The Proof is in the Pudding Read Online Free PDF Page B

might be a dead battery, but it could be something that requires a tow, so would you send a vehicle capable of towing?”
    The voice on the other end agreed, took my cell phone number, and said that one of their trucks would be at my location within thirty minutes.
    I thanked her, disconnected, and repeated the information to Eileen. “Now, we’ve got some time alone before road service arrives. Let’s sit in the Jeep and you tell me what’s upset you so.”
    We settled into the front seats. Eileen stared through the windshield into the darkness. The light from the streetlamp molded her features as artfully as though it was the work of a great cinematographer. I couldn’t help marveling at her beauty. She had her mother’s large eyes and nicely sculpted cheekbones, and her father’s strong chin. She had a streak of John O’Hara’s stubbornness, too, but she didn’t have his toughness, and that left her as vulnerable as a chick just out of its shell.
    “I thought he was so wonderful,” Eileen said. “He’s the most exciting man I’ve ever met.”
    Although I was sure I already knew, I asked, “Who?”
    She expelled a breath. “Keith Ingram.”
    “Does he live near here? Is that why you’re in Laurel Canyon?”
    She turned partway around in the passenger seat and gestured toward a tiny road just behind us, rising into the hills.
    “Rothdell Terrace. His house is about a hundred yards up there—a miniature Swiss chalet.” In a tone full of irony, she said, “You can’t see his place from here, but can you make out that brown house just above us? The one facing out toward Laurel Canyon Boulevard?”
    Following her line of sight, I stared into the darkness. “Do you mean the one with the bell in the top window?”
    She nodded. “Jim Morrison lived there. 8021 Rothdell Terrace. Keith’s house is several above Morrison’s. He has a framed article about the Doors in his den because in it one of them says that Rothdell Terrace is the ‘Love Street’ in their song, ‘Love Street,’ and that the Canyon Country Store over there is the ‘store where the creatures meet.’ When Keith told me he lived on ‘Love Street’ it was the first time we were . . . together .”
    I knew I would never be able to listen to that song with enjoyment again.
    “Aunt Del, I thought I was in love with him, but tonight I realized what an idiot I’ve been.” She shuddered. “What I found out . . . Ewww, he disgusts me so much! But I disgust me, too. Oh, Lord.”
    She blew out another breath, and when she spoke again her tone was icy. “He said he loved me—before—but tonight he acted surprised that I’d believed him. He said ‘I love you’ is just something men say when they want to get somebody in bed. Then he told me he’s getting married—said we’d have to stop seeing each other for a while. For a while ! He said after a couple of months he’ll call me and we’ll get together, but we’d have to be discreet !”
    “The miserable bastard.” I was so angry I wanted to scream, but I controlled myself by gripping the steering wheel tight.
    Eileen started to cry. “I told him I’d never let him touch me again, but he just laughed and said that we’d be together as often as he wanted me because . . . Oh, Aunt Del—there’s something awful!”
    “Ingram is scum. Worse than scum, but he can’t make you see him again.”
    “You don’t know what he’s done!”
    “Then tell me. It can’t be so bad that—”
    “It is! When I said I wasn’t going to see him again, he opened the door to this armoire he has in his bedroom, across from his bed. He showed me a video camera in there. He’s been taping us! He said if I didn’t do everything he wanted me to do, whenever he wanted it, he’d put those tapes on the Internet so everyone . . .”
    “Wait a minute. He couldn’t do that without exposing himself, and that could damage him .”
    “I was so shocked I didn’t think of that, but he did. He said