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Authors: Michael Mallory
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the door again and entered Louieâs place. Going to the machine, I ran down through the messages, hitting the delete button at the start of each one.
When I got to the threatening message, I considered deleting it as well, but decided against it. Suppressing evidence to keep oneself out of the interrogation room is one thing, but suppressing genuine evidence that might lead to the solution of a potential crime was another. And the police would likely conclude that Louie herself had listened to it prior to disappearing.
After reclosing, relocking, and re-wiping down the door, I slipped the key into my pocket. I decided not to risk the elevator, where I might be seen, and instead found a stairwell and took it down. I didnât feel like I had to hide or slink as I walked to my car, though once I had arrived there, I rather wish I had been more discrete, because standing across the street, about a half-block down, was someone I recognized.
It was the female security guard from the Sherman Oaks Burger Heaven.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Or maybe it wasnât, maybe Iâm just nuts.
( Maybe ? Robert Mitchum shouted, but I had anticipated that.)
Maybe I hadnât really seen the same woman following me around Los Angeles. This was, after all, the facelift capital of the world, and it was pretty amazing how many women one ran into on the street or in stores or in offices who looked like they were sculpted from the same prototype face by the same doctor.
If, on the other hand, I was not crazyâ
(Shut up, Mitch.)
âand it was all the same person who had been assigned by someone to tail me, she was pretty poor at it. Then again, Sheldon Leonard and I had already agreed that the break-ins had been the work of an amateur, so it stood to reason that if I really were being tailed, it was also by an amateur.
But why ?
No matter from which direction I approached the problem, all roads seemed to lead to Burger Heaven, and it was close enough to dinner time for a combo. Since I was still carrying around that coupon for a free meal, it wouldnât even have to go on my expense report.
The question was, did I have the strength to leave a bit of it so as to try and sneak it through the doors again.
Oh, oh, if you need someone strong, I-I-Iâll help youâ¦sure I will ! the voice of Lon Chaney, Jr. said in my head. Thanks, Lennie, but I think I can do this.
While my intention was to jump back on the freeway and head over the Sepulveda Pass back into the Valley, then go to the newly opened one, I spotted a BH on Pico Boulevard, half-way to the on-ramp of the 405 freeway.
This was truly miraculous, since in my experience the only quick eating places to be found anywhere throughout the West Side were frozen yogurt shops or that ubiquitous sandwich chain whose stores smell a thousand times better than the polystyrene food they serve up tastes.
Thereâs a rumor that a pizzeria exists somewhere on this side of L.A., but Iâve chalked that up to urban legend.
I pulled in to the spacious restaurant parking lotâanother miracle on this side of townâparked and went in. While standing in the predictably long line, I fished the gift certificate out of my wallet, and upon getting to the counter, where I was greeted by a young blonde who actually looked too happy to be working in a fast food joint, I ordered a Twin Halo combo. When I presented the gift certificate, though, she looked at it as though she was uncertain how to handle it. Frowning slightly, she turned and flagged down a fortyish man wearing a tie, presumably a managerial type, and showed it to him.
âWell, congratulations, sir!â he beamed, pulling out a pen to initial the coupon before calling the order into the back. He he asked me to initial it too, which I did.
It seemed to take a little bit longer than usual for my order to be prepared, but once I received it, I decided that it was the result of waiting for a fresh batch of fries to
When I got to the threatening message, I considered deleting it as well, but decided against it. Suppressing evidence to keep oneself out of the interrogation room is one thing, but suppressing genuine evidence that might lead to the solution of a potential crime was another. And the police would likely conclude that Louie herself had listened to it prior to disappearing.
After reclosing, relocking, and re-wiping down the door, I slipped the key into my pocket. I decided not to risk the elevator, where I might be seen, and instead found a stairwell and took it down. I didnât feel like I had to hide or slink as I walked to my car, though once I had arrived there, I rather wish I had been more discrete, because standing across the street, about a half-block down, was someone I recognized.
It was the female security guard from the Sherman Oaks Burger Heaven.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Or maybe it wasnât, maybe Iâm just nuts.
( Maybe ? Robert Mitchum shouted, but I had anticipated that.)
Maybe I hadnât really seen the same woman following me around Los Angeles. This was, after all, the facelift capital of the world, and it was pretty amazing how many women one ran into on the street or in stores or in offices who looked like they were sculpted from the same prototype face by the same doctor.
If, on the other hand, I was not crazyâ
(Shut up, Mitch.)
âand it was all the same person who had been assigned by someone to tail me, she was pretty poor at it. Then again, Sheldon Leonard and I had already agreed that the break-ins had been the work of an amateur, so it stood to reason that if I really were being tailed, it was also by an amateur.
But why ?
No matter from which direction I approached the problem, all roads seemed to lead to Burger Heaven, and it was close enough to dinner time for a combo. Since I was still carrying around that coupon for a free meal, it wouldnât even have to go on my expense report.
The question was, did I have the strength to leave a bit of it so as to try and sneak it through the doors again.
Oh, oh, if you need someone strong, I-I-Iâll help youâ¦sure I will ! the voice of Lon Chaney, Jr. said in my head. Thanks, Lennie, but I think I can do this.
While my intention was to jump back on the freeway and head over the Sepulveda Pass back into the Valley, then go to the newly opened one, I spotted a BH on Pico Boulevard, half-way to the on-ramp of the 405 freeway.
This was truly miraculous, since in my experience the only quick eating places to be found anywhere throughout the West Side were frozen yogurt shops or that ubiquitous sandwich chain whose stores smell a thousand times better than the polystyrene food they serve up tastes.
Thereâs a rumor that a pizzeria exists somewhere on this side of L.A., but Iâve chalked that up to urban legend.
I pulled in to the spacious restaurant parking lotâanother miracle on this side of townâparked and went in. While standing in the predictably long line, I fished the gift certificate out of my wallet, and upon getting to the counter, where I was greeted by a young blonde who actually looked too happy to be working in a fast food joint, I ordered a Twin Halo combo. When I presented the gift certificate, though, she looked at it as though she was uncertain how to handle it. Frowning slightly, she turned and flagged down a fortyish man wearing a tie, presumably a managerial type, and showed it to him.
âWell, congratulations, sir!â he beamed, pulling out a pen to initial the coupon before calling the order into the back. He he asked me to initial it too, which I did.
It seemed to take a little bit longer than usual for my order to be prepared, but once I received it, I decided that it was the result of waiting for a fresh batch of fries to
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