The Big Sleep: Chapter 12

She answered that - with a foxy glitter rising at the back of her eyes. "Remember what? I was sick last night. I was home." Her voice was a cautious throaty sound that just reached my ears.

"Like hell you were."

Her eyes flickered up and went down quickly.

"Before you went home," I said, "Before I took you home. Here. Tied to that bench" - I pointed to it - "You remember all right."

A slow flush crept up her throat. That was something. She could blush. A glint of white showed under the clogged grey irises.

"You - were the one?" She whispered.

"Me. How much of it stays with you?"

She said vaguely, "Are you the police?"

"No. I'm a friend of your father's."

"You're not the police?"

"No."

She let out a thin sigh. "What do you want?"

"Who killed him?"

Her shoulders jerked, but nothing more moved in her face. "Who else knows?"

"About Geiger? I don't know. Not the police, or they'd me camping here. Maybe Joe Brody."

It was a stab in the dark but it got her. "Joe Brody! Him!"

Then we were both silent. I dragged at my cigarette.

"Don't get clever, for God's sake," I urged her, "This is a spot for a little old-fashioned simplicity. Did Brody kill him?"

"Kill who?"

"Oh, Christ," I said.

She looked hurt. Her chin came down a centimetre. "Yes," she said solemnly, "Joe did it."

"Why?"

"I don't know." She shook her head, persuading herself that she didn't know.

"Seen much of him lately?"

Her hands went down and made small white knots. "Just one or twice. I hate him."

"Then you know where he lives."

"Yes."

"And you don't like him anymore?"

"I hate him."

"Then you'd like him for the spot."

A little blank again. I was going too fast for her. It was hard not to. "Are you willing to tell the police it was Joe Brody?" I probed.

Sudden panic flamed all over her face. "If I can kill the bondage holo angle, of course," I added soothingly. She giggled. That gave me a nasty feeling. If she had screeched or wept or even nosedived to the floor in a dead faint, that would have been alright. She just giggled. It was suddenly a lot of fun. She had had her holo taken being fucked in every hole and somebody had swiped the media card and somebody had bumped off Geiger in front of her and she was drunker than a Martian sports bar, and it was suddenly a lot of nice clean fun. So she giggled. Very cute. The giggles got louder and ran around the corners of the room like rats in the wainscoting. She started to go hysterical. I slid off the desk and stepped up close to her and gave her a smack on the side of the face.

Part 1

Part 3