Babs wondered if her presence caused a singular incident, or if there had been an ongoing divide in an outwardly congenial marriage. She was also worried the Rathbones would demand their money back regarding Leo. Her head ached from thinking about it.
Not even hungry anymore, she returned to her room, but didn’t know where to begin. Whether the laundry incident was a deliberate plot by Ouida to get her out of the house, Babs made a mental note to make sure she left nothing behind.
Later that evening, she received a knock on the door.
“Who is it?” Babs wasn’t in much of a mood to talk to anyone.
“Basil. Do you mind if I come in? I don’t want to speak through a closed door.”
Concerned she might make matters worse, she hesitated before letting him in. Basil, wearing a smoking jacket and looking like he stepped off the set playing Sherlock Holmes, hurried in and shut the door behind him.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “My wife has treated you like an unwanted stray.”
Babs began to cry. He put his arms around her in consolation but stopped and backed off. If Ouida barged in and saw them embraced…
“Can I do anything else to help?” he asked after handing her his handkerchief.
Babs tried to regain her voice. She pointed to paperwork in disarray and spread all over her bed, desk, and windowsills. “If you can wrangle a few spare packing boxes, I’d appreciate it.”
“Do you mind if I sit for a moment?” He pointed to an empty wingback chair.
“Be my guest.” What she didn’t expect was for him to bare his soul.
“Ouida has always suspected marital indiscretions on my behalf, but I’m embarrassed she and our housekeeping staff played a game of espionage.”
Not one to argue a moot point, she stood there, hands on her hips, and mumbled to herself about the best strategy on how to pack on such short notice.
Basil took out his meerschaum pipe, looking even more like a caricature of Sherlock Holmes, and prepared for a smoke. “I want you to remain on our case.”
“Regarding Leo?”
“Even if we have to keep this confidential. I will continue to pull whatever strings are necessary to ensure the safe return of both dogs.”
He blew out a long, drawn-out puff of smoke. “I’ve always been passionate about dogs to the extent that my wife accuses me of paying more attention to them than our baby girl. If my acting career weren’t so time-consuming, I wouldn’t mind owning a kennel similar to East and his wife.
“Before we moved here and were still at our Los Feliz residence, we started out with three dogs, two Westies and the Springer, which soon grew to seven. Ouida surprised me with Leo, just a wee little thing when she brought him home. Next, a casual acquaintance dropped off a black standard poodle named Toni for us to watch while he was on vacation, but he never came back to reclaim him. Sad to say, Toni is no longer with us.
“Ouida couldn’t resist buying a black German Shepherd puppy, who replaced a male we had who died of old age. His name was Moritz, so we named her Moritza in his memory. Finally, a white Bull Terrier wandered into our yard. For several weeks, we placed advertisements to find her owner, but when no one came to claim her, we adopted her and named her Judy. We’ve had quite a collection between the dogs, our cats Gina and Gita, and my wife’s canary. At one point, we built a kennel in our Los Feliz residence, which led outside from a bedroom attached to the servants’ quarters. Each dog had their own personal bed and separate pen with their name on it.”
Preoccupied with her packing, Babs tried to sound interested.
He continued to muse upon simpler times. “Back then, I had a more relaxed work schedule, and contrary to most of my Hollywood contemporaries, we weren’t the typical social butterflies. Instead, we took a break from the parties, kept a small circle of intimate friends, and spent a great deal of time either in our garden or poolside with our pets.
“So much about my ramblings,” Basil said. “I’m sounding like a sentimental fool and keeping you from your chores. Although it’s not much of a consolation, I came to your defense. It was all my wife’s doing to force you out, not mine.”
Babs sighed. “I guess I can no longer count on you posing as our detective agency’s frontman.”
“I am not your adversary. Although, you might have to take over and wear my deerstalker, even if it’s a figurative one, for the time being. Given my production schedule, I’ll do what I can. What I will promise is I’ll follow up on Powell. With as many movies as he has done, I was aware of his influence in Hollywood, but we hadn’t known each other until now. Not even as casual friends.”
“Basil, I don’t know how I’m going to continue working this case, or any other case, while homeless. This sounds strange, but I was just settling in over here, despite always having to be on my guard around your wife.”
“Babs, you won’t have to camp out in your office. I went through the phone book and made a few inquiries. The best of the batch seemed to be a residential hotel off Hollywood Boulevard near the Pantages Theatre. It’s close enough where you could walk and save on bus fare.”
He handed her a slip of paper, having circled that one as his first choice. Then he took his wallet out of his smoking jacket pocket and handed her a few extra bucks. “Contrary to my current circumstances, it would be false to assume I’d been born into privilege. My old man went through great pains to feed his family. I might’ve been one of the lucky ones who had lucrative work waiting for me when I moved to Hollywood. Many of my friends weren’t so fortunate. The challenge of getting a name for yourself and compensation for what you’re worth is quite real for many.”
“Is this a loan?” Babs asked.
“Shush. Think nothing of it, but don’t tell my wife. I’ve also prepaid the next two months in advance, but I’m sure you’ll find both Asta and Leo long before then. Soon, you’ll have plenty of prize money to set yourself up in a respectable place. Maybe even buy a car.
“If it wasn’t so risky from my wife finding out, I’d set you up at the Beverly Wilshire. Like Hammett’s place, but not a penthouse suite. The studio he’s working for has much deeper pockets. This is the best I can do under these circumstances, and once again, I can’t emphasize enough how sorry I am that it’s come to this.”