Read Online 1 The Hollywood Detective by Martha Steinway - Free Book Online
Authors: Martha Steinway
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coming from within, so I jumped back in the car and returned to the office.
“Oh, thank goodness!” Red was far more pleased to see me than I could have expected. “Are you all right?”
I hung my jacket on the coat stand. The office didn’t seem significantly tidier than when I’d last seen it.
“Of course I’m all right.”
“You’ve not heard then?” She pulled a chair out for me, just in case I was incapable of doing it for myself.
“Heard what?”
“My word, it’s just about the biggest thing that’s ever happened to this town.”
I took a seat. There was a grid pattern of notes spread out across my desk. I stared at them long and hard. It seemed the girl had been busy.
“Don’t you want to know?” She seemed a little perplexed that I wasn’t desperate to hear her news.
“Sure,” I said, without looking up. I didn’t need to see her face to know my nonchalance was infuriating her.
“I’m not sure I believe it myself… Everyone at the diner was talking about it.”
I carried on looking at the papers arranged on the desk.
“There’s a big cat stalking the streets of Beverly Hills!” she blurted, unable to keep the news to herself a moment longer.
“You better believe it.”
“So you know about it? The people at Joe’s said it’s huge! Eyes like dinner plates, long claws like talons and a sleek, black coat.”
I looked up at her. “I saw it myself only that description isn’t—”
“Oh my!” Her eyes widened.
“It was closer to me than you are now. It certainly had big eyes and sharp claws, but sleek and black it wasn’t. Orange and white from head to toe.”
“What?”
“It was a tiger.”
“Stop making fun of me, Spencer.”
“Trust me, this was real. About an inch away from being too real.”
“But the sightings are of a panther. A big black panther.”
I didn’t doubt Red was relaying everything she’d heard at Joe’s, word for word, so that meant there were only two possibilities: she had poor information; or there were two big cats making their home in the Hollywood Hills. Normally I veer toward the more likely of two options, if I have a choice, but after what I’d seen at Powell’s place and heard from the stable boy at Goebel’s Farm, I had a bad feeling there really were two big cats on the loose. Two big, hungry cats looking for their next meal.
No wonder no one had noticed what had happened to Clara at the party.
Red tried to pump me for the details of my feline encounter. Though it was a great story to tell, especially if I embellished the details a little here and there, I reminded Red I had an important case to solve and she could hear all about my adventure after we’d located Clara Lockhart.
“So, what did you find out from the hospitals?”
She talked me through the various notes on my desk, each one representing a careful record of her conversations with every hospital in the city.
“Not one had admitted a woman named Clara Lockhart, either dead or alive. But when I pushed, I did discover three patients without identification that match Clara’s description. Two are yet to regain consciousness, and the other is down at the morgue with a “Jane Doe” tag on her toe.”
“Good work,” I smile encouragingly at her. “I mean it—real good work. I’ll check them out tomorrow.”
“No need.”
“What do you mean?”
“I thought I should strike while the iron was hot.”
“You’ve visited the hospitals?” I didn’t know if I was angry or impressed.
She nodded. “Those poor girls were in a desperate state.”
“You’ve been to the morgue too?”
“Why, yes. Of course I have. I couldn’t very well wait for you to reappear. What if one of them had been Clara?”
“And what exactly did you say to the doctors and the coroner’s clerk?”
“I merely explained that I needed to ascertain if one of the girls they had was the girl we were looking for.”
I tried to take a breath, count to ten. I got as
“Oh, thank goodness!” Red was far more pleased to see me than I could have expected. “Are you all right?”
I hung my jacket on the coat stand. The office didn’t seem significantly tidier than when I’d last seen it.
“Of course I’m all right.”
“You’ve not heard then?” She pulled a chair out for me, just in case I was incapable of doing it for myself.
“Heard what?”
“My word, it’s just about the biggest thing that’s ever happened to this town.”
I took a seat. There was a grid pattern of notes spread out across my desk. I stared at them long and hard. It seemed the girl had been busy.
“Don’t you want to know?” She seemed a little perplexed that I wasn’t desperate to hear her news.
“Sure,” I said, without looking up. I didn’t need to see her face to know my nonchalance was infuriating her.
“I’m not sure I believe it myself… Everyone at the diner was talking about it.”
I carried on looking at the papers arranged on the desk.
“There’s a big cat stalking the streets of Beverly Hills!” she blurted, unable to keep the news to herself a moment longer.
“You better believe it.”
“So you know about it? The people at Joe’s said it’s huge! Eyes like dinner plates, long claws like talons and a sleek, black coat.”
I looked up at her. “I saw it myself only that description isn’t—”
“Oh my!” Her eyes widened.
“It was closer to me than you are now. It certainly had big eyes and sharp claws, but sleek and black it wasn’t. Orange and white from head to toe.”
“What?”
“It was a tiger.”
“Stop making fun of me, Spencer.”
“Trust me, this was real. About an inch away from being too real.”
“But the sightings are of a panther. A big black panther.”
I didn’t doubt Red was relaying everything she’d heard at Joe’s, word for word, so that meant there were only two possibilities: she had poor information; or there were two big cats making their home in the Hollywood Hills. Normally I veer toward the more likely of two options, if I have a choice, but after what I’d seen at Powell’s place and heard from the stable boy at Goebel’s Farm, I had a bad feeling there really were two big cats on the loose. Two big, hungry cats looking for their next meal.
No wonder no one had noticed what had happened to Clara at the party.
Red tried to pump me for the details of my feline encounter. Though it was a great story to tell, especially if I embellished the details a little here and there, I reminded Red I had an important case to solve and she could hear all about my adventure after we’d located Clara Lockhart.
“So, what did you find out from the hospitals?”
She talked me through the various notes on my desk, each one representing a careful record of her conversations with every hospital in the city.
“Not one had admitted a woman named Clara Lockhart, either dead or alive. But when I pushed, I did discover three patients without identification that match Clara’s description. Two are yet to regain consciousness, and the other is down at the morgue with a “Jane Doe” tag on her toe.”
“Good work,” I smile encouragingly at her. “I mean it—real good work. I’ll check them out tomorrow.”
“No need.”
“What do you mean?”
“I thought I should strike while the iron was hot.”
“You’ve visited the hospitals?” I didn’t know if I was angry or impressed.
She nodded. “Those poor girls were in a desperate state.”
“You’ve been to the morgue too?”
“Why, yes. Of course I have. I couldn’t very well wait for you to reappear. What if one of them had been Clara?”
“And what exactly did you say to the doctors and the coroner’s clerk?”
“I merely explained that I needed to ascertain if one of the girls they had was the girl we were looking for.”
I tried to take a breath, count to ten. I got as
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