Gabray frowned, pinched his cigarette, sucked smoke through It.
“You’re saying you can help me?”
“Depends on what you come up with.”
“I seen her.”
“With a guy?”
Nod.
“Tell me the whole thing, Robert.”
“That’s it.”
“Tell it like a story. Once upon a time.”
Gabray snickered. “Yeah, sure. Once upon a time . . I seen her with
a guy. The end.”
“In the club?”
“Outside.”
“Where outside?”
“Like… a block away.”
“That the only time you saw her?”
Gabray contemplated. “Maybe I seen her another time, inside.
“Was she a regular?”
“Whatever.”
Milo sighed and patted the barkeep’s shoulder. “Robert, Robert,
Robert.”
Gabray flinched with each mention of his name. “What?”
“That’s not much of a story.”
Gabray ground out his cigarette and produced another. He waited for
Milo to light it and when that didn’t happen, pulled out a book of
matches and did it himself.
“I seen her maybe one more time,” he said. “That’s it. I only worked
there a couple of weeks.”
“Trouble holding down a job, Robert?”
“I like to move around, man.”
A ramblin’ guy.”
“Whatever.”
“Twice in a couple of weeks,” said Milo. “Sounds like she enjoyed the
place.”
“Fuckheads,” said Gabray with sudden passion. All a them, rich dumb
fucks, coming down to play street-life, then running back to Rodeo
Drive.”
“Dawn Herbert come across as a rich bitch?”
“They’re all the same, man.”
“Ever talk to her?”
Alarm in the barkeep’s eyes. “Nah. Like I said, I only seen her once,
maybe twice. That’s it. I didn’t know her from shit-I had nothing to
do with her and nothing to do with that.” Pointing at the photo.
“You’re sure about that.”
“Real sure. Really real sure, man. That is not my thing.”
“Tell me about seeing her with this guy.”
“Like I said, once upon a time I was working there and once upon a time
I went to take a smoke and seen her. Only reason I remembered was
cause a the guy. He wasn’t one a them.”
“One of who?”
“The fuckheads. She was, but not him. He, like, stood out.”
“Stood out how?”
“Straight.”
“Businessman?”
“Nah.”
“What then?”
Gabray shrugged.
“Was he wearing a suit, Robert?”
Gabray smoked hard and thought. “Nah. Kinda like youSears Roebuck,
that kind of jacket.” Drawing his hands across his waist.
A windbreaker?”
“Yeah.”
“What color?”
“I dunno-dark. It was a long “Time ago,” said Milo. “What else was he
wearing?”
“Pants, shoes, whatever. He looked like you.” Smile. Smoke.
“In what way?”
“I dunno.”
“Heavyset?”
“Yeah.”
“My age?”
“Yeah.”
“My height?”
“Yeah.”
“Same hair as me?”
“Yeah.”
“You have two dicks ?”
“Ye- Huh?”
“Cut the crap, Robert. What was his hair like?”
“Short.”
“Bald or a full head?”
Gabray frowned and touched his own bare dome. “He had hair,” he said
grudgingly.
“Beard or mustache?”
“I dunno. It was far.”
“But you don’t remember any facial hair?”
“No.”
“How old was he?”
“I dunno-fifty, forty, whatever.”
“You’re twenty-nine and he was much older than you?”
“Eight. Next month I’m twenty-nine.”
“Happy birthday. He was older than you?”
A lot older.”
“Old enough to be your father?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe?”
“Nah-not old enough. Forty, forty-five.”
“Hair color?”
“I dunno-brown.”
“Maybe or definitely?”
“Probably.”
“Light or dark brown?”
“I dunno. It was nighttime.”
“What color was her hair?”
“You got the picture there.”
Milo shoved the photo in the barkeep’s face. “Is this what she looked
like when you saw her?”
Gabray pulled back and licked his lips. “Uh-uh-it was .
her hair was different.”
“Sure it was,” said Milo. “It was sitting on an intact skull.”
“Yeah-no-I mean the color. You know, yellow. Real yellowlike
scrambled eggs. You could see it in the light.”
“She was under a light?”
“I guess. . . yeah. The two a them were- a streetlight. Just for a
sec, till they heard me and split.”
“You didn’t tell the other detectives about any light.”
“They didn’t ask.”
Milo lowered the picture. Gabray smoked and looked away.
Milo said, “What were Ms. Herbert and this straight-looking guy doing
under the light?”
“Talking.”
“His hair wasn’t blond?”
“I told you, hers was. You could see it, man-it was like a.