Dream Town

Chapter 17

Lamb’s office was two doors down from Ransome’s and about half the size. Unlike Ransome’s, it was cluttered and claustrophobic.

“Shall I leave you to it?” said Ransome. “I know the timing is lousy, but I do have some things I need to get done. It’s why I came in today.”

“I’ll poke my head in when I’m finished here.”

She left him there, and Archer started going through things. Lamb certainly had a lot of film projects going. However, he didn’t find much at all to help him, until he jimmied the locked bottom drawer of her desk. He took out the book of matches, one of a half dozen located there and all from the same place: the Jade Lion Bar in Chinatown.

He looked at his notebook, where he’d written down the two names from Lamb’s Wheeldex cards marked with the X. One had the name Jonathan Brewster, and written under that had been the Jade Lion Bar, Chinatown. The other card had the name Alice Jacoby written on it along with a phone number. He picked up the phone on Lamb’s desk and dialed the number.

Someone answered on the second ring.

“Is this Alice Jacoby?”

“Yes, who is this?”

Archer told her who he was and why he was calling.

“Oh my goodness. I... I haven’t seen Ellie in over a week. I hope she’s okay.”

“Can I come by and see you later?” asked Archer. “The sooner we find her the better.”

“Yes, yes of course. My home is in Bel Air, near the country club.”

Bel Air? thought Archer. And near the country club. “Say in about forty minutes? I’m just finishing up another line of investigation.”

She gave him her address. Archer wrote it down and hung up.

He looked through the office once more and then left and walked to Ransome’s door. He didn’t knock right away because he heard Ransome speaking. Apparently to someone on the phone because he only heard her voice. And then he heard his name spoken twice, with some urgency. As he bent closer to the door he heard Ransome say clearly, “I can meet you tonight, around seven, at Boleros.”

Archer knew the place. It was a dive bar in West Hollywood.

When she put down the phone he stepped back down the hall, then walked loudly forward and knocked on her office door.

“Miss Ransome?”

“Come in.” She looked up at him from her desk. “Did you find anything helpful?”

“We’ll see. Tell me, were you close with Lamb? Or was she just an employee here?”

She said slowly, “We worked together. I appreciate her talents. We got along fine.”

He looked over her appearance. “I think she appreciated you, too.”

“Did she say that?” Ransome asked with a level of anxiousness that seemed off to him.

But then again, maybe not, Archer thought. “She didn’t have to.” He handed her a card. “If you think of anything else,” he said.

“What are you going to do now?” she asked.

“Keep digging.” He started to leave. “That’s how investigations work.”

“Wait a minute, Mr. Archer. You said you were going to meet Ellie here today and she was going to give you a check?”

“For my retainer, yes.”

“How much?”

“Two hundred up front. I charge fifty a day plus expenses. I’ve officially been on the clock since around noon.” He was not going to charge for last night’s fiasco as a matter of personal pride, and also for his being an idiot.

Ransome opened a drawer and pulled out a checkbook. “How about I write you a check for $500?”

“That’s too much, and you’re not the client.”

“If you don’t use it all, you can pay me back. And as far as the client, I just want you to find her, okay? And I’m sure she’d want that, too.”

“Okay. You can make it out to the Willie Dash Private Detective Agency.” Archer took out a sheaf of papers from his jacket pocket. “And here’s a contract for you to sign. My boss is a stickler for the rules. I was going to have Lamb sign it, but...”

“Of course.”

She made the check out and passed it across to him. Then he filled in the contract using her pen and had her sign it. He gave her a copy and put his and the check in his pocket. “You really care about her, I take it.”

“Just find her, Mr. Archer.”

He tipped his hat, shielding his bandaged head from her sight line, and let himself out.

It appeared that Archer had a new client. Now he just needed to find the old one.