In a Lonely Place

In postwar Los Angeles, Dix Steele, a former World War II fighter pilot, stands on a foggy promontory above the Pacific, yearning for the power he felt during the war. He watches a young brown-haired woman step off a bus near the California Incline, a steep road descending Santa Monica's bluffs to the coast, and follows her down the dark walkway, savoring her fear. Passing headlights break the darkness before he can close in, and she escapes to a house at the bottom.

At a nearby bar, Dix overhears a word that reminds him of Brub Nicolai, his closest wartime friend, and calls him. At the Nicolai home in Santa Monica Canyon, he meets Brub's wife, Sylvia, a tall, composed woman. When Sylvia reveals that Brub is a detective on the L.A. police force, the news jolts Dix, though he conceals his shock. He tells them he is writing a novel on a year's allowance from his uncle. Walking home, he reflects that having a detective as a friend makes the game more exciting: the hunter and the hunted, arm in arm. Later that night, he spots a girl standing alone at a Beverly Hills bus stop, gets off two blocks past her, and walks back.

The next morning, Dix checks the newspaper but finds nothing about the girl, which relieves him. He is living in the apartment of Mel Terriss, an old Princeton acquaintance who supposedly left for Rio de Janeiro. Heading out to mail a letter to Uncle Fergus, his only relative and financial support, he nearly collides with a striking redhead in the apartment patio. She looks him over dismissively and walks past. When he returns, the evening headline stops him: "Strangler Strikes Again."

At the Nicolais' beach club, Brub reveals that another woman has been strangled, the sixth victim since March. The latest is Mildred Atkinson, a stenographer last seen waiting for a bus in Beverly Hills after a bridge game. The victims are unconnected, and the police have almost nothing. Brub believes the killer works from a car, appears entirely normal, and is almost certainly mentally unwell. During dinner, Dix notices Betsy Banning, the brown-haired girl from the opening night, across the room. Brub remarks that Betsy resembles Brucie, a Red Cross worker they knew in England. The name provokes a violent internal reaction in Dix, though he conceals it behind banter.

That Sunday, newspaper coverage reports that a car-hop at a drive-in recognized Mildred's photograph but could describe her companion only as sort of tall and nice looking. At the Nicolais', Dix draws out details about the stalled investigation under the pretext of writing a detective novel. That evening, the redhead appears at his door after a canceled dinner date and introduces herself as Laurel Gray, a divorced woman studying voice who knew Mel Terriss casually. They drive to a seafood restaurant on the coast, and the connection is immediate. They walk on the dark beach afterward and share their first kiss by the water.

Dix deepens both his relationship with Laurel and his access to the investigation. At the Beverly Hills station, he meets Captain Jack Lochner of L.A. Homicide. Brub outlines his theory of the killer's method: The man approaches women on foot at bus stops, chats them up, invites them for coffee, then offers a ride in his nearby car. Lochner states that the strangler is from the East and uses a mugger's forearm technique, leaving no fingerprints. At the crime scene in Beverly Glen Canyon, Lochner reveals that dust from the drive-in and the victim's clothing will one day match dust in the killer's car.

Dix and Laurel settle into a consuming affair, but tensions mount. When Sylvia visits one evening, Laurel arrives unexpectedly, and the two women size each other up with hostility. After the Nicolais leave, Dix nearly attacks Laurel in a fury over a man she mentioned; she explains that Thomas Gorgonzola is her attorney. On another evening, Dix tears apart Uncle Fergus's meager check in rage, then frantically gathers the scraps. His backstory surfaces: Raised by the miserly Fergus in Princeton, New Jersey, he endured a humiliating youth in his uncle's hardware store while wealthier classmates had everything. At Princeton University, he latched onto rich students for access to their wealth. The war was the only time he felt equal. Visiting the Nicolais, Dix learns that Brucie is dead, strangled at a beach cottage in England. He breaks down sobbing. He drives along the coast for hours, returning near dawn to find Laurel. She comforts him without questions.

The relationship fractures. Laurel begins checking Dix's stories with Brub, confronting Dix about his whereabouts on a night he returned at 4 a.m. She refuses his marriage proposal, saying neither of them has money and that remarrying would cost her alimony from her wealthy ex-husband, Henry St. Andrews. She is pursuing a Broadway musical. Dix proposes they reunite in New York, but over the following days Laurel disappears for two consecutive nights.

With Laurel gone, Dix deliberately eats at Simon's Drive-In, where police have alerted staff to watch for the strangler, savoring the dare. He drives to the coast, walks through fog past Betsy Banning's house, and slumps on a dune. A small dog runs up, followed by a girl emerging from the mist. He says hello; she replies casually, unafraid. The chapter ends. When the next section opens, the murder of Betsy Banning and her dog has occurred in the gap between sections.

Dix covers his tracks. Sand is embedded in his clothes and car, so he drives to State Beach and lies on the sand for hours, creating a plausible explanation. That evening, Brub reveals Betsy has been found strangled. Dix performs shock convincingly. Lawyers from the firm managing Mel Terriss's trust visit, asking why Mel has not collected his check since July. Dix suspects Laurel triggered the inquiry through her attorney, since she had been pressing him about Mel. When he enters Laurel's unlocked apartment, he finds photographs of a handsome man inscribed with love from someone named Jess and understands she has had another lover all along. Surveillance tightens around him, and Lochner brings him in for questioning about servicemen who knew Brucie. Dix handles the interview calmly and is released.

On a Saturday night, Dix hears heels crossing the courtyard and sees a woman in a coat, a scarf masking what appears to be red hair. He catches her at the stairs, but it is Sylvia, wearing Laurel's coat as bait. She tells him Laurel is safe and will not return, then reveals what she has sensed from the start: Something was terribly wrong with Dix. Laurel went to Brub because she was afraid. Sylvia names victim after victim. Dix lunges and gets his hands on her throat, but before he can tighten his grip, she screams. Officers converge from three directions. Brub reaches them at a run, but Sylvia throws herself into his arms: "It worked. It worked!"

Lochner arrests Dix for the murders of Mel Terriss, Mildred Atkinson, and Elizabeth Banning, and the attempted murder of Sylvia. Brub lays out the evidence: Atkinson's fingerprints in the car, matching dust, lint from her coat, and hairs from the Bannings' Kerry Blue terrier on a suit Dix sent to the cleaners. His composure breaking, Brub cries, "For God's sake, why did you do it, Dix?" Dix weeps his confession: "I killed Brucie."