TWENTY-NINE

Lilly-Mae looked as puzzled as I felt, but if she was genuinely innocent in all this, it still didn’t explain what she was doing there. If she had come to Palm Springs hoping I would get all manly and protect her from the baddies, she was in for a surprise. I might have my moments when faced with unhelpful officials or indolent shop assistants, but fists of fury in the face of guns was not part of my make-up.

‘That’s it,’ she said suddenly.

‘It is?’ She had a faint smile on her face, like someone who’d suddenly grasped the solution to a knotty problem.

‘You said the package you delivered was a memory stick?’

‘That’s right. Why?’

‘Well, that’s kinda weird. After you left, Gus was prowling around with a bunch of papers in his hand. He was mad because he’d run out of big envelopes. I said I’d go out first thing in the morning to get some, but he said not to bother as he’d get one of the boys to bring some up before you got there.’ She looked at me. ‘That sounds like whatever he’d intended you to bring to Palm Springs was papers, not a memory stick, right?’

‘Maybe. These papers – did you see what he did with them?’

She shook her head. ‘No. I just guessed he was going to hold on to them until morning. After that I never gave it another thought. Gus trusted me fine up to a point, but he didn’t like me asking questions.’

I thought about it. ‘He might have decided to transfer whatever was on the papers to a memory stick instead. Easier to find an envelope for something that small… easier to carry, too.’ I explained about the other items I’d hauled around the world with me. In fact I was surprised at how much people still relied on paper.

Lilly-Mae shook her head. ‘Uh-uh. Gus was strictly a papers man. He had a laptop, but he hated using it. He said computers could be accessed by the Feds without him even knowing and they’d know all his business.’

I remembered the laptop on Mekashnik’s desk, the power light blinking. ‘Yet it was on when I got to the house this morning.’ Perhaps my arrival had interrupted someone.

The same thought evidently occurred to Lilly-Mae. ‘You think Gus was there when you arrived?’

‘Maybe,’ I agreed. ‘And if Selecca knew Gus didn’t trust computers, it explains why he looked so surprised to see a memory stick.’ The only problem left to consider was how the envelope containing the stick got on top of the mailbox. I told her how I’d examined the box when I first arrived, and if it had been there then I would have seen it.

‘So someone put it there while you were inside the house?’ Lilly-Mae chewed her lip over that one. ‘But that could have been–’

‘Gus.’ I nodded. ‘He might have counted on me not seeing Frank’s body in the pool, and was hoping I’d spot the envelope and bring it to Palm Springs.’ It wouldn’t have taken him long to scoot out of the house and make his way down to the main gate. If I was right it immediately set me wondering if it had been Gus who’d set the police on Selecca, all part of some plan to deal with his opponent. It made the contents of the memory stick suddenly more than interesting.

‘Would it help if we got to see the computer?’ said Lilly-Mae. ‘I mean, if that’s where the information came from, it had to be Gus who put it there, right? Maybe we could see a list of the last documents opened or copied.’

I gave her an old-fashioned look. Suddenly she was one of Charlie’s Angels and wanted to go round taking a peek into Gus Mekashnik’s dealings. Didn’t she know of his reputation for dismantling people’s body parts? ‘Are you suggesting we go back to Lake Lure and take a look?’

‘Sure. Why not? At least we might find out what this is all about, right?’ She checked her phone. ‘There’s a flight out tonight through New York which gets to Charlotte tomorrow morning. We should take that.’

‘Not me,’ I said truthfully. If I went anywhere near New York it would be to catch a flight to London. ‘I couldn’t give a toss what was on it. This is where I step out and go back to my humble delivery job.’ I’d already had the narrow escape at Scheveningen when Rik Heysens had been arrested. Now this. Why push my luck further? Anyway, I wasn’t cut out for James Bond stuff. It had been exciting at first, but the gloss was wearing off as quickly as the coating on a cheap Singaporean watch.

‘But I have a key,’ Lilly-Mae insisted. ‘And I know computers. And,’ she grinned mischievously, ‘I know a secret way in through the woods. Even if they’re still around, the cops will never see us.’

Great. This is what comes of raising girls on Nancy Drew mysteries all those years ago. They become uncontrollable and want to conquer the world. Then it occurred to me that we were planning on sneaking into a house where Lilly-Mae had every right to be. ‘Why can’t you just walk in the front door? You could say you’d been away on a trip – which is true.’

She shook her head with an expression of alarm. ‘Are you kidding? Those local cops would have me locked up in some freaky women’s jail in two seconds. Jake, I know those guys. They think with their butts, not their brains. I mean, why pass up on someone who lives there just to waste time looking for the real killer?’

‘There’s still Gus,’ I pointed out. ‘He’s out there somewhere.’

‘Right. But do you know where? ’Cos I don’t.’

I sighed and tried one last tack. ‘Okay. But I still think going back is a bad idea. Do you really want to hang around to see how many other enemies Gus has? Better to let sleeping dogs lie, don’t you think?’

‘And do what?’ she countered, eyes flashing. ‘Forget all about it? Jake, I have stuff back at the house – personal stuff I don’t want to lose. Besides, I can’t simply walk away without knowing what’s happened to him. I know he’s not whiter than white, but if he’s in trouble I’d like to help. And if he’s behind all this, well – I’d like to find out what he’s done.’

I argued for another five minutes. It was like talking to a beautiful but obstinate statue with an answer to everything. In the end Lilly-Mae fought dirty by throwing up her hands and suggesting I get back on a plane to London and she would sort it out herself. It was the kind of thing I couldn’t agree to, which I suspect she was counting on.

‘All right,’ I said finally, knowing when to give in. ‘I’ll come with you. But at the first sign of nasty men with guns or badges, we hit the road. Agreed?’

She smiled again and squeezed my hand. ‘I knew you’d help, Jake. Thank you. Anyway, are you saying you could really go all the way back to England and forget about everything you’ve seen here?’

I was, actually. Well, I thought I was. But put like that there was no chance. Added to the coy expression on her face, which set my pulse racing, she was still holding my hand and I found myself breathing like an asthmatic sixteen-year-old on his first date. It was no contest; given the choice between being there with this attractive and alluring woman, and London with… well, not a lot. I decided going back was a poor option.

‘First thing,’ I croaked, when my voice began working again, ‘is we find out if the police are around. If they are we stay well away.’

We finished our drinks and went in search of a phone, and I dialled the number at Gus’s house again. It rang fifteen times, during which Lilly-Mae crowded in on me and pressed her ear against the outside of the receiver. She smelled fresh and soapy, and for a moment I forgot where I was, recalling what she had looked like on the patio in that backless sundress.

Then someone ruined the perfect moment by picking up the phone.

I waited for them to speak, but all I could hear was some wheezy breathing and what sounded like stubble rasping against the mouthpiece. Definitely not a cleaning lady, unless she had some serious facial hair problems. Lilly-Mae pressed ever more comfortably against me, her eyes like dark liquid pools and her arm round my waist. Oh, Lord forgive me my trespasses but right then all I wanted to do was say to hell with Gus, throw down the phone and grab hold of her with both hands.

Instead I said, ‘Gus?’

‘Who is this?’ It was an older man’s voice and sounded polite but gruff with authority. In the background a burst of radio static was followed by voices, and I felt the hairs move on the back of my neck. Cops.

I put the phone down. I could see by the expression on her face that Lilly-Mae had come to the same conclusion. ‘They must have found Frank.’

‘And now they’ve got Selecca – and the memory stick.’ Lilly-Mae looked at me and chewed her lip. She was still up close and smelled wonderful. Her hair was clean and glossy and her skin like a peach, and I had to work really hard to stop myself leaning in and licking the side of her face. ‘We go back to the house and take a look.’

I could think of so many other things I’d rather be doing, mostly involving Lilly-Mae, but now was probably not the time to say it.

‘At night, preferably. That should give them time to get fed up waiting and clear out. Do you really know a sneaky way in?’

‘Of course. A gal has to have some secrets, y’know. And I didn’t have a couple of years’ convent education without picking up some field craft. Those Sisters ran a tight ship; we had to learn to move like Marines if we wanted to have a naughty night out.’

I tried to picture an adolescent Lilly-Mae creeping about in the dark, commando-fashion, outwitting the combined forces of the Sisters of Mercy. Somehow I wasn’t so much surprised by that as by the fact that she’d been to a convent. I’d assumed she’d had a normal high school education like most American girls, but it seemed there were more things about this woman that I had yet to find out.

Like what was the precise relationship between her and Gus.

‘Okay. Where first? Any suggestions?’ I had a sudden flash of a hotel room, clean sheets and a nice warm shower, and felt a flush creeping up my face.

‘Charlotte,’ said Lilly-Mae without hesitation, killing the moment stone dead. ‘The house I stayed in before coming here. Gus owns it, but nobody knows about it – not even his accountant. He picked it up recently through a business deal. He was planning on selling it to a guy he knows for cash down and no questions.’

I wondered what sort of deal lands someone with a house rather than hard cash, but bit my tongue. No doubt the arms business traded in commodities other than money when the need arose, and what better than property? No doubt Gus also had access to a team of lawyers to help with the tricky issue of title deeds.

An hour later we were at the airport, keeping a low profile and waiting for a flight out . We had time to spare but it was better there than hanging around Palm Springs waiting to be picked up by the cops if Selecca had spilled the beans. As we sat in a remote corner of the lounge watching planes landing and taking off, Lilly-Mae turned and looked at me with a speculative expression.

‘Jake, are you married?’

The question came right out of the blue, as unconnected with what we’d been talking about as it was possible to get. There we were, still only a fingernail’s width away from being implicated in someone’s death, and she wanted to know about my domestic arrangements.

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Well… separated. I’m resting, as actors say. Why do you ask?’

She shrugged and gave a half smile. ‘No reason. Just making conversation.’ She waved a hand as if it really wasn’t important, but her next words blew that right out of the water. ‘Actually, that’s not true… I was just wondering if there was a Mrs Jake waiting in the background for you to come home. You hadn’t said.’

‘No,’ I said truthfully. ‘There is a Mrs Jake, legally speaking. But she’s moved on and I’m between assignments. The only other family I’ve got is a younger brother.’ I told her about Susan’s departure and about Marcus. It didn’t take long. ‘How about you?’

‘Me? I was married once, a few years ago. He was in the navy. We ended up finding out we were too different to stay together. It didn’t work out.’ End of subject, in other words.

‘So how did you come to be with Gus?’

‘Living in his house, you mean?’ She stared absently across the lounge and slowly shook her head. ‘Gus and I are just friends – I told you. I fetched up in San Diego after my husband and I split up. I needed a job and someone who knew Gus told me he was looking for help. He had a place on the coast back then. I think he had contacts in the naval base and could get ex-military equipment before it came up for public auction. I applied for the job and he took me on.’ I didn’t say anything, which she took for some kind of unasked question, because she looked at me with a hint of fire in her eye. ‘We also kind of went out for a while, but it didn’t work out. I never knew what, exactly, but Gus has some… problems in that area. He doesn’t relate much to women.’

‘You mean he’s gay?’ Well, why not?  

‘No. Nothing like that – at least, I’m pretty sure not.’ Her voice was quiet. It was evidently a touchy subject. I certainly didn’t want to know what Gus’s problems were, although the news did make me feel unaccountably better, for some deep, doubtless Freudian, reason.

After a while she gave me a nudge with her elbow. ‘Jake Foreman, you look like you’re thinking too much. If you must know, I lived at Gus’s place and did administrative work for him. Nothing to do with the core business, though… he did all that himself. Like I said, he’s been good to me. And before you ask, I had my own bedroom.’

‘I know,’ I said. ‘I’ve seen it.’ I told her about my lightning search after finding Frank, but decided not to comment on the state of her room. Women can be a little sensitive about that kind of thing.