The sun had been up for an hour already when I finally stirred at six am. Sliding out of bed carefully as not to wake Brenda, I did the usual morning things. A half-hour later the smell of coffee coursed through the bungalow.
Brenda woke up to the smell of the coffee, and we shared our usual morning coffee before she went back to sleep for several more hours, and I went to find the truth about Lisa Mayer.
By seven am I was out of the house and headed for the seedier side of LA. Traffic was light this time of morning. The fog was slowly burning of the Santa Monica Hills in the distance I could see the rain soaking the valley. Turning on the radio in the car, Between general morning drive talk and songs by Sinatra, and Bing Crosby and Perry Como and others, The announcer said they expected rain in downtown LA later this morning. “Great,” I said to myself as I switched off the radio. By now I was in the red light district. At seven thirty in the morning, it should have been empty. But the streets were crawling with winos and druggies looking for a morning fix. Parking the car in a small parking lot at the corner of a block. I decided to walk. The air was cooler from the rain overnight, but the morning sun was quickly warming it up again. As the rest of the fog burned off. It was going to a hot sticky day If it did rain later this morning like they said.
Reaching all night theatre, I pulled out the picture of Ben Roberts, under it I had the Lisa Mayer picture.
Yes, they knew Ben Roberts. In fact almost every place I showed the picture they seemed to know him. At first, I thought it was because of the big movie he’d had last year, But upon further questioning I found, his stag movies were popular down here. In fact, he was regularly down here looking for girls to star in his films.
He hadn’t been around much in the last six months. I knew why. He’d been keeping a low profile after the murder of Lisa Mayer. No one seemed to recognize Lisa Mayer’s picture, Which I half expected. I tried several of the other pictures from the files. We’d taken from Roberts offices. No one seemed to know any of them.
By eleven am, I had been over several blocks in the red Light district and talked to more pimps and whores then I had in months. They all said the same thing. Ben Roberts was widely known down there. He liked girls of a certain age. The younger the better, he didn't much care how he treated them. He was known to get girls for friends of his. All of this added up to a picture of Ben Roberts that the tabloid papers had missed. The information that Variety Magazine had, was lacking on many levels.
By noon I was tired of walking and hungry. Finding a diner, I called Bob and reported my morning findings.
He said he’d been talking to folks over at the Hollywood Division. Apparently, Ben Roberts was well known over there too. There were several calls of domestic disturbances, and reports of underage girls seen on the property.
***
As I drank my second cup of coffee with my meal, I glanced out the big picture window covering the front of the dinner. The rain was just starting. Finishing my meal I paid for it and went out into the wet hot sticky LA day.
Retracing my steps back the parking lot I’d parked my car. I let my mind mull over the new information I’d learned this morning. I had to think that he was hiding somewhere nearby. Knowing what I now know about his particular fondness for girls. It occurred to me, that hiding or not, eventually his lust was going to call him out, he would need a girl, and who would he call to get him one? Someone he trusts. Like the couple at the theater, or the guy at the junk shop, Although I seriously doubted that he’d have the connections. It was raining hard by the time I reached my car. As usual, I took a close look around me while I unlocked the old Ford Sedan. The pouring rain made me decide not to take off my trench coat and just slide in the car wet coat and all. The drive back to the old theater was slow both because of traffic, and mostly because the rain was coming down so hard I could barely see out the windshield of the car. Which meant I crawled through the wet LA streets at a snail's pace.
By the time I reached the theater, I was getting tired of looking for Ben Roberts.
Parking in front of the doors I got out. The rain immediately resumed its assault on my fedora, and trenchcoat. Pulling the coat up close to me I tried to keep as much as possible from getting under the coat. I knew it was a lost cause because I was still wet from the walk from the dinner earlier. But it distracted me from the anger I felt boiling up inside me again.
Under the awning of the theater, the rain seemed to be less intense. But it still managed to get to the front doors. I pushed them in and stood in the lobby. Rain running down the sides of the coat, and my hat dripping rain into a puddle in the middle of the walkway from the door. I stood there a minute to let my eyes adjust to the darkness. As my eyes adjusted My anger and disgust rose.
I walked over the to manager's door. The same one I’d been in before. Glancing around I noticed no one was in the ticket booth.
I kicked the door in. The sound of my foot hitting the door and the door giving way under the beating by my large heavy shoe as it swung open and banged against the wall behind hit All occurred at once.
I stepping into the now open door.
They were both in there. No one was wearing any clothes. The old man and his wife, and at least two young girls. All naked. Their clothes piled all over the floor and furniture around the room.
“Play Times Over!!!” I shouted as the door hit the wall behind it.
The look on their faces at being caught in the act of their deprivation was shock and embarrassment. As they should be. The look on my face was disgust.
I walked into the room like I Owned it. I took the picture of Lisa Mayer the morgue picture. And showed the now half-naked girls. Who was scrambling to find their clothes and get the hell out of here. I stopped them short.
“See her. That's Lisa Mayer. I found her not far from here a couple days ago. Dead. She’d been dead for six months when I found her. So unless you want to end up like her, Get your shit together, and get your asses back home.” The look on their faces told me I’d made my point. They didn't say anything I think there were too shocked and embarrassment to talk. But the picture of Lisa Mayer had made an impression. Hopefully, it stuck more than a few minutes.
As they scrambled, half dressed of the office I turned my attention to the old couple.
I ignored they’re trying to get dressed. I took the picture of Ben Roberts out and laid it on the desk next to Lisa Mayer.
“Ben Roberts, Where is he now?” I asked.
They glanced at the picture in between covering themselves up.
“Yesterday he was at a warehouse over on the other side of town. Making his films But he managed to leave just before we arrived. So we missed him. You know her? That’s Lisa Mayers, the actress who was in his first film, The one that did well at the box office last year. I’m sure you heard the cops here a couple days ago, in the back parking lot. And you had to have heard the radio and saw the papers. Yeah, it was me who found her. Not 500 feet from this spot in the building next door..” I let it trail off.
By now they were mostly dressed.
“You and I both know what kind of predator Ben Roberts is, the Same kind as you. Here's the deal, I can call a guy I know in Vice and he’d have you shut down in an hour, or you can give me a new lead on Roberts, and I try to forget what I saw in here.” I lied, I was still going to call Robert and Stone. But they didn't know that.
“You and I both know sooner or later He’d going to want a girl. And who’s he going to call, that he can trust? You. Because you're just as perverted and creepy as he is.”
They glanced at each other it was quick, but I saw it.
“He’s called already? Talk to me. And I may let have lived a while longer.” I said coldly. I didn't hide my hatred for them.
He slowly nodded.
“Talk to Me.”
“He Called this morning.” She replied quietly.
“And ?” I prompted.
“He’s supposed to come this evening to pick her up.”
“When and Where?”
“Out back, in the alley. We’re supposed to have her here and ready for him.”
“The girls that were here when I came in.?”
“Yesss. Those two girls.” He finally admitted.
“He doesn’t mind that you have your fun with them first, Before he gets them?”
“No that was part of the deal, We told him we wouldn’t risk getting caught unless we had them first.”
“I see, What time is he supposed to be here?” I leaned against the desk, and crossed my arms over my chest. And glared down at them.
I didn't ask. I just picked up the phone on his desk.
“Bob, You might want to come over to the Movie house. Ben Roberts will be showing up here later this evening.” He said he’d be right over.
“You going to tell Detective Clay everything you just told me, and anything else you might have conveniently forgotten.” then we’ll decide what to do. Either way after tonight you're out of business.”
It took a while for Bob to get over her. So I locked them in the bathroom after making sure they couldn’t sneak out through a window or get the door open. This allowed me time to poke around the office and the rest of the theatre while I waited for Bob. I checked all the drawers in his big old wooden desk. It had been a nice desk in its day, probably 50 years ago, but now it was worn and scratched and generally look like hell. In one of the bottom drawers, I found several notebooks. Each had names and days listed in them. One went back to early in the war. I put everything back exactly as I found it. The storeroom behind the projector room was equally interesting. The rack held films ranging from the large-scale prints of some of the movies I’d bought last week, to a whole rack of 8mm prints of a wide variety of types of movies. None of them suitable for family viewing.
Bob finally got here. He told what had taken so long was getting the warrant to search the place. Apparently, the idea of catching Ben Roberts red-handed was enough to give the Judge Incentive to issue the warrant on the movie theater. Stone was with him. Somehow That didn't surprise me. I pointed to the bathroom, and told Bob exactly what I found when I got here. Stone was miffed that I’d let the girls go. I told him at the time I didn't know they were supposed to be used as bait to catch Roberts, But at any rate, I had enough on them to put them away for a long time. Bob’s men started tearing the place apart. It didn't take long to find the notebooks and films I’d found. Along with a couple of rooms that looked like they’d been used to house girls in, In the basement of the theater.
By now it was getting late and I needed to call Brenda. Using a pay phone in the lobby I called home.
I told Brenda about my day. Walking in the rain looking for Roberts, and Finally about the movie theatre. And catching everyone naked, and Bob coming down. I told her, I’d try to get to the bar later, depending on what happened here. She said she'd be careful. With that, we hung up. I called Walt. I gave him the same report and asked him to make sure he was at the bar tonight, He said he’d planned on it. He hadn’t had a lot of luck either. He found much the same thing I did about Ben Roberts. I told him, somehow that figures.
We hung up and I returned to Bob.
“So what's the plan?”
“I called over to Division, and they’re sending over a couple of policewomen, to act the part of the girls you let go. Hopefully, in the dark, he won’t look too close.”
“He sees anything that resembles Teeny-booper tits, and he won’t look any further,” I commented, Bob agreed. Even Stone, who had mostly kept his distance from me agreed that Roberts was a real scumbag.
The police ladies arrived via, an unmarked car. Dressed like young girls, It was hard to hide their age But with the dark and shadows out back We hopped it be enough to fool him long enough to get him.
The old couple were taken into custody and charged with a variety of porn distribution and trafficking girls charges, But instead of being hauled down to the station and booked, right away, It was decided that they should be here when Roberts showed up. I glanced out the lobby windows,
It was still raining, But What got my attention was the black & white police cars all over the front.
I called Bob over to the front window.
“What do you see?” I asked.
“Rain”
“And police cars all over the block.”
“If your Ben Roberts, who has been keeping one step ahead of us for six months, how do you do it?
You watch everyplace you're going to be later and make sure the coast is clear before you show up. I’ll lay you even odds, He’s already been here, and seen the cop cars here.”
“So what do we do? Call it off?”
“No too late for that, Besides I’m just guessing, But it makes sense, how did he get out of the warehouse before we got there? He saw us coming.
If he’s seen us here, already, he knows we're on to him, and the couple here. So what the next move? Remember, he wants some girls fast. He’s liable to be less cautious, and probably more dangerous”.
“If he’s seen you here, and at the warehouse, He knows you and the car, He also knows you’re on to him, and looking for him.” Bob reasoned.
“What better way to draw me out then go after someone close to me. Brenda” I glanced at my watch. It was time I got over to the bar.
Bob said he didn't need me anymore, and I could go.
We agreed that they’d go through the motions tonight on the off chance that Roberts would show up. Even Stone agreed that it was probably a waste of time. But it was the only thing that had at the moment.
It was still drizzling as I headed to the bar. The heavy rains this afternoon did nothing to drive down the temperatures much. It only made everything damp and wet, and dark. The streets were running with rainwater looking for a place to go. A number of intersections had puddles several inches deep covering most of them, as the water had collected there looking for a place to go.
I parked in the back as usual. I was glad to see Walt’s big Mercury back here. Knocking, I unlocked the back door and let myself in the back of the bar. Standing in the anteroom where Brenda had shot Willie Black a week before, I stood and listened. Going into my office, Hung my wet trench coat, and fedora in the hook near my door. Then slightly less wet, and disheveled I presented myself to Brenda Behind the bar. We kissed and I nodded to Walt He was sitting at his usual table pretending to drink. The evening went off without a hitch. But I still had a feeling that something was going to happen. Somewhere, somehow We’d missed something.
The feeling that something was going to happen soon stayed with me all evening.
We closed the bar at the usual time and headed to our respective homes.
As I turned off the lights and kissed Brenda goodnight, It was still there.
Brenda woke up to the smell of the coffee, and we shared our usual morning coffee before she went back to sleep for several more hours, and I went to find the truth about Lisa Mayer.
By seven am I was out of the house and headed for the seedier side of LA. Traffic was light this time of morning. The fog was slowly burning of the Santa Monica Hills in the distance I could see the rain soaking the valley. Turning on the radio in the car, Between general morning drive talk and songs by Sinatra, and Bing Crosby and Perry Como and others, The announcer said they expected rain in downtown LA later this morning. “Great,” I said to myself as I switched off the radio. By now I was in the red light district. At seven thirty in the morning, it should have been empty. But the streets were crawling with winos and druggies looking for a morning fix. Parking the car in a small parking lot at the corner of a block. I decided to walk. The air was cooler from the rain overnight, but the morning sun was quickly warming it up again. As the rest of the fog burned off. It was going to a hot sticky day If it did rain later this morning like they said.
Reaching all night theatre, I pulled out the picture of Ben Roberts, under it I had the Lisa Mayer picture.
Yes, they knew Ben Roberts. In fact almost every place I showed the picture they seemed to know him. At first, I thought it was because of the big movie he’d had last year, But upon further questioning I found, his stag movies were popular down here. In fact, he was regularly down here looking for girls to star in his films.
He hadn’t been around much in the last six months. I knew why. He’d been keeping a low profile after the murder of Lisa Mayer. No one seemed to recognize Lisa Mayer’s picture, Which I half expected. I tried several of the other pictures from the files. We’d taken from Roberts offices. No one seemed to know any of them.
By eleven am, I had been over several blocks in the red Light district and talked to more pimps and whores then I had in months. They all said the same thing. Ben Roberts was widely known down there. He liked girls of a certain age. The younger the better, he didn't much care how he treated them. He was known to get girls for friends of his. All of this added up to a picture of Ben Roberts that the tabloid papers had missed. The information that Variety Magazine had, was lacking on many levels.
By noon I was tired of walking and hungry. Finding a diner, I called Bob and reported my morning findings.
He said he’d been talking to folks over at the Hollywood Division. Apparently, Ben Roberts was well known over there too. There were several calls of domestic disturbances, and reports of underage girls seen on the property.
***
As I drank my second cup of coffee with my meal, I glanced out the big picture window covering the front of the dinner. The rain was just starting. Finishing my meal I paid for it and went out into the wet hot sticky LA day.
Retracing my steps back the parking lot I’d parked my car. I let my mind mull over the new information I’d learned this morning. I had to think that he was hiding somewhere nearby. Knowing what I now know about his particular fondness for girls. It occurred to me, that hiding or not, eventually his lust was going to call him out, he would need a girl, and who would he call to get him one? Someone he trusts. Like the couple at the theater, or the guy at the junk shop, Although I seriously doubted that he’d have the connections. It was raining hard by the time I reached my car. As usual, I took a close look around me while I unlocked the old Ford Sedan. The pouring rain made me decide not to take off my trench coat and just slide in the car wet coat and all. The drive back to the old theater was slow both because of traffic, and mostly because the rain was coming down so hard I could barely see out the windshield of the car. Which meant I crawled through the wet LA streets at a snail's pace.
By the time I reached the theater, I was getting tired of looking for Ben Roberts.
Parking in front of the doors I got out. The rain immediately resumed its assault on my fedora, and trenchcoat. Pulling the coat up close to me I tried to keep as much as possible from getting under the coat. I knew it was a lost cause because I was still wet from the walk from the dinner earlier. But it distracted me from the anger I felt boiling up inside me again.
Under the awning of the theater, the rain seemed to be less intense. But it still managed to get to the front doors. I pushed them in and stood in the lobby. Rain running down the sides of the coat, and my hat dripping rain into a puddle in the middle of the walkway from the door. I stood there a minute to let my eyes adjust to the darkness. As my eyes adjusted My anger and disgust rose.
I walked over the to manager's door. The same one I’d been in before. Glancing around I noticed no one was in the ticket booth.
I kicked the door in. The sound of my foot hitting the door and the door giving way under the beating by my large heavy shoe as it swung open and banged against the wall behind hit All occurred at once.
I stepping into the now open door.
They were both in there. No one was wearing any clothes. The old man and his wife, and at least two young girls. All naked. Their clothes piled all over the floor and furniture around the room.
“Play Times Over!!!” I shouted as the door hit the wall behind it.
The look on their faces at being caught in the act of their deprivation was shock and embarrassment. As they should be. The look on my face was disgust.
I walked into the room like I Owned it. I took the picture of Lisa Mayer the morgue picture. And showed the now half-naked girls. Who was scrambling to find their clothes and get the hell out of here. I stopped them short.
“See her. That's Lisa Mayer. I found her not far from here a couple days ago. Dead. She’d been dead for six months when I found her. So unless you want to end up like her, Get your shit together, and get your asses back home.” The look on their faces told me I’d made my point. They didn't say anything I think there were too shocked and embarrassment to talk. But the picture of Lisa Mayer had made an impression. Hopefully, it stuck more than a few minutes.
As they scrambled, half dressed of the office I turned my attention to the old couple.
I ignored they’re trying to get dressed. I took the picture of Ben Roberts out and laid it on the desk next to Lisa Mayer.
“Ben Roberts, Where is he now?” I asked.
They glanced at the picture in between covering themselves up.
“Yesterday he was at a warehouse over on the other side of town. Making his films But he managed to leave just before we arrived. So we missed him. You know her? That’s Lisa Mayers, the actress who was in his first film, The one that did well at the box office last year. I’m sure you heard the cops here a couple days ago, in the back parking lot. And you had to have heard the radio and saw the papers. Yeah, it was me who found her. Not 500 feet from this spot in the building next door..” I let it trail off.
By now they were mostly dressed.
“You and I both know what kind of predator Ben Roberts is, the Same kind as you. Here's the deal, I can call a guy I know in Vice and he’d have you shut down in an hour, or you can give me a new lead on Roberts, and I try to forget what I saw in here.” I lied, I was still going to call Robert and Stone. But they didn't know that.
“You and I both know sooner or later He’d going to want a girl. And who’s he going to call, that he can trust? You. Because you're just as perverted and creepy as he is.”
They glanced at each other it was quick, but I saw it.
“He’s called already? Talk to me. And I may let have lived a while longer.” I said coldly. I didn't hide my hatred for them.
He slowly nodded.
“Talk to Me.”
“He Called this morning.” She replied quietly.
“And ?” I prompted.
“He’s supposed to come this evening to pick her up.”
“When and Where?”
“Out back, in the alley. We’re supposed to have her here and ready for him.”
“The girls that were here when I came in.?”
“Yesss. Those two girls.” He finally admitted.
“He doesn’t mind that you have your fun with them first, Before he gets them?”
“No that was part of the deal, We told him we wouldn’t risk getting caught unless we had them first.”
“I see, What time is he supposed to be here?” I leaned against the desk, and crossed my arms over my chest. And glared down at them.
I didn't ask. I just picked up the phone on his desk.
“Bob, You might want to come over to the Movie house. Ben Roberts will be showing up here later this evening.” He said he’d be right over.
“You going to tell Detective Clay everything you just told me, and anything else you might have conveniently forgotten.” then we’ll decide what to do. Either way after tonight you're out of business.”
It took a while for Bob to get over her. So I locked them in the bathroom after making sure they couldn’t sneak out through a window or get the door open. This allowed me time to poke around the office and the rest of the theatre while I waited for Bob. I checked all the drawers in his big old wooden desk. It had been a nice desk in its day, probably 50 years ago, but now it was worn and scratched and generally look like hell. In one of the bottom drawers, I found several notebooks. Each had names and days listed in them. One went back to early in the war. I put everything back exactly as I found it. The storeroom behind the projector room was equally interesting. The rack held films ranging from the large-scale prints of some of the movies I’d bought last week, to a whole rack of 8mm prints of a wide variety of types of movies. None of them suitable for family viewing.
Bob finally got here. He told what had taken so long was getting the warrant to search the place. Apparently, the idea of catching Ben Roberts red-handed was enough to give the Judge Incentive to issue the warrant on the movie theater. Stone was with him. Somehow That didn't surprise me. I pointed to the bathroom, and told Bob exactly what I found when I got here. Stone was miffed that I’d let the girls go. I told him at the time I didn't know they were supposed to be used as bait to catch Roberts, But at any rate, I had enough on them to put them away for a long time. Bob’s men started tearing the place apart. It didn't take long to find the notebooks and films I’d found. Along with a couple of rooms that looked like they’d been used to house girls in, In the basement of the theater.
By now it was getting late and I needed to call Brenda. Using a pay phone in the lobby I called home.
I told Brenda about my day. Walking in the rain looking for Roberts, and Finally about the movie theatre. And catching everyone naked, and Bob coming down. I told her, I’d try to get to the bar later, depending on what happened here. She said she'd be careful. With that, we hung up. I called Walt. I gave him the same report and asked him to make sure he was at the bar tonight, He said he’d planned on it. He hadn’t had a lot of luck either. He found much the same thing I did about Ben Roberts. I told him, somehow that figures.
We hung up and I returned to Bob.
“So what's the plan?”
“I called over to Division, and they’re sending over a couple of policewomen, to act the part of the girls you let go. Hopefully, in the dark, he won’t look too close.”
“He sees anything that resembles Teeny-booper tits, and he won’t look any further,” I commented, Bob agreed. Even Stone, who had mostly kept his distance from me agreed that Roberts was a real scumbag.
The police ladies arrived via, an unmarked car. Dressed like young girls, It was hard to hide their age But with the dark and shadows out back We hopped it be enough to fool him long enough to get him.
The old couple were taken into custody and charged with a variety of porn distribution and trafficking girls charges, But instead of being hauled down to the station and booked, right away, It was decided that they should be here when Roberts showed up. I glanced out the lobby windows,
It was still raining, But What got my attention was the black & white police cars all over the front.
I called Bob over to the front window.
“What do you see?” I asked.
“Rain”
“And police cars all over the block.”
“If your Ben Roberts, who has been keeping one step ahead of us for six months, how do you do it?
You watch everyplace you're going to be later and make sure the coast is clear before you show up. I’ll lay you even odds, He’s already been here, and seen the cop cars here.”
“So what do we do? Call it off?”
“No too late for that, Besides I’m just guessing, But it makes sense, how did he get out of the warehouse before we got there? He saw us coming.
If he’s seen us here, already, he knows we're on to him, and the couple here. So what the next move? Remember, he wants some girls fast. He’s liable to be less cautious, and probably more dangerous”.
“If he’s seen you here, and at the warehouse, He knows you and the car, He also knows you’re on to him, and looking for him.” Bob reasoned.
“What better way to draw me out then go after someone close to me. Brenda” I glanced at my watch. It was time I got over to the bar.
Bob said he didn't need me anymore, and I could go.
We agreed that they’d go through the motions tonight on the off chance that Roberts would show up. Even Stone agreed that it was probably a waste of time. But it was the only thing that had at the moment.
It was still drizzling as I headed to the bar. The heavy rains this afternoon did nothing to drive down the temperatures much. It only made everything damp and wet, and dark. The streets were running with rainwater looking for a place to go. A number of intersections had puddles several inches deep covering most of them, as the water had collected there looking for a place to go.
I parked in the back as usual. I was glad to see Walt’s big Mercury back here. Knocking, I unlocked the back door and let myself in the back of the bar. Standing in the anteroom where Brenda had shot Willie Black a week before, I stood and listened. Going into my office, Hung my wet trench coat, and fedora in the hook near my door. Then slightly less wet, and disheveled I presented myself to Brenda Behind the bar. We kissed and I nodded to Walt He was sitting at his usual table pretending to drink. The evening went off without a hitch. But I still had a feeling that something was going to happen. Somewhere, somehow We’d missed something.
The feeling that something was going to happen soon stayed with me all evening.
We closed the bar at the usual time and headed to our respective homes.
As I turned off the lights and kissed Brenda goodnight, It was still there.