Read The Case of the Vanishing Beauty for Free Online Page B

hands I snitched one of the cigarettes and dropped it in my coat pocket. That's called being a detective.
    I waited for the ripples to subside and said quickly, "How about Narda?"
    She squinted at me and pushed her lips out like pork chops. "What the hell's Narda?"
    "Skip it. I guess that's all. Thanks for your time."
    "You through?"
    "Yeah, I'm through."
    "Good-o. Now you listen to me, Mac, and listen good." She leaned forward till her huge breasts flattened on the top of the desk. I thought of Lina again. Lord!
    "You been throwin' your weight around," she bellowed. "You come in here and make cracks. I'm not so dumb, smart-pants. Now you scram. You scram outa here, and don't bother me no more. See?"
    I didn't have time to answer. The door behind me opened and I twisted my head around to look. It was the knife-thin, zoot-suited Miguel Mercado. He flicked his eyes over me, glanced at Maggie, hesitated, then said, "Sorry. Didn't know you were busy." He stepped back out into the hall and yanked the door shut behind him.
    I said, "So long, sweetheart."
    "Wait a minute."
    "Yeah?"
    "I want you should understand what I meant. I don't like a smart-pants comin' around botherin' me half to death. You gonna bother me any more?"
    "Maybe."
    "Maybe, hell. Stay outa my way. See?"
    I grinned at her, then turned and went out. Halfway down the hall I stopped and yelled back, "Oh, I forgot," then turned and half ran out into the night club proper. I saw Lina right away. She was sitting at the same table where I'd left her, an almost full cocktail in front of her. I got over there fast.
    "Honey," I said. "Want to help?"
    "Honey," she purred. "That is better, Shell." Then she looked at my face. She caught on quick. "Yes," she said. "What is it?"
    "I think Maggie might make a phone call. Get in there quick before she can. Try to keep her from calling. But, honey, don't get in trouble. Let it drop if it looks fishy. Now, scoot."
    She smiled at me as if her heart was on her lips. "Yes, querido."
    Lina headed for the door to Maggie's office and I beat it outside. I'd parked thirty or forty feet from the entrance to El Cuchillo, but I stopped just outside and looked to my right down Adobe Street. The only car in sight was just turning into Chavez Ravine Road and traveling fast. All I could see was the taillight, but that was all I needed if I was right. I sprinted down to the Cadillac, ripped it into gear, and gunned down the street. It wasn't raining now, but the streets were still wet and the Cad's tires hissed on the pavement. Whenthe car ahead turned off on Elysian Park Avenue, then, at its end, turned right into Sunset Boulevard, I got a good look at it. A brand-new Kaiser, either black or a dark shade of blue or green. I dropped back as far as I could going out Sunset Boulevard, but kept him close enough so I could catch him if I had to.
    He turned right on Glendale Boulevard and I knew for sure that I was following Miguel.

    Chapter Five
     
    WHEN HE TURNED left on Duane Street and started up the steep hill, one more link fell into place. The address I'd got from Samson, the address of Narda's religious organization, the Inner World Society of Truth Believers, was 6417 Silver Lake Boulevard—and the boulevard was just over the hill.
    Silver Lake Boulevard is a long, curving street fronting the Silver Lake Reservoir, and when we turned off Duane I was sure we were getting close to the 6400 block. A little more than a half a block ahead on the right I saw a big two-story building set back off the road behind an enormous patch of green lawn. In the darkness it looked like part of a Hollywood set for The Thief of Bagdad. It was practically a temple, with rounded domes on the four corners of the roof, and lofty spires, half dissolved in the darkness, jutting up toward the muddy sky.
    On the far side of the building, I could barely see some kind of driveway that ran out to intersect the street. I'd just got a quick glimpse of the place when a long