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'But. . . but. . . ,' the driver began to say, but I did not wait to listen.

I ran back to the Chrysler, jumped in and drove on. The last I saw of the yellow car was the two men pushing it to the side of the road.

I was soon at the Manson Building and I went into the hall, to look for the porter. I couldn't see him anywhere. Then I noticed a door with a sign on it saying "Porter". I knocked quietly, but there was no answer. I opened the door slowly and looked into the room.

The porter was sitting at his desk, asleep. His feet were on the desk and he was lying back in his chair. I walked quickly and quietly into the room and closed the door. I went up to the desk and noticed a piece of paper lying by the telephone. There was a telephone number written on the paper - 323.0313.

'Las Cabanas,' I said to myself. 'That's the telephone number of the nightclub.'

Without waking the porter, I left the room. I had found out what I wanted to know. The two men who had hit me on the head had probably come from Las Cabanas. The porter must have telephoned them when I went up to Elaine Garfield's flat.

I was now very interested in Las Cabanas. Elaine Garfield used to go dancing there with Suzy. Benny Greep worked there before he was killed. Helen Garfield wanted to meet me there at half past eleven. And now the porter and the two men who had hit me on the head were connected with Las Cabanas.

I went home, washed, changed and had a meal. At eleven o'clock, I went out again. I was going to Las Cabanas. 

There were lots of cars parked outside and I had to leave the Chrysler quite a long way away from the nightclub. As I walked up to the entrance of Las Cabanas, it started to rain heavily. I knocked on the door and the little window in the door opened. A face looked at me for a minute. Then the door opened and I went in. The club no longer looked empty and dirty. Soft lights and sweet music had changed the appearance of the club completely. I stood and looked around. There was a small dance floor, on which a few people were dancing.

The band was small and not very good. There was a new drummer instead of Benny Greep. Around the dance floor, several groups of people were sitting round low tables. To the right of the dance floor, there were more tables where people were eating. There were two doors behind the tables, which led into the kitchen. I sat down at a table by the dance floor, in the darkest part of the room, and waited.

12

Las Cabanas

_E

xactly at eleven thirty, Helen Garfield came into the nightclub. She was looking as beautiful as ever, but seemed to be a little worried. Her blue eyes looked around the room until she saw me. Then, with a little smile, she walked up and sat down at the table. She sat next to me, with her back to the dance floor. She was carrying a bag, which she put on the floor beside her. The smile disappeared from her face.

'Where were you this afternoon, Mr Samuel?' she said sharply. 'I'm paying you fifty dollars a day. In return for that money, I want you to do what I tell you. Now why weren't you at your office this afternoon at five o'clock?'

 

She was looking as beautiful as ever, but seemed to be a little worried.

I took a deep breath.

'Well, Miss Garfield,' I said, 'it's a long story. Let's have a drink and I'll tell you all about it.'

A waiter came over and I ordered some drinks.

When the waiter had gone, the beautiful, blonde girl said, 'Come on, Mr Samuel, tell me.'

'OK,' I said, 'but stop calling me Mr Samuel. Call me Len - all my friends call me Len.'

'I'm not a friend of yours, Mr Samuel,' the blonde girl said, in a voice like ice. 'I'm paying you a lot of money to work for me.'

'Fifty dollars a day doesn't allow you to be rude to me,' I replied quietly. 'In the last twenty four hours, I've been hit on the head and suspected of murder.'

'What do you mean?' the girl said, and leant towards me. 'Murder?'

Just then, the waiter brought the drinks and we sat in silence until he had gone. Then I told Helen Garfield about my visit to her sister's apartment in the Manson Building. I told her about the two men who had caught me there. Helen Garfield listened in silence.

'Do you like the band, Miss Garfield?' I asked.

'I didn't come here to talk about the band,' the blonde girl said angrily.

'The band has got a new drummer tonight,' I said, 'because I found the old drummer dead in his bath this morning.'

The blonde girl turned around quickly to look at the band. She said something to herself which I didn't hear. She lifted her right hand and started stroking her hair. She looked sad and very worried.

'What. . . what was the drummer . . . the dead man's name?' Helen Garfield asked.

'Greep,' I said, 'Benny Greep. I don't suppose that you know Benny Greep, do you?'

Helen Garfield shook her head. 

'No,' she said.

I told her what had happened at the police station. Then I told her about the policemen who had followed me in a yellow car.

'Do you think they're still following you?' the blonde girl asked quickly and looked around the club.

I told her how I had got away from the yellow car.

'Now, Miss Garfield,' I continued, 'it's time for me to ask you a few questions. There are some things about your sister's disappearance which worry me. I want to ask you about them.'

'All right,' she said, 'but I don't think I can help you. I don't know much about Elaine's life here. I don't know very much about Los Angeles, either.'

I sat back in my chair and looked at her. This beautiful, blonde girl was paying me fifty dollars a day to find her sister. 1 liked what I saw. Then, very quietly, I began to ask Helen Garfield some questions.

'You don't know Los Angeles very well?' I began.

'That's right,' the girl replied.

'But you were able to find out where Elaine worked,' I continued. 'And you went to Myer and Myer last Tuesday, to ask if they knew anything about Elaine.'

'Yes,' the girl said, looking at me closely.

'Who did you speak to at Myer and Myer?' I asked. 'Suzy?'

'No,' the girl said, 'I spoke to Mr Myer.'

'I want to ask you something else,' I said. 'When I went to Elaine's flat, I noticed something unusual. There were very few clothes in the wardrobe. It seems your sister planned her disappearance quite carefully. She had taken her clothes with her.'

'I see,' the girl said and looked around the nightclub.

I waited until she looked back at me.

'Do you like it here?' I asked.

'Yes,' she said.

'I like it, too,' I said, 'But there's something else which is worrying me. Do you mind if I ask you one more question?'

'Not at all,' the girl said.

'Well,' 1 began, 'I've been wondering why you asked me to meet you here, at Las Cabanas.'

Helen Garfield pushed back her chair and stood up.

'Would you please excuse me for a minute?' she said.

She picked her bag up from the floor and walked over towards the ladies' toilet, which was near the entrance.

'Would you like another drink?' I shouted after her.

'Yes, please,' she shouted back, over her shoulder. I ordered two more drinks and sat back in my chair. I looked around the nightclub. It was almost midnight.

J3

Helen Garfield Leaves

_I

sat by the dance floor in Las Cabanas, waiting for Helen Garfield to come back from the toilet. I was waiting for her to answer my question. I wanted to know why she had asked me to meet her here. I looked around at the people who were dancing.

On the other side of the dance floor, I could see people sitting eating at the tables. Waiters were carrying food in and out of the two doors leading to the kitchen.

I looked at my watch again. It was five past twelve. Helen Garfield was taking a long time. I finished my drink and ordered another one.

At ten past twelve, I got up and walked over towards the entrance. There was a man standing by the front door of the nightclub. I asked him if he had seen Helen.

'The beautiful blonde with blue eyes?' the man asked.

'Yes,' I said.

'She left nearly a quarter of an hour ago,' said the man.

'Are you sure?' I asked.

'Yes,' the man replied. 'She asked me to get her a taxi.'

'Did you hear her give the taxi driver an address?' I asked quickly.

The man shook his head.

'No,' he said, 'I'm sorry.'

I thanked the man and walked back to my seat.

Why did Helen Garfield leave without telling me? I asked myself. Perhaps some of the questions that I asked made her angry.

Just then, I looked up and saw a man walking across the dance floor towards me. I recognised the man. He was short, with red hair. He was looking at me and smiling in a rather unfriendly way. It was Jo - one of the men who had found me in Elaine Garfield's apartment.

I decided to leave. I stood up and started to walk towards the door. I didn't want to meet Jo again. As I walked towards the door, I thought that I heard someone shouting.

'Excuse me, sir,' said a voice.

I didn't stop or look around. Then I heard the voice again.

'Excuse me, sir. You haven't paid your bill.'

I had forgotten to pay for the drinks. The waiter came running up to me and I quickly took out ten dollars and gave them to the waiter.

'You can keep the change,' I said as I gave him the money.

Without waiting for a reply, I turned and hurried towards the door.

Then I heard the waiter's voice again.

'Excuse me, sir, excuse me, sir,' he said.

I stopped and turned around. The waiter came up to me.

'Excuse me, sir, ten dollars is not enough,' he said, 'The price of your drinks is twelve dollars.'

'Las Cabanas is very expensive,' I said, as I gave the waiter another five dollars. 'Now, you can keep the change.' 

Then I stopped thinking about money. Jo was walking quickly towards me. I turned around and ran towards the door as fast as I could. I got to the door and was just about to leave Las Cabanas. I was happy because I had escaped.

Then I got a surprise. There, standing by the door of the nightclub, was Jo's tall friend. It was the same man who had hit me on the head in Miss Garfield's apartment. The tall man had seen me coming and had moved in front of the door. Now, I couldn't get out.

J4 The Fight

_I

stopped and looked behind me. Jo was closer now and the smile on his face looked very unfriendly. I was caught. I could not go out of the door and Jo was right behind me.

I turned around quickly and ran towards Jo. Before he knew what I was doing, I put my arms around him and started dancing. He was very surprised and tried to pull away from me. But he couldn't fight properly. He was afraid that the other people would notice.

I looked over my shoulder and saw the tall man standing helplessly on the side of the dance floor. I pushed Jo into the middle of the dance floor, where there were lots of other people dancing.

Then I felt something sharp touching my back. It was a knife.

'Stop trying to be funny, Samuel,' said Jo angrily. 'Stop dancing and go over to the door or else I'll push this knife into you.'

We were right in the middle of the dance floor and a long way from the tall man. Jo was holding a knife against my back. Some of the other people around us had stopped dancing. They were staring in surprise at the sight of two men dancing together.

I lifted my foot and kicked Jo's leg as hard as I could. He gave a cry of pain and fell to the floor. I looked around to see where I could run to. Jo's tall friend was coming through the dancers towards me.

I turned around and ran off the dance floor. I looked back over my shoulder and saw that both Jo and his friend were following me.

I ran between the tables where people were eating. The floor was slippery and I fell over. As I fell, I knocked over a table and the plates of food and glasses fell on top of me.

I got up quickly and ran out through one of the doors into the kitchen. Then I stopped and counted to five.

As Jo and his tall friend were coming towards the door, I pushed the door closed as hard as I could. There was a loud bang as the men ran into the door.

I smiled and turned round. But I did not smile for very long. Three cooks were coming towards me with big kitchen knives in their hands.

I looked at the cooks and at the knives they were holding. I thought about running towards them and trying to fight them. I decided that it would be a stupid idea to try and fight three big men with knives.

To my left, there was a very big saucepan full of boiling soup on the stove. I picked it up and threw it at the cooks. There were loud cries of pain as the hot soup hit the three men.

Just then, the door opened behind me. Jo and his tall friend stood in the doorway, and the tall man was holding a gun.

There was a loud bang as the gun went off. The bang was followed by a scream of pain from one of the cooks, because the tall man had shot him in the foot by mistake.

I quickly picked up a large pile of dirty plates and threw them at Jo. He saw the plates coming and he tried to move away. As 

 

he moved, he slipped on the floor and fell onto a pile of broken plates.

Without waiting, I ran to a door at the back of the kitchen. The door was locked and I banged against the door with my shoulder. The lock broke easily and I pushed the door open. As I ran out into the dark street, I could still hear the shouts and cries coming from the Club.

I came to the Chrysler and bent over to open the door. Just then, there was a noise behind me. I turned around and saw a man with his arm raised. Then I felt a terrible pain in my head. Everything went black. I fell to the ground, unconscious.

15

The Police Station

_F

eeling better now?' asked a voice.

I opened my eyes and looked around me. I didn't know where I was. I was lying on something hard and there was a bright light on my eyes.

'Where am I?' I asked.

Then I realised where I was. I recognised the grey walls, the hard furniture and the bright electric lights. I was in the police station again.

'Feeling better now?' the voice repeated.

I looked at the policeman who was talking to me.

'Yes,' I said very slowly, 'but my head feels as if it is breaking in half.'

'You're lucky to be alive,' said the policeman. 'A police car found you lying in the middle of the road on Golden Drive. You would have been hit by passing cars - and probably killed, if the police car hadn't found you.'

 

I thought for a moment. I wasn't sure how much the police knew. I didn't want to tell the police anything they did not already know.

'Yes, I was lucky,' I said. 'By the way, what was a police car doing on Golden Drive/'

'Oh,' said the policeman, 'there was a big fight at a nightclub called Las Cabanas. We had a telephone call to say that there was a madman in the club. The madman was breaking up all the furniture. A police car was sent to the nightclub, but the madman escaped before the police arrived. The police car was returning when it found you lying in the middle of the road. You were very lucky. The car nearly ran right over you.'

I smiled.

'I don't feel very lucky,' I replied. 'In fact, I feel terrible.'

'Never mind,' said the policeman. 'Can you walk?'

I stood up and walked a few steps. My head hurt, but otherwise I felt all right.

'Yes,' I said, 'I can walk.'

'Good,' the policeman said, 'let's walk along the corridor, then, and have a talk with a friend of yours.'

We went along the corridor. The policeman stopped at a door and knocked. There was a shout from inside the room and the policeman opened the door. I walked into the room and the policeman followed. He shut the door and stood in front of it.

There was only one desk in the room and behind the desk was a man. He was bald. It was my 'old friend', Sergeant Murphy.

'Hello, Sergeant Murphy,' I said, trying to smile. 'How are you feeling tonight?'

Sergeant Murphy didn't smile back at me.

'Are you trying to be funny?' he asked. 'It isn't night, it's morning. You've been unconscious all night.'

'Oh,' I said.

'Now,' said Sergeant Murphy, 'let's begin. I want you to tell me why you were lying, unconscious, in the middle of Golden Drive at half past twelve last night. You were a danger to the traffic.'

'I thought that the traffic was a danger to me,' I replied. But the sergeant didn't even smile.

'I'm waiting for you to tell me what happened,' said the sergeant. 

'Nothing much happened,' I began, 'I spent part of the evening at Las Cabanas and left just before midnight. I walked back to my car. Just as I was about to get into the car, someone hit me over the head. That's the last I remember.

'This policeman,' and I pointed to the one standing by the door, 'told me that I had been found in the middle of the road. Someone must have put me there.' Sergeant Murphy smiled.

'Yes,' he said, 'someone who wanted to kill you put you in the middle of the road. Someone was hoping that a car would hit you and kill you.'

I smiled back at the sergeant.

'Can you think of anyone who would want to kill you?' the sergeant asked me.

'Oh, yes,' I replied, 'hundreds of people would like to kill me, including a few policemen.'

16

Tell Me the Truth

_D

id you leave Las Cabanas before midnight?' asked Sergeant Murphy.

'That's right,' I replied, 'I left the nightclub just before twelve.'

'So you weren't at Las Cabanas when the big fight started, just after twelve?' asked the sergeant.

'Big fight?' I said, trying to sound surprised.

'Don't sound so surprised,' said Sergeant Murphy angrily. 'We received a telephone call from the owner of Las Cabanas. He said that just after midnight last night, a tall man with brown hair and brown eyes, called Lenny Samuel, attacked two of the people at the club. The owner of the club said that you 'then attacked and injured three cooks. Then you broke over one hundred plates and a table, and ruined food worth several hundred dollars.'

I didn't say anything. I could not think of anything to say.

'Did you really do all that?' Sergeant Murphy asked, in a different voice. The Sergeant sounded both surprised and pleased. 'Did you really do all that on your own, or did you have men to help you?'

'I did it all on my own,' I said, beginning to feel a little proud of myself.

'Do you know that you could go to prison for six months for what you did last night?' the sergeant asked. He was laughing as he said it.

I wasn't laughing. I couldn't see anything funny about six months in prison.

'Look,' Sergeant Murphy said, 'I'm not stupid.'

I agreed with the sergeant that he was not stupid.

'I'm not stupid,' Sergeant Murphy repeated, 'and I know why you were at Las Cabanas last night. Benny Greep used to work there and you went to find out about his death.'

I agreed with the sergeant again. It seemed the best thing to

do.

'Now,' Sergeant Murphy said slowly, 'I'm interested in Las Cabanas. The club is owned by people who are criminals. But we can't prove that they have broken the law. I'm also interested in Benny Greep's murder. Now, what I suggest is this. Tell me all you know about Las Cabanas and Benny Greep and I will let you go. If you tell me all you know, you won't go to prison for the fight at the nightclub. But I want the truth, not the lies you told me yesterday.'

I took a deep breath and started to tell the sergeant what I knew. I told him about everything except Elaine Garfield. I wasn't sure how closely Elaine Garfield was connected with Benny Greep's death. So, I told the sergeant that Helen Garfield,

from New York, had asked me to find out about Las Cabanas.

Sergeant Murphy asked me for Helen Garfield's address in New York and I said I didn't know it. Then the sergeant asked me where Helen Garfield was staying in Los Angeles. I said I didn't know.

I told Sergeant Murphy all that I knew about Benny Greep, except that the drummer had known Elaine Garfield. Then I asked him about the two men in the yellow car, who had followed me. The sergeant smiled and said that the two men were policemen. Finally, I told him about the fight at Las Cabanas.

Sergeant Murphy listened to everything. When I had finished my story, he looked at me in silence for a few moments.

'Right, Samuel, 1 hope that you've told me the truth, and all the truth. If you've been telling me more lies, I'll make sure that you go to prison for six months, because of the fight at Las Cabanas. Now, you can go.'

I stood up.

'Thank you,' I said, with a smile.

'Sit down,' he said, 'and listen. You can go. But you must promise to tell me anything you find out about Las Cabanas and about Benny Greep.'

'I promise,' I said quickly and stood up.

'Wait a minute,' said Sergeant Murphy. 'I've one more thing to tell you. I'm going to telephone the New York police. I'm going to ask them to find out all they can about Helen Garfield. If the police in New York discover that you've told me lies about Helen Garfield, you will be in very serious trouble.'

I told the sergeant not to worry and thanked him very much. I left the police station feeling very happy because Sergeant Murphy had let me go. I called a taxi and went out to Golden Drive to get the Chrysler. 

Telephone Calls

_I

drove the Chrysler back to the office and walked up the stairs.

The office looked just the same. There were no letters for me. I went down to the cafe and had a late breakfast. As I drank my coffee, I thought about some of the things Helen Garfield had told me at Las Cabanas before the fight.

I decided to check one of the things immediately and walked over to the telephone. I opened the telephone book and looked under 'M' until I found the telephone number of Myer and Myer. I picked up the telephone and dialled the number.

'Myer and Myer, good morning,' said a voice which I recog' nised. 'Can I help you?'

'Hello, Suzy,' I said, 'this is Len Samuel. Do you remember me?'

'Of course I remember you,' said Suzy.

'Did your boyfriend win his boxing match on television?' I asked.

'No,' Suzy replied, 'and anyway, he's not my boyfriend any more.'

'Really,' I said happily, thinking that perhaps I could ask Suzy to go for a drink with me.

'Yes,' Suzy said, 'the boxer had a fight with my new boyfriend outside my house last night.'

'And who won?' I asked.

'My new boyfriend,' replied Suzy.