"You certainly may," Ralph said. "The beauty of it is that Simon Lashman should be able to tell you who she is."

"Is he in town?"

"No. He lives in Tucson. We should have a record of his address. We've bought several of his paintings over the years."

"Right now, I'd rather look at the one in the basement."

Ralph unlocked a door. The three of us went downstairs and along a windowless corridor that reminded me of jails I had known. The workroom where Ralph took me was also windowless, but whitely lit by fluorescent tubes in the ceiling.

The picture on the table was a full-length nude. The woman looked much older than she had in the Biemeyer painting. There were marks of pain at the corners of her eyes and mouth. Her breasts were larger, and they drooped a little. Her entire body was less confident.

Betty looked from the sorrowful painted face to mine, almost as if she were jealous of the woman.

She said to Ralph, "How long ago was this painted?"

"Over twenty years. I checked the file. Lashman called it _Penelope,_ by the way."

"She'd be really old now," Betty said to me. "She's old enough in the picture."

"I'm no spring chicken myself," I said.

She flushed and looked away as if I'd rebuffed her.

I said to Ralph, "Why would the picture be sitting out on the table like this? It isn't where it's usually kept, is it?"

"Of course not. One of the staff must have set it out."

"This morning?"

"That I doubt. There wasn't anyone down here this morning before me. I had to unlock the door."

"Who was down here yesterday?"

"Several people, at least half a dozen. We're preparing a show."

"Including this picture?"

"No. It's a show of Southern California landscapes."

"Was Fred Johnson down here yesterday?"

"As a matter of fact, he was. He put in quite a lot of time sorting through the paintings in the storage room."

"Did he tell you what he was after?"

"Not exactly. He said he was looking for something."

"He was looking for this," Betty said abruptly.

She had forgotten her jealousy of the painted woman, if that is what it had been. Excitement colored her cheekbones. Her eyes were bright.

"Fred is probably on his way to Tucson." She clenched her fists and shook them in the air like an excited child. "Now if I could get Mr. Brailsford to pay my travel expenses-"

I was thinking the same thing about Mr. Biemeyer. But before I approached Biemeyer I decided to try to make a phone call to the painter Lashman.

Ralph got me the painter's number and address out of the file, and left me alone at the desk in his own office.

I dialed Lashman's house in Tucson direct.

A hoarse reluctant voice answered, "Simon Lashman speaking."

"This is Lew Archer calling from the Santa Teresa Art Museum. I'm investigating the theft of a picture. I understand you painted the picture of Penelope in the museum."

There was a silence. Then Lashman's voice creaked like an old door opening: "That was a long time ago. I'm painting better now. Don't tell me someone thought that picture was worth stealing."

"It hasn't been stolen, Mr. Lashman. Whoever painted the stolen picture used the same model as you used for _Penelope"_

"Mildred Mead? Is she still alive and kicking?"

"I was hoping you could tell me."

"I'm sorry, I haven't seen her in some years. She'd be an old woman by now. We're all getting older." His voice was becoming fainter. "She may be dead."

"I hope not. She was a beautiful woman."

"I used to think that Mildred was the most beautiful woman in the Southwest." His voice had become stronger, as if the thought of her beauty had stimulated him. "Who painted the picture you're talking about?"

"It's been attributed to Richard Chantry."

"Really?"

"The attribution isn't certain."

"I'm not surprised. I never heard that he used Mildred as a model." Lashman was silent for a moment. "Can you describe the picture to me?"

"It's a very simple nude in plain colors. Someone said it showed the influence of Indian painting."

"A lot of Chantry's stuff did, in his Arizona period. But none of it is particularly good. Is this one any good?"

"I don't know. It seems to be causing a lot of excitement."

"Does it belong to the Santa Teresa museum?"

"No. It was bought by a man named Biemeyer."

"The copper magnate?"

"That's correct. I'm investigating the theft for Biemeyer."

"To hell with you, then," Lashman said, and hung up.

I dialed his number again. He said, "Who is this?"

"Archer. Please hold on. There's more involved than the theft of a picture here. A man named Paul Grimes was murdered in Santa Teresa last night. Grimes was the dealer who sold the picture to Biemeyer. The sale and the murder are almost certainly connected."

Lashman was silent again. Finally he said, "Who stole the picture?"

"An art student named Fred Johnson. I think he may be on his way to Tucson with it now. And he may turn up on your doorstep."

"Why me?"

"He wants to find Mildred and see who painted her. He seems to be obsessed with the painting. In fact, he may be off his rocker entirely, and he has a young girl traveling with him." I deliberately omitted the fact that she was Biemeyer's daughter.

"Anything else?"

"That's the gist of it."

"Good," he said. "I am seventy-five years old. I'm painting my two-hundred-and-fourteenth picture. If I stopped to attend to other people's problems, I'd never get it finished. So I am going to hang up on you again, Mr. whatever-your-name-is."

"Archer," I said. "Lew Archer, L-E-W A-R-C-H-E-R. YOU can always get my number from Los Angeles information."

Lashman hung up again.

XVI

The morning wind had died down. The air was clear and sparkling. Like a flashing ornament suspended from an infinitely high ceiling, the red-tailed hawk swung over the Biemeyer house.

Jack and Ruth Biemeyer both came out to meet me. They were rather conservatively dressed, like people on their way to a funeral, and they looked as if the funeral might be their own.

The woman reached me first. She had dark circles under her eyes, which she hadn't quite succeeded in covering with makeup.

"Is there any word about Doris?"

"I think she left town with Fred Johnson last night."

"Why didn't you stop her?"

"She didn't give me notice that she was leaving. I couldn't have stopped her if she had."

"Why not?" Ruth Biemeyer was leaning toward me, her handsome head poised like a tomahawk.

"Doris is old enough to be a free agent. She may not be smart enough, but she's old enough."

"Where have they gone?"

"Possibly Arizona. I have a little bit of a lead in Tucson, and I think they may be heading there. I don't know if they have the picture with them. Fred claims it was stolen from _him."_

Jack Biemeyer spoke for the first time. "That's horse manure."

I didn't argue with him. "You're probably right. If you want me to go to Tucson, it's going to cost you more, naturally."

"Naturally." Biemeyer looked past me at his wife. "I told you there would be another bite. There always is."

I felt like hitting him. Instead I turned on my heel and walked to the far end of the driveway. It wasn't far enough. A five-foot wire fence stopped me.

The hill slanted sharply downward to the edge of the barranca. On the far side stood the Chantry house, miniatured by distance like a building in a bell jar.

The greenhouse behind it had a half-painted glass roof. Through its flashing multiple panes I could make out dim movements inside the building, which was choked with greenery. There seemed to be two people facing each other and making wide sweeping motions, like duelists too far apart to hurt each other.