A Gambling Man (Archer #2)(117)

“Why would I lie?”

“Because who you really saw over my shoulder was whoever killed Sheen. They were giving you the high sign. And I told you I was going to go look for Sheen. You couldn’t have that. So what did you do? You invited me to your place for a little fun between the sheets, and I forgot all about Wilson Sheen until you got the call the next morning. And since I was with you at all relevant times, you got yourself a prime alibi to boot. It was on the fly and neatly done. I’ll give you that.”

She took a cigarette from the bowl and lit it. “You’re nuts.”

“Am I? I’d explain it all like they do in the detective novels, but it would take too much time and you already know what I’m going to say.”

“You’re making me out to be some criminal.”

“You made yourself out to be one by committing criminal acts. Funny how that works.” He took out a pillbox from her purse and withdrew a pill from it. “I saw this pillbox in your purse before, but it was empty. And that same bouncer asked me if I was a customer of yours. A customer for what, I wonder?”

Darling just stared at him, lips pursed, legs still primly crossed at the ankles, the smoke in her hand.

“You sell drugs, Wilma.” He looked at the pill. “Amphetamines.”

“You know about amphetamines, Archer? I’m impressed.”

“Army used to give them out like candy in the war. Made you not feel tired even though you hadn’t slept for days. Made you not feel hungry so they didn’t have to stop the fighting to feed you. Made you act like a lion when you felt like a mouse.” He put the pill back and returned the box to the purse. “And you’re also selling to the gals in your office. That’s why they could work dawn to dusk and move like someone had stuck their fingers in a wall socket. Must pay well. You got the place in Bay Town, this place here. A new car. Nice clothes. Yeah, what a success you are.”

“Everything I have I worked for.”

“Oh, yeah, you did. And you said you went to Midnight Moods regularly. I’m betting you sold to the gals there, too. Like Ruby Fraser. You sold her pills. And I’m thinking you were the one who fingered her to be the patsy in all this. Put her at the center of this phony blackmail scheme with Kemper, and then they cut her throat out. And then you set up poor Wilson Sheen and removed any alibi Kemper has for Fraser’s murder. You probably got that info from one of them while at the office and passed it along to the appropriate party.”

“You weave a good tale, Archer. Good thing for me the cops only care about facts.”

“Let me give you some then. They killed Dr. Myron O’Donnell tonight and made it look like a narcotics hit. In the process, they slit the throat of a harmless old man who spent his days going up and down in an elevator reading the Gazette and swigging his cheap rum after a really shitty life. I look down on folks who kill other folks, unless you happen to be in a war. So that makes you an accessory to two more murders, Wilma. Even if they don’t send you to the gas chamber you’re getting at least twenty-five to life.” He checked her purse again. “Where’s the Derringer?”

“A lady has to protect herself, Archer. You got a gun. Why shouldn’t I have a gun?”

“Under any other circumstances, I would agree with you. But I’m fresh out of understanding right now. So where is it?”

“I dumped it. It was making me nervous.”

He decided to let this pass, for now, and kept the gun pointed right at her, his finger on the trigger guard.

“So I get no points at all for screwing you? ’Cause I know you enjoyed it, lover boy. Guys can’t fake it, only the gals can do that, only I admit I didn’t have to with you.”

“Yeah, and now that I know the truth about you, I’ll be taking three showers a day to try to get the stink off.”

“A girl has to do what a girl has to do to survive, Archer. But being a man, you would have no clue.”

“I know lots of gals who get by just fine without selling drugs and helping people kill other people.”

“I never wanted to be like ‘lots of gals.’ ”

“And thank God lots of gals never want to be like you. I hope the money you got paid was worth it. And I’m betting it was a lot more than a grand.”

She hiked her eyebrows. “So where does all this leave you and me?”

“In a difficult spot.”

“You have no proof of anything.”

“That’s my difficult spot. But I just wanted to let you know that I know the truth.”

“How decent of you, Archer. I was half serious when I asked where I could get a dozen of you. Of course, you’d start to bore me at some point. See, I don’t like the shiny knights. I like the bad boys who take what they want when they want.”

“Yeah, I know all about them. And the bad girls, too, like you.”

“What a choirboy you turned out to be.”

“I tell you what. Give up Sawyer Armstrong and get a few years shaved off your sentence. He framed his son-in-law for a double murder that Kemper had no part in. Can’t let a guy like that walk the last mile to San Quentin.”

“And why not?” She ground out her cigarette on the tabletop and sat back.

“If you have to ask, any explanation I could give you would be a waste of time.”