Dream Town

Chapter 47

When they landed in LA, Dash and Archer drove to Silver Lake in Archer’s rental car, which he’d left at the airport. Dash got a room at the same motel and went to bed. Archer went to his room and dialed the number; a moment later Callahan picked up.

“Hey, Liberty.”

“Hey, Archer.”

“Sorry, I know it’s really late.”

“You know I never go to bed early.”

“You all settled in?” he asked.

“Sure, sure.”

“And you’re keeping a lookout and all?”

“Just like you said,” she told him.

“Look, I know you didn’t need all this to drop in your lap. I’m sorry.”

“Ellie Lamb is my friend. You took the case to help her. So how’s it going? You find any clues?”

“Yeah. A few.”

“You didn’t get hit in the head again, did you?” she asked.

Archer rubbed the spot where Little Tony had sapped him. “No, nothing like that. It was a pretty normal day.”

“Normal is nice.”

“Yeah,” said Archer quietly. “Well, I hope you have a good sleep. And I...”

“And you what?”

“I just wanted to hear your voice.”

“Don’t go all soft on me, Archer. You’ll lose your tough-guy rep. Good night.”

Archer put the phone down and looked around the confines of the cheap room that looked like no one had touched it since the 1920s. He had stayed in many cheap rooms over the last three years. Maybe too many. He had also gotten close to dying at times, but not as close as tonight. If Dash had not been there and done what he had? If on the spur of the moment Archer hadn’t called Dash and told him that he was in Vegas and what he was planning to do? Dash would not have been there.

And I’d be lying under six feet of desert. I wouldn’t even get a lousy funeral service like Bender. And Liberty would spend some time wondering what became of me. And then she’d get on with her life. Because we all have to.

That last thought made a part of his heart he maybe didn’t fully understand lurch sideways. She’d miss me, at least. That’s something.

He took out his flask and added a whiskey chaser to the airline’s bourbon. It burned all the way down, and Archer needed to feel that.

You’re alive, not dead. And you get another shot at taking down the folks who wanted to end things for you. Play that game as hard as you can, Archer. But play it smart from now on.

It was not a simple matter of revenge or payback or getting even. Archer wasn’t sure what it was. Justice was a simple word with a mountain range’s worth of complexities behind it. Good versus evil was the same sort of equation. But with guys like Paley, it wasn’t a close call. He was scum and didn’t deserve to breathe air.

So next time you get him in your sights, Archer, make sure he’s not breathing after it’s over. Because he’ll try to do the same to you. And it won’t bother him nearly as much as it will bother you. That’s the difference. That’s the whole beeswax, really.

He woke the next morning, took a shower, changed into fresh clothes, and had breakfast with Dash at a greasy-spoon diner near the motel.

“Got some news, Archer. They found Bender’s car.”

“Where?”

“In the ocean off Malibu Pier.”

“Anyone in it? Like Eleanor Lamb?”

“Nope. It was a nice little oyster without a shiny pearl inside.”

“Oldham find it?”

“Off a tip, yeah. But get this — word is he’s not working the case too hard.”

Archer took a sip of his coffee. “Yeah, I thought his big speech to me about not being on the take was a load of horseshit.”

“I don’t think he’s on the take. Don’t get me wrong, some county cops are. Only they don’t need a guy like Oldham.”

“Then why is he pulling back?”

“Look at it this way, Archer. LA runs on lots of things. But the primary thing it runs on is the Hollywood fantasy. You got millions of tourists coming here for that very reason and hundreds of thousands of new people wanting to call this place home every year so they can try and jump on that train. All that adds up to a mountain of money for everybody, good and bad. And my thinking is that somebody knows about the little private film business at the Jade that you found out about. And maybe they know a bunch of stars are ensnared in it. That comes out, all of a sudden the little fantasy that creates tons of jobs and sells magazines and keeps butts in seats in front of TVs and at theaters all over the country gets blown into a million little pieces.”

“Jake pretty much said the same thing. But how can the cops know Bender’s death is tied to what’s going on at the Jade?”

“If I knew the answer to that, Archer, I’d know everything. And the rank and file like Oldham don’t have to know. All I’m saying is, money talks but shit still stinks.”

“Then are you saying Paley gets a pass?”

“I’m saying some folks might think it’s worth it to give him a pass. So, what’s your next move?”

“First up, talk to Alice Jacoby. Then I’m going to track down the Bonhams. I’ll start in Malibu. I want to know how she knows Paley. And I might have slipped up and told Paley too much about Bernadette. I don’t want her getting fished out of the water off Malibu Pier.”

“Okay.”

“What will you be doing?” asked Archer.

“Going to see Jake. We got a few things percolating. And I won’t have your back today, so you watch it real, real good.”

“But you said Paley would be lying low,” noted Archer.

“But Paley ain’t the only killer out there, is he?”