Farewell, My Lovely by Raymond Chandler Read Free Book Online Page A

steps to the main part of the living room. The carpet almost tickled my ankles. There was a concert grand piano, closed down. On one corner of it stood a tall silver vase on a strip of peach-colored velvet, and a single yellow rose in the vase. There was plenty of nice soft furniture, a great many floor cushions, some with golden tassels and some just naked. It was a nice room, if you didn't get rough. There was a wide damask covered divan in a shadowy corner, like a casting couch. It was the kind of room where people sit with their feet in their laps and sip absinthe through lumps of sugar and talk with high affected voices and sometimes just squeak. It was a room where anything could happen except work.
    Mr. Lindsay Marriott arranged himself in the curve of the grand piano, leaned over to sniff at the yellow rose, then opened a French enamel cigarette case and lit a long brown cigarette with a gold tip. I sat down on a pink chair and hoped I wouldn't leave a mark on it. I lit a Camel, blew smoke through my nose and looked at a piece of shiny metal on a stand. It showed a full, smooth curve with a shallow fold in it and two protuberances on the curve. I stared at it, Marriott saw me staring at it.
    "An interesting bit," he said negligently. "I picked it up just the other day. Asta Dial's Spirit of Dawn."
    "I thought it was Klopstein's Two Warts on a Fanny," I said.
    Mr. Lindsay Marriott's face looked as if he had swallowed a bee. He smoothed it out with an effort.
    "You have a somewhat peculiar sense of humor," he said.
    "Not peculiar," I said. "Just uninhibited."
    "Yes," he said very coldly. "Yes--of course. I've no doubt. . .Well, what I wished to see you about is, as a matter of fact, a very slight matter indeed. Hardly worth bringing you down here for. I am meeting a couple of men tonight and paying them some money. I thought I might as well have someone with me. You carry a gun?"
    "At times. Yes," I said. I looked at the dimple in his broad, fleshy chin. You could have lost a marble in it.
    "I shan't want you to carry that. Nothing of that sort at all. This is a purely business transaction."
    "I hardly ever shoot anybody," I said. "A matter of blackmail?"
    He frowned. "Certainly not. I'm not in the habit of giving people grounds for blackmail."
    "It happens to the nicest people. I might say particularly to the nicest people."
    He waved his cigarette. His aquamarine eyes had a faintly thoughtful expression, but his lips smiled. The kind of smile that goes with a silk noose.
    He blew some more smoke and tilted his head back. This accentuated the soft firm lines of his throat. His eyes came down slowly and studied me.
    "I'm meeting these men--most probably--in a rather lonely place. I don't know where yet. I expect a call giving me the particulars. I have to be ready to leave at once. It won't be very far away from here. That's the understanding."
    "You've been making this deal some time?"
    "Three or four days, as a matter of fact."
    "You left your bodyguard problem until pretty late."
    He thought that over. He snicked some dark ash from his cigarette. "That's true. I had some difficulty making my mind up. It would be better for me to go alone, although nothing has been said definitely about my having someone with me. On the other hand I'm not much of a hero."
    "They know you by sight, of course?"
    "I--I'm not sure. I shall be carrying a large amount of money and it is not my money. I'm acting for a friend. I shouldn't feel justified in letting it out of my possession, of course."
    I snubbed out my cigarette and leaned back in the pink chair and twiddled my thumbs. "How much money--and what for?"
    "Well, really--" it was a fairly nice smile now, but I still didn't like it. "I can't go into that."
    "You just want me to go along and hold your hat?"
    His hand jerked again and some ash fell off on his white cuff. He shook it off and stared down at the place where it had been.
    "I'm afraid I don't like your manner," he said,