Page 19 of Hanging and Burning

“He’s my client.”

“What business are you in?”

“I’m a private investigator.”

Her forehead creased into half a dozen curved and yet parallel lines. She took long enough to respond that our drinks were served.

“You know Arman?” I asked and then sipped my drink.

There was a hint of absinthe and lime inside the unfamiliar bourbon. It was a fantastic concoction.

“Never met him,” she said with some finality, then added, “But my uncle, Uncle Malto, was friends with him, I think. They were business partners at one time.”

“Malto Lamming?” I asked.

“Yes. Do you know him?”

“Like you with Arman,” I admitted. “I’ve heard of him.”

“A lot of that going around.”

“What was their business?”

“This nightclub, when it was still in New York.”

She removed her hand from mine.

“Malto live in LA?” I asked.

“He does.”

“I would really like to meet him.”

“Where you staying?”

I told her.

“Let me go make a call.”

While Caledonia was off talking on her cell phone I paid for the drinks: $87.95, before tip.

When the lady in charge returned, she said, “He didn’t answer, so I left him a message.”

“You think he’ll get it?”

“I represent one of his major streams of income. He always takes my calls—sooner or later.”

She didn’t thank me for paying for her drink. I didn’t expect her to.

We shared a few more pleasantries and then I had the valet bring out my VW Bug and made my way back toward the hotel. On the way I made an insurance call to New York.

When I walked into the lobby of the Royal Palace, a man stood up from the concierge station. The concierge wasn’t there at that time of night, so the visitor had taken the chair behind the desk.

He was a tall and lean white man, maybe six three, dressed almost entirely in black—suit, shirt, shoes, even his Stetson. The only clothing he wore that was another color were his bloodred socks, them and the thick gold band on his wedding finger.

The white man walked up to me and said, “Mr. Oliver.”

“Yeah?” That was the moment I decided to go armed for the rest of my sojourn in sunny Southern California.