Free East of Desolation by Jack Higgins

concern. “I’ll see you to your room.”
    “That isn’t necessary.”
    “Nonsense, I insist. Time we were all in bed anyway. It’s been a long day and tomorrow could be even longer.”
    We all stood and she held out her hand to me. “Thank you, Mr. Martin—thank you for all your help.”
    Desforge smiled down at her. “Don’t forget now. If there’s anything I can do—anything . . .”
    “I’ll remember.” She smiled up at him warmly, the dark eyes shining for a moment, then walked away on Vogel’s arm. Stratton said good night and followed them and Desforge and I sat down.
    He sighed and shook his head. “There goes a real lady, Joe. I thought they’d gone out of style.”
    “You think so?”
    “I know so.” He frowned. “I don’t know why, but you seem to be doing your level best to give her a hard time.”
    “She’ll survive,” I said.
    Either he hadn’t detected the acid in my voice or chose to ignore it, but he carried straight on as if I hadn’t spoken. “She reminds me of someone I used to know a longtime ago—Lilian Courtney. You ever heard of her, Joe?”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “She was one of the great original stars of the silent screen. Made her first picture before the first world war. She dropped out when talkies came in. It sounds crazy now, but she thought the whole thing was just a flash in the pan.”
    “I think I remember her now,” I said. “Wasn’t there some scandal concerning her death? Drugs or something?”
    He flared up instantly. “That’s a damned lie. There were always people who hated her—hated her for what she was—a lady. A real lady in a world of phonies.”
    He beckoned to the waiter and ordered whisky. “Strange, but the older you get, the more you start looking back and the harder you look, the more you realise what a game of chance the whole thing is. The right street corner at the right time.”
    “I’m with you there,” I said. “What was yours?”
    “The end of the pier in Santa Barbara in 1930—a fine rainy night with the fog rolling in. That’s when I met Lilian. She’d gone out for a walk in the rain—one of her weaknesses as I discovered when I got to know her better. Some bum tried to get fresh with her.”
    “And you intervened?”
    “That’s it.” He stared back into the past, a slight smile on his mouth. “I was just sixteen—a raw kid fresh from Wisconsin who wanted to act. She did everything for me. Clothes, grooming—even sent me to drama school for a while and, most important of all, she got me my first part in pictures.”
    “And what did you have to do in return?” I said. “Sit up and beg?”
    It was a cruel and senseless remark that I regretted at once, but I got no chance to apologise. I wasn’t even aware of his hand moving, but he had me by the throat with a strength I never knew he possessed and there was a fire in his eyes like hot coals as I started to choke.
    “Not a thing—not a solitary damned thing. She treated me like a son. She was a lady, do you hear me? The last time I heard a man say a wrong word about her I broke his jaw.”
    He released me suddenly and I sucked in air. “I get the message. Sarah Kelso’s the first lady you’ve met since?”
    “She’s got quality, that’s for sure and it’s a scarce commodity in the world we live in.” He emptied his glass and shook his head. “What’s it all about, Joe? Life, living, the whole bit. Ever ask yourself?”
    “At a rough average I’d say around twenty-seven times a day.”
    “You can always see the funny side,” he said, “I wish to hell I could.” He stared sombrely into space. “I’ve been living on Stage 6 at Horizon Studios for so long that nothing seems real any more.”
    “Except Sarah Kelso?”
    There was a cutting edge to my voice that I was unable to conceal and he was immediately aware of it and frowned. “What do you mean?”
    “And the good Mr. Hans Vogel and his associate—the claims surveyor who can