Dream Town

Chapter 51

Archer sat in his car and looked at the white powder. He couldn’t be certain what it was without getting a lab to test it. But from the look of it and the smell he thought it might be heroin. And maybe that was what killed the coffeeberry. The question was, how did heroin get in Bonham’s backyard? He had some ideas about that. Maybe the connection he was looking for between Paley and Bonham was starting to solidify.

He parked in front of Danforth’s house, got out, and knocked on the door. He heard the pitter-patter of her little feet and the door opened. She had on a creamy white day dress and slippers. Her fake hair was in a bun and she had reading glasses on and a Life magazine in her hand. Two cats trailed her.

“Mr. Archer, you’re back.”

“I am. Can I come in and ask a few more questions?”

“Certainly, certainly. Would you like something to drink? I have lemonade, coffee.”

What, no scotch? “Lemonade will be fine, thanks.”

She brought it to him in the same room they had sat in before.

He sipped on the drink for a moment as she perched in a chair across from him. Her cats formed a protective circle around her, though one did jump up next to Archer to make inquiries with a paw lightly tapping his arm. He responded by scratching its ears.

“I met Mr. and Mrs. Bonham.”

She took off her specs and stared at him dumbly. “You did? Did you go all the way to France? And you’re already back?”

“No. They’re back. You didn’t know that?”

“No.”

“He just drove off a few minutes ago in his Bentley. He actually got back into town on December thirtieth. The missus came in a few days later.”

“Why would they come back separately? And why come back at all? They’re usually gone much longer than that.”

“Well, I wouldn’t know that and they didn’t say. But maybe they’re worried about something. They do have a bomb shelter in their backyard.”

“A what?”

“A bomb shelter. You know, if the Soviets decide to bomb us they can go and hide in a little metal box underground.”

“I never heard of such a thing.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure how much protection something like that would be with an atom bomb dropped on your head.”

She let out a sigh. “Mankind has gotten so very sick. Sometimes I’m glad that I’m very near the end of my days on earth.”

“Don’t say that. What would your cats do without you?”

She smiled. “That is very kind of you to say. And for your information I’ve made suitable arrangements for each of them when I die.”

“That’s good of you. Look, it turns out that Peter Bonham was married before. At least that’s what his wife told me.”

“Really. To whom?”

“I don’t know. Why did you think he hadn’t been?”

“Well, he never spoke about another wife. I’ve been to their house several times. There were no pictures of his first wife or children from a first marriage or anything. And Bernadette never mentioned anything like that.”

“Well, he might not want pics of his first wife around for his second wife to see. You also told me they drove their car to the airport and left it there. Turns out they didn’t do that, either.”

“But I saw them drive off when they left. I waved to them. So where was the car?”

“Could have been kept any number of places. Look, I know you said you go to bed early, but late at night, do you ever hear noises?”

“What sort of noises?”

“Like a car or a truck coming up or down the road.”

“I don’t believe so. My room is at the back of the house.”

“Okay.”

“But it’s funny you asked that. I had a young friend of my granddaughter’s stay here with me during the summer last year. She was trying to break into pictures, like so many of them do and none of them succeed.”

“Right, so what about her?”

“She complained a couple of nights about hearing someone driving on the road, oh, around three or four in the morning. Her hearing is better than mine, and her room was nearer the front of the house.”

“Did she ever go out and see what it was?”

“She looked out the window. She said it was a truck of some sort.”

“Did she see where it went?”

“No, at least she didn’t tell me if she did.”

“Where is this girl now?”

“Back in Connecticut. She decided to become a secretary instead.”

“In the long run the money will be better and she’ll live longer.” Archer took his leave and drove toward the ocean. He hit the coast road and turned left to head back to town.

Less than an hour later he was on Santa Monica Boulevard after having just passed Cahuenga. He drove by Hollywood Memorial Park, where the likes of Douglas Fairbanks and Rudolph Valentino were interred. Backing up to the cemetery on its southern edge was Paramount Studios.

And that was when Archer saw it. A movie theater where a film called On the Run was playing. The marquee said it was an MGM production and it starred a man Archer had never heard of. But he wasn’t interested in the man. He pulled to the curb and got out. He hustled over to the movie poster for On the Run, which was on the wall next to the ticket window.

The female star was Samantha Lourdes. On the poster, she was wrapped around the male star and they were looking deeply into each other’s eyes. Archer also didn’t care about that. What he cared about was that Samantha Lourdes had been the movie actress he had seen and spoken to at the Jade Lion.