Black money by Ross MacDonald Page A

it."

    "With your heel?"

    "Yes."

    He stamped on the asphalt. "I'm a fencer, very fast on my feet."

    "I bet you are. May I see the corpse?"

    "It would be hard to find, perhaps impossible. I threw it into the undergrowth for the bobcats. We have wild animals up here in the hills, don't we, ma cherie?"

    Ginny dropped her hands and said yes. She was looking at Martel with a combination of respect and fear. Perhaps it was a form of love, I thought, but not one of the usual forms. His voice filled the vacuum again: "My wife and I are very fond of the wild animals."

    "But not the rats."

    "No. Not the rats." He offered me his wide cold grin. Above it his eyes and forceful nose seemed to be probing at me. "Can I persuade you to leave now, Mr. Archer? I've been quite patient with you and your questions. And please take this one with you."

    He jerked his head toward Peter as if the fat young man didn't quite belong to the human race.

    Peter said: "Ask him the five questions, why don't you?"

    Martel raised his eyebrows. "Five questions? About myself"

    "Not directly."

    Now that the time had come to ask the question, they seemed childish, even ludicrous. The light-operatic note on which the scene had balanced was giving way to opera bouffe. The courtyard under the light, surrounded by the amphitheater of the canyon, was like a stage where nothing real could happen.

    I said reluctantly: "The questions are about French culture. I've been told that an educated Frenchman ought to be able to answer them."

    "And you doubt that I am an educated Frenchman?"

    "You have a chance to prove it once and for all. Will you take a stab at the questions?"

    He shrugged. "Pourquoi pas? Why not?"

    I got out the two sheets of paper. "One. Who wrote the original Les Liaisons dangereuses and who made the modernized film version?"

    "Les Liaisons dangereuses," he said slowly, correcting my pronunciation. "Choderlos de Laclos wrote the novel. Roger Vadim made the cinema version. I believe that Vadim collaborated with Roger Vailland on the screen play. Is that enough, or do you want me to outline the plot for you? It's quite complex, having to do with the diabolical sexual intrigue and the corruption of innocence."

    His voice was sardonic.

    "We won't bother with that just now. Question two. Complete the phrase: 'Hypocrite lecteur - "' "'Hypocrite lecteur, mon semblable, mon frere. 'Hypocritical reader, my brother, my - comment-a-dire? - duplicate?"

    He appealed to Ginny.

    "Mirror image," she said with a small half-smile. "-It's from the front of Les Fleurs du mal."

    "I can recite many of those poems if you like," Martel said.

    "That won't be necessary. Three. Name the great French painter who believed Dreyfus was guilty."

    "Degas was the most prominent."

    "Four. What gland did Descartes designate as the residence of the human soul?"

    "The pineal gland."

    Martel smiled. "That's a rather obscure point, but it happens I read Descartes nearly every day of my life."

    "Five. Who was mainly responsible for getting Jean Genet released from prison?"

    "Jean-Paul Sartre, I suppose you mean. Cocteau and others also had a hand in the deliverance. Is that all?"

    "That's all. You scored a hundred."

    "Will you reward me now by disappearing?"

    "Answer one more question, since you're so good at answering them. Who are you and what are you doing here?"

    He stiffened. "I'm under no obligation to tell you."

    "I thought you might want to lay the rumors to rest."

    "Rumors don't bother me."

    "But you're not the only person involved, now that you've married a local girl."

    He saw my point. "Very well. I will tell you why I am here, in return for a quid pro quo. Tell me who is the man who tried to take my picture."

    "His name is Harry Hendricks. He's a used-car salesman from the San Fernando Valley."

    Martel's eyes were puzzled. "I never heard of him. Why did he try to photograph me?"

    "Apparently someone paid him. He didn't say who."

    "I can guess,"