یک ملاقات‌کننده

Chapter one

A Visitor

My name’s Samuel. Lenny Samuel. You can call me Len.

I’m a private eye. A private eye is a private detective - a detective who will work for anyone who will pay him. I’m not a policeman. I work on my own as a private eye.

My office is on the west side of Los Angeles, on the fourth floor of a high building. There are only two rooms in my office - the outer room and the inner room. The outer room is the waiting-room. There are four chairs in the waiting-room, although there are never four people waiting to see me. In fact, there is usually no one at all waiting to see me.

In the inner room, there’s a cheap wooden desk. There’s a big wooden chair for me to sit on and, on the opposite side of the desk, there’s a low metal chair for my visitors. The rest of the furniture in my office consists of a large, empty metal cupboard, and a low bed in one corner. When there is a lot of work, I sometimes sleep in the office.

The notice outside my door says: “L Samuel, Private Detective.” That’s me. I’m quite tall, nearly two metres, and I weigh eighty kilos. A lot of men say that I’m ugly, but women seem to find me attractive. I’ve got brown eyes, brown hair and very nice teeth. I had a good nose, too, until someone broke it in a fight last year.

Recently, I haven’t been very busy. In fact, I’ve had very little to do. However, I did have some work last month. It all started late one afternoon, when I was sitting in my office. I had just finished cutting my nails and I was about to clean them.

Suddenly, I heard someone walk into the outer room. I always leave the door of the outer room open, in case anyone wants to come in and see me. When I heard the footsteps in the outer room, I wasn’t very surprised.

I thought that someone had made a mistake and come into the wrong office. It was probably someone looking for the doctor next door.

But a moment later, there was a very quiet knock on the door of the inner room.

‘Come in,’ I shouted and put away the scissors I had been cutting my nails with.

The door opened and in walked one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. She was about eighteen years old, with blue eyes and long blonde hair. She was wearing a smart green coat and had a big brown handbag over her shoulder.

‘Excuse me,’ said the girl. ‘I’m looking for Mr Samuel.’

‘I’m Samuel,’ I said, with a quick smile. ‘Come in and sit down.’

The girl didn’t smile back at me.

‘No, I won’t sit down,’ she said.

‘Well, if you won’t sit down, at least come in and close the door,’ I replied.

The girl came in, walked over and put her handbag on my desk.

‘Now,’ I said, ‘what can I do for you?’

‘I need help,’ said the girl slowly. ‘But I don’t know if you will be able to help me. Are you a real private detective?’

‘Of course I am,’ I replied angrily. ‘Didn’t you see the notice on the office door? It says “L Samuel, Private Detective.” I’m Samuel. I’m a private eye.’

‘All right, Mr Samuel,’ the girl said coldly. ‘There’s no need to get angry. I have a little job for you.’

‘Right,’ I said quickly. ‘What do you want me to do?’

‘It’s very simple really,’ the girl replied. ‘I want you to find my sister. She has disappeared.’