Page 53 (1/1)
"But she won’t find out, so there’s nothing to worry about By the way, did you ever find out what little town in Idaho she’s froood I appreciate that She neverin New Mexico, did she?"
Moza shook her head and began to pat her chest as if she were burping herself "Please hurry," she said "I don’t knohat I’d do if she came back"
I wasn’t sureon the light On the other side of the door, I heard Moza shuffling back toward the front of the house,to herself
The room was furnished with an ancient wood-veneer bedroom suite that I doubt could be called "antique" The pieces looked like the ones I’ve seen out on thrift-shop sidewalks in don Los Angeles: creaky,oddly of wet ash There was a chiffonier,table with a round mirror set between banks of drawers The bed fra white, and the spread was chenille in a dusty rose with fringe on the sides The wallpaper was a turound There were several sepia photographs of a ined was Mr Lowenstein; someone, at any rate, who favored hair slicked doater and spectacles with round gold rims He appeared to be in his twenties, shtly protruding teeth The studio had tinted his cheeks a pinkish tone, slightly at odds with the rest of the photo, but the effect was nice I’d heard that Moza ed in 1945 I would have loved seeing a picture of her in those days Almost reluctantly, I turned back to the task at hand
Three narros were locked on the inside, shades drawn I lih screens rusted into the old wooden fraone, at the very least, an hour, and I didn’t think I needed to provide ency exit On the other hand, there isn’t any point in being dus I went back to the door and opened it, leaving it ajar Moza had turned off the TV set and I pictured her peeking through the front curtain, heart in her throat, which is about where looht on I started with the chiffonier I did a preliht to check for any crude atteh, Lila had booby-trapped a couple of drawers by affixing a strand of hair slyly across the crack I removed these beauties and placed them carefully on the hand-crocheted runner on top
The first drawer contained a juether, embroidered handkerchiefs, a watch case, hairpins, a few stray buttons, and two pairs of white cotton gloves I stared for a long ti why any of it warranted a protective strand of hair Actually, anybody snooping in Lila’s things would probably start here and work down, so maybe it was just a ready reference on her part, a checkpoint each time she returned to her room I tried the next drahich was filled with neat piles of nylon underpants in a quite large old-lady style I ran an experi careful not to disturb the order I couldn’t feel anything significant; no handgun, no unidentifiable boxes or buain and peered up at the underside Nothing taped to the botto the back Hello! Score one for my teaainst the back panel of the drawer and secured bytape on all four sides I took out my penknife and slid the s it up so I could re In it was an Idaho drivers license in the name of Delilah Sampson The woman had a real biblical sense of huht, weight, hair and eye color, much of which seemed to apply to the woman I knew as Lila Sams God, I had really hit pay dirt I slipped the license back into the envelope, returned the envelope to its hiding place, and pressed the ainst the wood I squinted critically at my handiwork Looked untouched towith soht red the instant I washed theain Wouldn’t that be a bitch!
The back of the second draas also being used as a little safe-deposit box, containing a stack of credit cards and yet another drivers license The name on this one was Delia Sims, with an address in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and a date of birth that ain, I made a note of the details and carefully returned the docu quickly at my watch Seven thirty-two I was still OK, but I had a lot of ground to cover yet I continuedthe contents of each drawer undisturbed