?” I opened the door and Moza put a hand on her heart.
“She’ll come back,” she said with a quaking voice.
“Moza, I’m not going to take anything,” I said. “I will work with great care and she’ll never know I was here. Why don’t you sit out there in the living room and keep an eye open, just in case? O.K.?”
“She’ll be so angry if she finds out I let you in,” she said to me. Her eyes were as mournful now as a basset hound’s.
“But she won’t find out, so there’s nothing to worry about. By the way, did you ever find out what little town in Idaho she’s from?”
“Dickey is what she told me.”
“Oh good. I appreciate that. She never mentioned living in New Mexico, did she?”
Moza shook her head and began to pat her chest as if she were burping herself. “Please hurry,” she said. “I don’t know what I’d do if she came back.”
I wasn’t sure myself.
I eased into the room and closed the door, flipping on the light. On the other side of the door, I heard Moza shuffling back toward the front of the house, murmuring to herself.
The room was furnished with an ancient wood-veneer bedroom suite that I doubt could be called “antique.” The pieces looked like the ones I’ve seen out on thrift-shop sidewalks in downtown Los Angeles: creaky, misshapen, smelling oddly of wet ash. There was a chiffonier, matching bed-tables, a dressing table with a round mirror set between banks of drawers. The bed frame was iron, painted a flaking white, and the spread was chenille in a dusty rose with fringe on the sides. The wallpaper was a tumble of floral bouquets, mauve and pale rose on a gray background. There were several sepia photographs of a man whom I imagined was Mr. Lowenstein; someone, at any rate, who favored hair slicked down with water and spectacles with round gold rims. He appeared to be in his twenties, smooth and pretty with a solemn mouth pulled over slightly protruding teeth. The studio had tinted his cheeks a pinkish tone, slightly at odds with the rest of the photo, but the effect was nice. I’d heard that Moza was widowed in 1945. I would have loved seeing a picture of her in those days. Almost reluctantly, I turned back to the task at hand.
Three narrow windows were locked on the inside, shades drawn. I moved over and peered out of one, catching a glimpse of backyard through screens rusted into the old wooden frames. I checked my watch. It was only seven. They’d be gone, at the very least, an hour, and I didn’t think I needed to provide myself an emergency exit. On the other hand, there isn’t any point in being dumb about these things. I went back to the door and opened it, leaving it ajar. Moza had turned off the TV set and I pictured her peeking through the front curtain, heart in her throat, which is about where mine was.
It was still light outside, but the room was gloomy even with the overhead light on. I started with the chiffonier. I did a preliminary survey, using my flashlight to check for any crude attempts at security. Sure enough, Lila had booby-trapped
a couple of drawers by affixing a strand of hair slyly across the crack. I removed these beauties and placed them carefully on the hand-crocheted runner on top.
The first drawer contained a jumble of jewelry, several belts coiled together, embroidered handkerchiefs, a watch case, hairpins, a few stray buttons, and two pairs of white cotton gloves. I stared for a long time, without touching anything, wondering why any of it warranted a protective strand of hair. Actually, anybody snooping in Lila’s things would probably start here and work down, so maybe it was just a ready reference on her part, a checkpoint each time she returned to her room. I tried the next drawer, which was filled with neat piles of nylon underpants in a quite large old-lady style. I ran an experimental finger down between the stacks, being careful not to disturb the order. I couldn’t feel anything significant; no handgun, no unidentifiable boxes or bumps.
On an impulse, I opened the first drawer again and peered up at the underside. Nothing taped to the bottom. I pulled the whole drawer out and checked along the back. Hello! Score one for my team. There was an envelope encased in plastic, sealed flat against the back panel of the drawer and secured by masking tape on all four sides. I took out my penknife and slid the small blade under one corner of the tape, peeling it up so I could remove the envelope from the plastic housing. In it was an Idaho drivers license in the name of Delilah Sampson. The woman had a real biblical sense of humor here. I made a note of the address, date of birth, height, weight, hair and eye color, much of which seemed to apply to the woman I knew as Lila Sams. God, I had really hit pay dirt. I slipped the license back into the envelope, returned the envelope to its hiding place, and pressed the masking tape securely against the wood. I squinted critically at my handiwork. Looked untouched to me, unless she’d powdered everything with some kind of tricky dust that would dye my hands bright red the instant I washed them again. Wouldn’t that be a bitch!
The back of the second drawer was also being used as a little safe-deposit box, containing a stack of credit cards and yet another drivers license. The name on this one was Delia Sims, with an address in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and a date of birth that matched the first. Again, I made a note of the details and carefully returned the document to its hiding place. I replaced the drawer, glancing quickly at my watch. Seven thirty-two. I was still O.K., but I had a lot of ground to cover yet. I continued my search, working with delicacy, leaving the contents of each drawer undisturbed.
