Ultimate Thriller Box Set - Crouch Blake (лучшие книги без регистрации txt) 📗

“We’ve got to make this fast, Harvey,” he said as he slid into the booth. “I told Lauren I was going to make a quick run down to the grocery store for a bottle of wine.”

“This won’t take long,” I replied, and laid out in front of him my handwritten report with receipts stapled to it. “Here’s my report, my bill, and my expenses. Don’t bother reading it now, I’ll give you the headlines. Your wife went down to the Santa Monica Pier yesterday morning and paid thirty thousand dollars to this man.”

I dealt the pictures to him like playing cards.

He picked up the best shot of the blackmailer and jerked as if he’d been hit with defibrillator paddles. The blood drained from his face. His eyes widened and he swallowed hard. Parkus did everything except spontaneously combust.

So, I asked, “Do you know the guy?”

“Nope,” he lied.

I decided right then that I had to play poker with this guy some day.

“Maybe this will help,” I said. “His name is Arlo Pelz. Does that mean anything to you?”

“No,” he lied again, staring at the picture.

“He’s staying at the Universal Sheraton, but I don’t know for how long.”

Parkus just nodded and took a drink of my water. “You got anything more?”

Unfortunately, the only information in the rental agreement was the guy’s name, his credit card receipt, and how much he was paying per day for the car. Arlo didn’t pay the extra few bucks for insurance. That was a mistake.

“That’s it for now,” I replied. “But I’m just getting started.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Parkus shook his head and gathered up the photos. “You’ve done a really great job.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Parkus wanted me to stop. He wanted me to leave the mystery unsolved and go back to being a security guard.

“But there’s still a lot we don’t know,” I whined. I didn’t mean for it to come out that way, but it did. “I mean, this could be the first payment or the fifth. Who knows how long this has been going on?”

“I’ll take it from here, Harvey,” he interrupted.

Parkus reached into his pocket, pulled out his money clip, and peeled out ten one-hundred-dollar bills. “This should cover what I owe and a little bit more as a bonus.”

“But I still have to find out who Pelz is, where he came from, and get whatever he has on Lauren.”

He looked at me at the mention of her name, a strange expression on his face.

“Your wife,” I corrected, but the damage was done.

“I appreciate everything you’ve done, Harvey.” Parkus slid out of his seat, taking the pictures with him. “But I have the answers I wanted. I’m counting on you to keep our arrangement, and what you’ve found out, completely confidential.”

“Don’t worry,” I said, unable to hide the disappointment from my voice. “I’m a professional.”

He nodded and hurried out.

I watched him drive off in his Jag and then I looked down at the crisp one-hundred-dollar bills on the table.

I still didn’t know who Arlo Pelz was, or why he was blackmailing Lauren, or what her secret was, or why it scared her. But there in front of me was a thousand bucks from a satisfied client.

If he didn’t care, why should I?

I was officially a private detective now. There was the money to prove it. That should be enough for me.

I shoved the cash in my pocket and left. I could afford to eat at a nicer place.

***

I knocked on Carol’s door around seven p.m. and asked her if she’d eaten yet. She said she hadn’t.

“Then I want you to get dressed in something nice, pick a very fancy place to eat, make a reservation, and meet me here in thirty minutes.”

“I can’t afford it,” she said.

“Did I ask you to pay?”

“You asked me to do everything else.”

“I’m taking you out tonight.”

She narrowed her eyes. “But I’m making all the arrangements.”

“Right,” I said. “Remember to pick someplace expensive.”

I hurried off before she could ask me any more questions. I went back to my apartment to class myself up. I slathered some Arrid Extra Dry Ultra Fresh Gel under my arms, ran some water through my hair, and brushed my teeth. I washed down a couple Advils with a gulp of Pepto Bismol, then realized I should have done that before I brushed my teeth. The Pepto leaves a chalky residue on your tongue, but it has a nice, minty scent, so I decided not to brush again.

I changed into the only suit I had. It was black; I bought it for my mother’s funeral two years ago. That was the last time I wore it, but it still fit, and black is always cool.

Carol was waiting outside when I opened my door. She was wearing a low-cut dress, a fake-pearl necklace, and high-heeled shoes. She was also wearing make-up and had done something different to her hair that made her face seem bolder and sharper. Her eyes sparkled and her lips seemed fuller and redder than ever before.

She was beautiful.

Better than that, she’d become a woman.

Carol must have been thinking the same about me, opposite sex-wise, because she gave me the once-over two or three times and then flashed me this big smile.

“We’ve never gone out before,” she said.

“We’ve gone out hundreds of times.”

“Not like this.”

I took her hand. “Then we should have.”

***

The Bistro Garden in Studio City was big, open, and airy. The place was alive with the tinkle of silverware, soft music, and the occasional trill of a cell phone. It was fancy without being snobby.

Well, that’s not entirely true. When I drove up in my Kia Sephia, the valet hesitated before opening Carol’s door, like a compact car with a sticker price under twenty thousand dollars carries some kind of infectious disease. But she gave him a look through the window that promised immediate emasculation unless he jumped to attention, so he did. That was the only bump in an otherwise perfect evening.

While we waited for our steaks and lobsters, and ogled the movie stars and agents at the other tables, she took my hand from across the table.

“You’re forgetting something,” she said.

“Would you like some wine?” I replied. “Order whatever you like.”

“Thank you, but that’s not it. Last night, you promised me an explanation,” she said. “I want to know what happened to you yesterday and what tonight is all about.”

I thought about it for a minute. I thought about what I should leave out, what I should exaggerate, and what I should invent. In the end, I decided to tell her the truth and only leave out the part about wetting myself and everything related to that.

Even without that part, as I told the story I kept waiting to see the disappointment, disgust, and pity on her face, or for her to just start laughing at me. But instead she did something strange. She kept her hand on mine and, every so often, gave it a little squeeze.

Our dinner arrived, and while we ate, I told her the rest, about breaking into Pelz’s car and presenting my case to Parkus and getting paid the bonus.

“I was right, Harvey,” she said when I’d finished. “You’re good at this.”

“Even though I let Arlo Pelz beat me up?”

“The thing is you didn’t give up; you stuck to it and succeeded in what you were hired to do.”

I shrugged. “I suppose you’re right.”

“But more importantly, you proved something to yourself.”

“I did?”

“It’s changed everything about you. You’re proud of yourself, maybe for the first time,” she said. “Isn’t that what we’re here celebrating?”

I didn’t really know what we were doing. I just knew I didn’t want to eat dinner at Denny’s and that I didn’t want to be alone that night and there was only one person I really wanted to be with.

So, that’s what I tried to tell her.

“I don’t know what we’re doing,” I said. “I’m just glad we’re doing it together.”

Something seemed to melt in her. Me, too, if you want to know the truth.