Page 113 - Labelle Gramercy, On the Case

Soaked to the Bone

else a drink, and certainly not of the good stuff. Always plenty of
decanted cheap whisky in the cabinet for the unwary.
“Were you here yesterday?”
Labelle Gramercy’s question snapped me forward into the present
for an instant before whiplashing me back to the immediate past. I
exhaled noisily and handed over my cell phone and organizer.
“No, but I could have been. I’m an employee of Troglo Films, but
I actually work for Fish, wherever he is and whenever he feels like it.
Or did.”
She flipped open the phone and dialed a number. “Lieutenant
Gramercy, badge CA5673. Complete log, three months.”
Great, I thought. That will teach me not to make certain calls to
certain people on company time. Maybe Troglo won’t find out about
me conducting personal business at their expense on their phone; at
least, please, not the calls to Magnapix in search of another job! The
lady cop, obviously no stranger to the electronic appurtenances of
urban life, had moved on to my organizer, playing its keys like an
accordionist at a polka competition.
“I see you intended to call ‘Tim’ yesterday morning. Who is that,
what about and did you?”
“Fish’s stepson and sometime screenwriter. It was a business call.
I made it before noon.” As you will no doubt find out from the
wireless phone company, I added to myself.
“How many times was Fish married?”
Hooked, you mean. “Three that I know of. Tim’s mother, who
had been the second wife of Shady Lane, the agent and talent scout;
Marsha Lehr, the drum majorette who arrived here with five dollars,
had a bit part in a Fish film and left in a straitjacket; and Blanche
Colombo, who we think he either divorced or never actually
married—at any rate, she has not been seen or heard of in many
years.”
“Where is Tim’s mother?”
“In an urn. Her name was Josephine Castor; after G.F. humiliated
her in public for the drinking problem he probably created, she
married a stand-up comedian, Brad Castor, who was no example of
sobriety himself. Jo blew out her liver killing the pain.”
“So you knew her?”

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