1At somewhere around eleven I got down to the bottom of the grade and parked in one of the diagonal slots at the side of the Prescott Hotel in San Bernardino. I pulled an overnight bag out of the boot and had taken three steps with it when a bellhop in braided pants and a white shirt and black bow tie yanked it out of my hand.

2The clerk on duty was an eggheaded man with no interest in me or in anything else. He wore parts of a white linen suit and he yawned as he handed me the desk pen and looked off into the distance as if remembering his childhood.

3The hop and I rode a four by four elevator to the second floor and walked a couple of blocks around corners. As we walked it got hotter and hotter. The hop unlocked a door into a boy's size room with one window on an airshaft. The air-conditioner inlet up in the corner of the ceiling was about the size of a woman's handkerchief. The bit of ribbon tied to it fluttered weakly, just to show that something was moving.

4The hop was tall and thin and yellow and not young and as cool as a slice of chicken in aspic. He moved his gum around in his face, put my bag on a chair, looked up at the grating and then stood looking at me. He had eyes the color of a drink of water.

5"Maybe I ought to have asked for one of the dollar rooms," I said. "This one seems a mite close-fitting."

6"I reckon you're lucky to get one at all. This town's fair bulgin' at the seams."

7"Bring us up some ginger ale and glasses and ice," I said.

8"Us?"

9"That is, if you happen to be a drinking man."

10"I reckon I might take a chance this late."

11He went out. I took off my coat, tie, shirt and undershirt and walked around in the warm draft from the open door. The draft smelled of hot iron. I went into the bathroom sideways—it was that kind of bathroom—and doused myself with tepid cold water. I was breathing a little more freely when the tall languid hop returned with a tray. He shut the door and I brought out a bottle of rye. He mixed a couple of drinks and we made the usual insincere smiles over them and drank. The perspiration started from the back of my neck down my spine and was halfway to my socks before I put the glass down. But I felt better all the same. I sat on the bed and looked at the hop.

12"How long can you stay?"

13"Doin' what?"

14"Remembering."

15"I ain't a damn bit of use at it," he said.

16"I have money to spend," I said, "in my own peculiar way." I got my wallet unstuck from the lower part of my back and spread tired-looking dollar bills along the bed.

17"I beg yore pardon," the hop said. "I reckon you might be a dick."

18"Don't be silly," I said. "You never saw a dick playing solitaire with his own money. You might call me an investigator."

19"I'm interested," he said. "The likker makes my mind work."

20I gave him a dollar bill. "Try that on your mind. And can I call you Big Tex from Houston?"

21"Amarillo," he said. "Not that it matters. And how do you like my Texas drawl? It makes me sick, but I find people go for it."

22"Stay with it," I said. "It never lost anybody a dollar yet."

23He grinned and tucked the folded dollar neatly into the watch pocket of his pants.

24"What were you doing on Friday, June 12th?" I asked him. "Late afternoon or evening. It was a Friday."

25He sipped his drink and thought, shaking the ice around gently and drinking past his gum. "I was right here, six to twelve shift," he said.

26"A woman, slim, pretty blonde, checked in here and stayed until time for the night train to El Paso. I think she must have taken that because she was in El Paso Sunday morning. She came here driving a Packard Clipper registered to Crystal Grace Kingsley, 965 Carson Drive, Beverly Hills. She may have registered as that, or under some other name, and she may not have registered at all. Her car is still in the hotel garage. I'd like to talk to the boys that checked her in and out. That wins another dollar—just thinking about it."

27I separated another dollar from my exhibit and it went into his pocket with a sound like caterpillars fighting.

28"Can do," he said calmly.

29He put his glass down and left the room, closing the door. I finished my drink and made another. I went into the bathroom and used some more warm water on my torso. While I was doing this the telephone on the wall tinkled and I wedged myself into the minute space between the bathroom door and the bed to answer it.

30The Texas voice said: "That was Sonny. He was inducted last week. Another boy we call Les checked her out. He's here."

31"Okay. Shoot him up, will you?"

32I was playing with my second drink and thinking about the third when a knock came and I opened the door to a small, green-eyed rat with a tight, girlish mouth.

33He came in almost dancing and stood looking at me with a faint sneer.

34"Drink?"

35"Sure," he said coldly. He poured himself a large one and added a whisper of ginger ale, put the mixture down in one long swallow, tucked a cigarette between his smooth little lips and snapped a match alight while it was coming up from his pocket. He blew smoke and went on staring at me. The corner of his eye caught the money on the bed, without looking directly at it. Over the pocket of his shirt, instead of a number, the word Captain was stitched.

36"You Les?" I asked him.

37"No." He paused. "We don't like dicks here," he added. "We don't have one of our own and we don't care to bother with dicks that are working for other people."

38"Thanks," I said. "That will be all."

39"Huh?" The small mouth twisted unpleasantly.

40"Beat it," I said.

41"I thought you wanted to see me," he sneered.

42"You're the bell captain?"

43"Check."

44"I wanted to buy you a drink. I wanted to give you a buck. Here." I held it out to him. "Thanks for coming up."

45He took the dollar and pocketed it, without a word of thanks. He hung there, smoke trailing from his nose, his eyes tight and mean.

46"What I say here goes," he said.

47"It goes as far as you can push it," I said. "And that couldn't be very far. You had your drink and you had your graft. Now you can scram out."

48He turned with a swift tight shrug and slipped out of the room noiselessly.

49Four minutes passed, then another knock, very light. The tall boy came in grinning. I walked away from him and sat on the bed again.

50"You didn't take to Les, I reckon?"

51"Not a great deal. Is he satisfied?"

52"I reckon so. You know what captains are. They have to have their cut. Maybe you better call me Les, Mr. Marlowe."

53"So you checked her out."

54"No, that was all a stall. She never checked in at the desk. But I remember the Packard. She gave me a dollar to put it away for her and to look after her stuff until train time. She ate dinner here. A dollar gets you remembered in this town. And there's been talk about the car bein' left so long."

55"What was she like to look at?"

56"She wore a black and white outfit, mostly white, and a panama hat with a black and white band. She was a neat blonde lady like you said. Later on she took a hack to the station. I put her bags into it for her. They had initials on them but I'm sorry I can't remember the initials."

57"I'm glad you can't," I said. "It would be too good. Have a drink. How old would she be?"

58He rinsed the other glass and mixed a civilized drink for himself.

59"It's mighty hard to tell a woman's age these days," he said. "I reckon she was about thirty, or a little more or a little less."

60I dug in my coat for the snapshot of Crystal and Lavery on the beach and handed it to him.

61He looked at it steadily and held it away from his eyes, then close.

62"You won't have to swear to it in court," I said.

63He nodded. "I wouldn't want to. These small blondes are so much of a pattern that a change of clothes or light or makeup makes them all alike or all different." He hesitated, staring at the snapshot.

64"What's worrying you?" I asked.

65"I'm thinking about the gent in this snap. He enter into it at all?"

66"Go on with that," I said.

67"I think this fellow spoke to her in the lobby, and had dinner with her. A tall good-lookin' jasper, built like a fast light-heavy. He went in the back with her too."

68"Quite sure about that?"

69He looked at the money on the bed.

70"Okay, how much does it cost?" I asked wearily.

71He stiffened, laid the snapshot down and drew the two folded bills from his pocket and tossed them on the bed.

72"I thank you for the drink," he said, "and to hell with you." He started for the door.

73"Oh sit down and don't be so touchy," I growled.

74He sat down and looked at me stiff-eyed.

75"And don't be so damn southern," I said. "I've been knee deep in hotel hops for a lot of years. If I've met one who wouldn't pull a gag, that's fine. But you can't expect me to expect to meet one that wouldn't pull a gag."

76He grinned slowly and nodded quickly. He picked the snapshot up again and looked at me over it.

77"This gent takes a solid photo," he said. "Much more so than the lady. But there was another little item that made me remember him. I got the impression the lady didn't quite like him walking up to her so openly in the lobby."

78I thought that over and decided it didn't mean anything much. He might have been late or have missed some earlier appointment. I said:

79"There's a reason for that. Did you notice what jewelry the lady was wearing? Rings, ear-pendants, anything that looked conspicuous or valuable?"

80He hadn't noticed, he said.

81"Was her hair long or short, straight or waved or curly, natural blonde or bleached?"

82He laughed. "Hell, you can't tell that last point, Mr. Marlowe. Even when it's natural they want it lighter. As to the rest, my recollection is it was rather long, like they're wearing it now and turned in a little at the bottom and rather straight. But I could be wrong." He looked at the snapshot again. "She has it bound back here. You can't tell a thing."

83"That's right," I said. "And the only reason I asked you was to make sure you didn't over-observe. The guy that sees too much detail is just as unreliable a witness as the guy that doesn't see any. He's nearly always making half of it up. You check just about right, considering the circumstances. Thanks very much."

84I gave him back his two dollars and a five to keep them company. He thanked me, finished his drink and left softly. I finished mine and washed off again and decided I would rather drive home than sleep in that hole. I put my shirt and coat on again and went downstairs with my bag.

85The redheaded rat of a captain was the only hop in the lobby. I carried my bag over to the desk and he didn't move to take it off my hands. The eggheaded clerk separated me from two dollars without even looking at me.

86"Two bucks to spend the night in this manhole," I said, "when for free I could have a nice airy ashcan."

87The clerk yawned, got a delayed reaction, and said brightly: "It gets quite cool here about three in the morning. From then on until eight, or even nine, it's quite pleasant."

88I wiped the back of my neck and staggered out to the car. Even the seat of the car was hot, at midnight.

89I got home about two-forty-five and Hollywood was an icebox. Even Pasadena had felt cool.