Dream Town

Chapter 55

So, Bernadette Bonham and Darren Paley were a couple?” asked Dash.

He and Archer were in the latter’s motel room discussing things over cigarettes and drinks and sometimes muddled thought. Archer had given Dash the white powder traces he had taken from the dirt at the Bonhams’. Dash had dropped them off at a private lab in LA he had used before.

“That’s what Samantha said.”

Dash cracked a grin. “Samantha Lourdes — who would have thought?”

“You’ve seen her pictures?”

Dash now snorted. “Hell, Archer, you seem to be the only one who hasn’t.”

“And she was married to Paley for two years.”

“I think she can count her lucky stars she’s still alive after living with that psycho.”

“She’s not free of him yet,” Archer pointed out.

“And you want to be the white knight swooping in to save the damsel in distress?”

“I’m not a knight of any color, and she didn’t strike me as the damsel-in-distress type.” He paused. “Bernadette would have entered the picture around the time Lourdes and Paley got divorced. That would’ve been around 1941. Bernadette told me her family moved to Canada to avoid Hitler when the Nazis took over France, and they were there until the war was over. France surrendered to Germany in June of 1940, so Bernadette and her family were in Canada before then. But she must have left Canada and gone to Reno probably sometime in 1941. And she met Paley there. Then Paley joined up and was in the war for years. I don’t know if he and Bernadette got together again after that. But they seem tight now.”

“How long has she been married to Peter Bonham?”

“I don’t know exactly. She told me they met after the war and were married in Nice. Then they came here. He already had the place in Malibu.”

“So, at most, they’ve been married maybe six years, give or take?”

“Right. But Bernadette could have rekindled things with Paley even if she was married. The French look at these things differently.”

“Hell, Archer, Americans do, too.”

“And she said that Bonham had been married before, but that his first wife was dead. Now, their neighbor Mrs. Danforth didn’t think he’d been married before, but she had no way of knowing that for certain.”

Dash picked a bit of tobacco off his tongue and took a swallow of bourbon. “Okay, let’s get down to basics, Archer. Namely, to nail Paley we have to figure out what he’s doing. Now, he’s a guy with connections to the mob and Vegas. So if he is selling dope out of Chinatown, I’m sure he keeps some for the LA locals, but the excess probably goes out to the rest of the country through dope rings. And those dope rings, I have no doubt, have ties to the Vegas mob. It’s a big money maker for them. Maybe even more than the casinos. But you said Paley thinks someone is horning in on his business?”

“That’s right. Jake have any insights on that?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find out.”

“And I told you Peter Bonham is the man I fought with on the beach that night. Now I know he was there waiting on the dope shipment. I remember seeing a truck parked on the beach. You think Bonham is supplying Paley? Because at some point we have to make that connection, or not.”

“Could be. And you say Bonham’s the same guy who spoke to you on the phone that night when you called Lamb’s house?”

“Yes. And that means he had something to do with Bender’s death, because I’m pretty sure the man’s body was there while Bonham was talking to me.”

“If Bender was killed by Bonham, he must have had a good reason. Dead bodies make things complicated.”

“Mallory Green hired Bender to track down who Bart was fooling around with. So how does Bender end up in Lamb’s house?”

“We know he was shot elsewhere. Maybe Bonham killed him and dumped him there.”

“Why and why?” asked Archer.

“If Bernadette was cheating on Bonham with Bart Green and Bonham found out, he might have killed Bender to keep that under wraps.”

“It’s hard for me to believe that the lovely French lady would have much interest in Bart Green, his status as a big Hollywood producer notwithstanding. I thought the babes he had in Vegas were his mistresses, but turns out they were his nieces. And I got it from a reliable source that of the Three Musketeers, Simon, Bart, and Danny, only Danny is the skirt chaser.”

“I get that. But if Bart Green and Bernadette Bonham did have a fling, most cuckolded guys don’t like their shame to be broadcast publicly. And you said Bernadette saw her husband arguing with Lamb?”

“That’s right.”

“Lamb worked for Green. So maybe she found out about the affair and was threatening to tell the world if Bonham didn’t pay up.”

“But why kill Bender?” asked Archer.

“Bonham could have killed Bender and dropped the body at Lamb’s place to get her off his back.”

“That actually fits together. Lamb told me she’d been getting strange phone calls and someone broke into her house and left a bloody knife in the sink. And maybe Bonham’s plan worked, because if she’s not dead, she has vanished. So you might be right, Willie. Bonham could have been behind all of that to deep-six Lamb and her blackmail hooks.”

“And I also might be way off the mark, too. Only time will tell.”

Dash put down his drink, looked at Archer, and checked his watch. “We’ll head out to Malibu in about an hour. If I recall correctly, Danforth said the trucks were heard in the middle of the night?”

“That’s right. And Lourdes said the shipments to the Jade come in at least once a week, late at night.”

“Okay, let’s talk about the smuggling piece some more. Paley is selling dope. He knows Bernadette Bonham and possibly her husband, too. You tussled with Peter Bonham on the beach, and there was a truck there. So, yeah, a possible connection between the Malibu beach smugglers, the Bonhams, and Paley is definitely established. And even though we don’t know for sure what was in the crates being brought in off that boat, dope is certainly the most probable answer.”

“It all fits,” agreed Archer.

“But the Bonhams also go to France for months at a time. Who covers for him while he’s gone?”

“He must have a partner. Paley?”

“No, can’t be. Bonham is too smart to let Paley know the source of the dope. That way Paley could cut him out of the loop.”

“Right. And if Paley were overseeing the incoming shipments he’d know who was drinking from his trough,” added Archer.

“So, the trucks the girl heard were the shipments coming up from the beach, probably to Bonham’s house. You were down on the beach around five in the morning?”

“Yeah, and those guys were rushing like crazy because they were probably late. At that hour you might get some early beachcombers or people heading out to their jobs.”

Dash rose. “Okay, see you in a bit, Archer. And don’t forget your gun.”

Dash left, and Archer immediately called Callahan’s number.

“Archer, it’s good to hear your voice. I miss you.”

“Same here. Willie is down here helping me.”

“Well, that definitely makes me feel better.”

“Hey, what can you tell me about Samantha Lourdes?”

“Samantha Lourdes? Why?”

“She was the actress I saw at the Jade. I finally made the connection. But you can’t tell anybody. She’s a good egg.”

“I won’t tell anybody because I respect her as an actress and she’s also got a great head for business. I heard that Lourdes is close to getting out of her MGM contract and starting her own production company. She’s sort of her generation’s Carole Lombard. It kills me that she’s mixed up in crap like that.”

“Well, she came by it in a weird way.” He told her about Lourdes being married to Paley when she was seventeen.

“God, she’s lucky to be alive.”

“And I want to keep her that way,” said Archer.

“Wait a minute — have you seen her again since the Jade?”

“Yeah, we had a drink at the Formosa earlier tonight.”

“I can’t believe this is happening. What was she like?” asked Callahan.

“Down-to-earth, smart, hardworking. She grew up on a farm in Minnesota.”

“I’ve been dying to meet her and you run right into her.”

“Hell, Liberty, when I met her I was running for my life at the Jade Lion! But I can tell her about you the next time I see her.”

“You’re going to see her again!” exclaimed Callahan.

“Well, we sort of left it open. But if I can get Paley out of her hair, I think I’d have a fan for life.”

Callahan didn’t say anything to this.

“Hey, you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m still there. Look, don’t mention me to her, Archer. I’d hate for her to think I’m trying to use you to further my own lousy career.”

“But everybody in this town does that. You know that’s true.”

“Well, I’m not, not this time, anyway. But... I’m happy for you, Archer.”

“Happy for me? Look, Liberty, I’m not marrying the woman. I’m just trying to help her out of a jam, same as she’s doing for me.”

“Okay, sure, if you say so. I got an early set call tomorrow. Good night.”

Before he could say anything else, he heard the receiver click back into place. He slowly put the phone down and wondered what the hell all that was about.