دیداری کوتاه از ساختمان مانسون

Chapter eleven

A Short Visit to the Manson Building

As I was driving happily towards the Manson Building, I had a surprise. I looked in the mirror. The yellow car was coming up fast behind me.

I drove as fast as I could, but the yellow car got closer and closer. Just then, a dog ran across the road, in front of the Chrysler. I braked hard and the tyres screamed as the Chrysler stopped suddenly to avoid the dog. Then there was the scream of more tyres as the driver of the yellow car tried to stop.

There was a loud crash and a bang, as the small yellow car ran right into the back of my big, old, grey Chrysler. The two men in the yellow car weren’t hurt, but their car was badly damaged at the front. Oil and water were running out onto the road. The old Chrysler was not damaged at all. I got out and walked back to the yellow car.

‘You ought to be more careful,’ I said to the driver. ‘You were driving very dangerously. It’s lucky for you that my car isn’t badly damaged.’

‘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 - 3230313.

‘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.