Jailbird Detective

by Helen Jacey

  Lena surveyed me, taking it all in. She waved Beatty’s card. ‘What about this?’

  ‘Just a job, a means to survive. To give some point to my fucking existence.’ Beatty could be getting worried. Not to mention very pissed. No word from me could push her to picking up the phone and tracking down Lauder. Even if I got away from Lena, I’d have more music to face. A whole symphony.

  ‘Look, I have no idea what you are doing here, or who you are. I hope it’s for the good of the world. All I care about is finding a girl who’s gone missing, pathetic in comparison. Three people have been murdered. Maybe four. I’m sure of it. Just like I’m sure Lyntner is behind it. And if you haven’t a clue about what him and this nurse could be up to, you could be in danger, too. They could be the ones to wreck whatever you are planning.’

  Lena walked over in silence, holding the glowing cigarette. Burn time? Or was she going to shoot me?

  Instead, she knelt down and stared at me. She put her hand up, and I flinched. Her hand stayed still in the air. Lena smiled. Then calmly, softly, she stroked my brow. It was comforting and terrifying. She whispered. ‘Poor Jem. What a to-do.’

  Then she untied my bonds. Those brittle blue eyes remained unreadable.

  I was freed, and sat up on the camp bed, rubbing my arms back to life. Lena stood back up. She said, ‘We’re going for a ride.’

  Another realization hit me. In the blink of an eye, Lena could tell her superiors I was alive and in L.A.

  Her British superiors. If her story was true, she had to be an Allied spy.

  If she didn’t kill me first, I’d have to kill her.

  66

  ‘I’m going to drive you near to the Mexican border. You can get on a bus there. I’ll give you money and some clothes. Don’t ever cross back over the border again. Start over. Get a boat all the way up to Canada if South America doesn’t suit you. But I got here first. You being in town…well, as the Yanks would say, it cramps my style.’

  Lena dragged me up onto my feet. I was unresisting, limp as a rag doll. We were face to face. Up close I could see those Holloway blood blisters all over again, the Cupid’s bow curve of her top lip, and her glacial eyes. She gazed into my face for a while. Her expression was unreadable. She could kiss me or shoot me.

  She left the shed, taking her gun.

  A few minutes later, I heard an engine. Lena opened the door, and beckoned me out. I followed.

  A different car purred outside, the doors open. This one was a shiny, large beast, in dark blue.

  ‘Get in. The front,’ Lena pointed with the gun to make it clear.

  I sat down in the front passenger seat. The leather was cream, immaculate. I glanced around; there was a small leather suitcase on the back seat and a blue purse. One might contain a gun. How far would she take me before she shot my brains out?

  Lena jumped in next to me. ‘I don’t know you, and you don’t know me. We just have to trust each other. Let’s start now.’

  Sure. Best buddies, just like old times.

  The wheels crunched the gravel. We reached the far corner of the plot. The gravel path wound back around to the front. The shadows of the cypress trees were long, dark talons against scorched earth; I must have been locked up for hours.

  Beatty. She really would be freaking out.

  Lena pulled out of the gates. She began to speak. ‘My name is Nora Holst. Eva Holst was my twin sister. She was a Nazi, a real scumbag. She left Australia in ’36 to live in the Fatherland, as she called it. She worked for Himmler. When it looked like the Jerries were losing, she made a plan to escape Germany and come here. She did not get out alive, but her friends here do not know that. They believe I am Eva. That I have found a safe haven with Tatiana Spark.’

  ‘Tatiana knew Eva?’ The actress was a fascist?

  ‘Spark knows nothing. She just wanted to find her daughter. Sad and pathetic. She had the kid in Austria before she found stardom in America. So, an inconvenient love child. I guess she felt guilty in her old age. She is riddled with tumors, and she doesn’t have much time left. Her lawyer, this Frederick Lyntner, was instructed to locate the daughter. He spoke to an agent, somebody with contacts in Europe. The agent put the word out that the Austrian daughter had a home waiting for her in America. The agent’s partners in Europe were able sell this opportunity to the highest bidder. As you can imagine, many people would pay for a way out this good. And Eva was one of them, first in the queue to escape justice. But we were on to her. We made it look like she’d got away when, really, we caught her. She was eliminated. I had been lying low in Holloway waiting for exactly this chance to replace her. We made sure that the word got out that the fascist twin sister had topped herself.’

  I turned to her. The land girl. The perfect model. The ruthless operative. Had she killed her own sister as well? Eliminated.

  Lena went on. ‘Spark believes I am her daughter, Sophia. So does everybody else. The lawyer, the nurse. Your theory is nuts.’

  ‘Don’t tell me, you’re getting the dosh when she dies?’ I asked.

  Lena glanced at me. ‘Spark had planned to leave the whole lot to Janice, the nurse. Been with her for years. Janice will still get something but now Sophia will get the vast bulk of the estate.’

  Nice for Sophia. Lena glanced at me, knowing what I was thinking.

  ‘It will go to a trust, for when the operation is over. Then we will try to locate the real daughter. We aren’t thieves.’

  The pieces suddenly came together. Lena was the missing item on Beatty’s desk. ‘That’s it, can’t you see? You’ve upset Lyntner’s plans to get the money through his affair with Janice. You are in danger. So is Tatiana Spark.’

  Lena shrugged. ‘Maybe. She’s dying, and now you’ve tipped me off, I can deal with them, if it’s true. But others have to pay for their crimes. Crimes against humanity. They can’t just run away and start new lives in paradise. And enough of them get away with it. I’m embedded with Eva’s friends, and I can make sure they face justice, in due course. Look, I’m sorry if the movie director and her buddies were murdered, but there’s need for a wider justice now.’

  A wider justice? Or true justice? My hopes for justice felt pathetic next to her lofty ideals.

  But it’s kept me going. It’s given me a sense of integrity when nothing else ever has.

  I turned and looked at her. ‘You killed your sister, didn’t you?’

  Lena didn’t flinch. ‘None of your business.’

  That confirmed it. I didn’t have to worry about Lena. It would be piece of cake for her to defend herself against Lyntner and Janice. And Lena could easily kill me, out here in the vast desert. Why bother with trust? Sentiment was not exactly her thing, if she could bump off her own flesh and blood. Surely she was telling me about her whole operation anyway because she had one thing in mind.

  And what if Lena was lying? What if she’d been turned? Maybe getting justice was really an excuse to keep the money for herself and her European cronies? This didn’t square with the fact she had been sent here, that she had been trusted enough to be released. The authorities had plotted her incarceration. Even virtuous Dr. Seldon had been complicit with Lena’s fake suicide.

  As it turned out Lena had been the one with friends in the high places.

  ‘You know, starting again gets easier. Anyway, L.A.’s too dangerous for someone in your position. The Italian Mob’s moving out here in droves from Europe now the war’s over. So if they want your blood, they’ll get it.’ So she was keeping up the pretense she cared about me.

  Trick your captives. Lull them into a false sense of security. Go easy on them in their last hours.

  Lena passed me a pack of cigarettes from her jacket pocket. I hesitated, but took it. I put two in my mouth, lit them and passed her one. I would play it cool, for now.

  ‘Thanks. Find some place off the beaten track.’ Lena exhaled. ‘Sounds like you could do with a quiet life.’

  Sure. I’ll get a cat, and read a book o
n a sunny porch.

  It was ironic. If I disappeared, Lauder would assume I had run off. An outraged Beatty calling him up would confirm it. Lauder’s plan for Jemima Day would kick in. He would claim that the woman’s body in the desert was somebody else. Jemima Day/Ida Boyd, spy and murderess, would still be hunted, when I’d actually be a desiccated carcass, just in a different desert. Scotland Yard and God knows how many secret agencies and Mafiosi would all prick up their ears and start searching.

  If I escaped Lena, I’d have to go far to really hide.

  We drove on, cruising over the dried-out hills, somewhere south of the Los Angeles basin. It was not the main route out of the country. The landscape was barren and harsh and the car was jolted by bumps in the narrow road. I started to feel green.

  ‘Stop the car. I’m going to puke up.’ I held my hand to my mouth.

  ‘What?’

  I gagged, holding it back. Lena slammed the brakes. ‘All right! We got ages, I don’t want you stinking the car out.’

  I jumped out and chucked my guts up. As I was spitting the last up, bent over, I could see her take the blue purse out of the car. The gun! She was going to do it now, shoot me, right here and now. I tensed up, ready to pounce.

  ‘Got some water here,’ she said. ‘Get it all up, that’s right.’ Next thing, she’d be saying ‘good girl’.

  She got closer, pulling something out. This was it.

  Now, my only chance!

  I turned around and flung myself at Lena. She fell back hard, too surprised to react fast enough. I punched her head, as hard as I could. Her eyes rolled back, dazed. She groaned but managed to bring her knee up into my diaphragm. I gasped and punched her again and again. My knuckles hurt.

  She was out cold. Should I throttle her? I didn’t want to kill her. The desert would do that sure enough. Squatting on her to prevent her moving, I pulled the purse over towards me. It was open.

  A bottle of water rolled out.

  I rummaged inside for the gun. The only other item was a white handkerchief.

  Water and a hanky.

  No gun.

  Lena was tending to me, not killing me?

  The hanky looked familiar. Pretty violets were embroidered on the corner. Had Dr. Seldon also issued one to Lena when she left prison? It really was the Holloway souvenir. Crazy. I lifted it to my nostrils, expecting to smell lavender water.

  So you meant it about the new start?

  I put the hanky to good use, twisting it up diagonally. Just long enough to tie Lena’s wrists behind her back. Using all my might, I somehow dragged her to a rock formation, which created a natural barrier with the road. There was some shade here. Before the sun moved, Lena would have time to say her prayers.

  I drank from the bottle, then tossed it near her. If she could free herself, she had a chance of survival. Slim, but a chance.

  Sorry, Lena.

  I left her curled up, in fetal position. She was a pathetic sight, her hair encrusted with sand and grit. Dribble trickled out of her mouth.

  She’ll die here. This is Lena.

  I went back to the car and lit a cigarette. Inside, it felt like a greenhouse in the Sahara. I left the door open, but it made no a difference. Above, high in the sky, a dark object circled. A vulture, spotting an imminent feast. Waiting for me to vacate the territory.

  Ironic.

  I was leaving her to die so I could run.

  Lena, who might have good motives.

  Lena, who wasn’t going to kill me.

  Lena, who some part of me still loved.

  You’re no killer!

  What the hell could I do? It was too late. If I freed her now, Lena would change her mind about killing me. Especially now.

  Unless I could spin this around, somehow.

  I had a two-hour drive to work that one out.

  Fuck.

  I dragged Lena back to the car. Lugging five foot ten of unconscious blonde so soon was no mean feat. She began to groan. A long slur came out.

  Somehow I got her onto the back seat. I opened the case and found some garments, including a couple of silk scarfs. Again, no weapon. I tied her legs together, and used one to gag her. She groaned again, coming around.

  I jumped in the driving seat. I was about to turn on the engine when I saw a black shape on the horizon, hurtling along the track I was about to take.

  The tail?

  There was no other explanation.

  Lena had to have a gun somewhere. The glove box. Sure enough, a heavy revolver lay inside. I grabbed it and checked the barrel. Fully loaded. Better than Dede’s one-bullet wonder.

  Time was running out. The black car rattled towards us. Lena’s eyes flickered. She could hear it, too. She made a noise.

  I spoke low. ‘Shut the fuck up and lie down.’

  Lena was silent, her eyes meeting mine. Her fate depended on me. On my prowess, on my training. The few lessons in sleepy Ashdown Forest a decade ago.

  What a joke.

  The car was browned by desert mud. It pulled up, about twenty feet in front of me.

  ‘All right. Out you get,’ I muttered, waiting. My fingers were wet with sweat and the gun slid around. I felt sick. This was a standoff and I wasn’t going to move. The driver wouldn’t shoot through his own windscreen, and he wouldn’t sit parked up all day waiting.

  Inevitably, the door opened.

  A tall figure got out, a lanky figure. A man was silhouetted against the sun.

  I recognized him immediately.

  Randall Lauder.

  67

  We stood opposite each other, a few yards apart. Here we were, back in the desert. Only this time I was armed. I held the revolver tightly as my sweaty grip allowed, pointing it down.

  ‘Going someplace?’ Lauder snarled. ‘Don’t bother answering. I know you’ve been getting around town.’

  ‘How long have you been tailing me?’

  ‘Long enough.’ So he hadn’t gone away. He’d been watching my every move. But since when? And more to the point, why? What did he know?

  ‘You alone?’ He glanced at the car.

  I nodded. ‘Yes. I’m alone.’ I said it loud enough for Lena to hear. She had better keep down. It would be better both of us if Lauder didn’t find out.

  ‘Taking a trip down South?’

  He thought I was running.

  ‘No. I’m heading to the Pacific Palisades, actually. I want to prevent a homicide. And you shouldn’t stop me.’ I sounded tougher than I felt. I definitely did not want to shoot him. What did I want? For him to just drive away and leave me alone? That wasn’t going to happen. I had to make him believe me.

  ‘Oh, yeah? Funny route. Who’s gonna be killed?’

  ‘Tatiana Spark. She’s a…’

  He interrupted. ‘I know who she is. I want the gun, Day. Nice and slow. Drop it.’

  ‘No!’ Now I raised it, and pointed it at him. ‘I want to find Rhonda and you aren’t getting in the way. Tatiana Spark’s in danger and I’ve got a chance to do something. Shimmer, Darlene and the guy, all murdered. You cops don’t give a damn!’

  ‘What the hell?’ Lauder stared at me, with disbelief.

  ‘I’ve cracked it and you’ve got to let me go…’

  Lauder’s eyes shifted to something behind me. Then they narrowed as his arm suddenly rose up, gun in hand, firing.

  Bang!

  I froze, confused. Lauder was suddenly thrown back in the air. His body collapsed on the ground. I spun around.

  Lena was half sprawled out of the car, her arm still aiming, holding a pistol. Somehow, she had managed to free her hands, but not her feet.

  She had found Dede’s gun, with its solitary bullet. From that distance, she had felled Lauder.

  ‘What the fuck?’ Without thinking, I fired back at her but missed. She quickly scrambled back into the car and slammed the door. She must have hidden Violet's bag the whole time.

  I ran to Lauder. He was on his side, clutching his chest, groaning. His le
gs kicked out in pain. I knelt down. ‘Let me see!’ I opened his jacket. Blood surged through his white shirt, a red mass already staining his tie. His groan turned into a whimper. His breaths were shallow, tight rasps.

  ‘Jesus Christ.’ I didn’t know what to do. Press on the wound? Why? Slow the inevitable? Warm blood pumped through my fingers, drenching my hand. Lauder went white, and his head lolled backwards. Was he dying? He couldn’t die. I couldn’t let that happen.

  I raced back to the car. Lena lay back on the rear seat, arms bent back, her head in her hands. The bitch was relaxing! She raised her brows. ‘Looks like a cop. Got something on you? Leave him here. You’ve got a chance. We both have. Think about it, Jem. I beg you. We can work something out.’

  I stared at her. Another me, the old me, would have grabbed the chance. I could be really free now, free of them both. I’d drive south, the sole victor. Lena would fry under the sun, Lauder would bleed out, and soon the desert would claim whatever the birds of prey left.

  I could claim my life for myself. No strings, no ties, no witnesses.

  I looked up at the sky, and then into the horizon, where the border surely lay. I could run.

  But I was no longer that person.

  I leveled my eyes at her. ‘I’m not leaving him. You’re going to drive me to a hospital or else I’ll shoot your brains out, right now.’

  I hopped in the front seat and spun the car back towards Lauder. I slammed the brakes on, turned to Lena and pointed the gun at her. ‘Untie your fucking legs and get out.’

  She obeyed, a sly grin on her face. ‘Jem. Are you stupidly sentimental? Think about it. Nobody will know if he dies here.’