Nightmare in Angel City Read Online Free Page A

Look, I've got to catch a bus to Santa Monica. That's where we're staying. I'll tell you everything on the way. Will you come?" Frank didn't budge. "Please, I need you."
    Frank knew Callie must really be in trouble or ' she wouldn't have pulled such a rotten stunt. "Okay," he said, and nodded once. "Joe?"
    Joe nodded too. "Why a bus?" Joe asked.
    "Two reasons," said Callie. "First, it's the only thing, besides walking, my friends can afford. Second, buses stop and go. It's easy to spot someone tailing a bus."
    "Tailing?" Frank repeated apprehensively.
    "What kind of trouble are you in?"
    "Like you wouldn't believe. It's a big story. Come on, I'll tell you all about it."
     
    ***
     
    The abandoned bottling plant, decades old, stood on the beach between the Santa Monica pier and new condominiums built to the south. Once the plant had bottled a local brand of soft drink. It would be gone soon to make room for more condominiums, but in the meantime it housed dozens of homeless people, most of them : artists or musicians. Many had their musical instruments with them. Others kept supplies of paper and ink for drawing beside their makeshift cots. The walls inside the plant had been painted . with vividly colored murals in many different styles.
    "There's quite a little art colony here," Callie told Frank and Joe as they toured the building. "They're great people, but for one reason or another they don't have homes, so they camp out here. They help one another out."
    "Wonderful," said Joe, getting angry. "Callie, we flew for six hours. I've been scorched. Frank had to jump from a speeding car. We're both dead tired — we want to know what's going on."
    "Okay," Callie said. "You know about my broadcast journalism class."
    "Yes," said Frank, not sure if he could believe anything now.
    "Well, when I heard about this colony of artists, I decided to do my final class project on them. You know, interview them, tape their daily routines. But when I approached them, they didn't want anything to do with me. I had to get close to them."
    "So you pretended to be one of them," Joe observed. "Callie, I didn't think you had it in you."
    "Thanks — I think," Callie said. "Anyway, it was great. I had a video camera concealed in a bag and my microphones hidden in my clothes. They didn't even know the equipment was there. After a day they started talking to me. And I decided to narrow my report down to six people: the five you met and Patch."
    "Patch?"
    "I don't know what his real name is. He's an older man—in his forties, I'd say. He has a patch over his right eye, so everyone calls him Patch. Well, I couldn't get him to open up to me.
    "So I followed him—discreetly, from a distance. A couple of times he spotted me and ducked away, so I started following him in disguises.
    "Last night when I followed him, I tracked him to the beach up near Pacific Palisades. He waited in one spot until about five this morning. Then a policeman came onto the beach — "
    "A policeman?" Frank said.
    "Yeah. He was in uniform and carrying a briefcase," Callie continued. "I thought it was strange, so I started videotaping the whole thing. They seemed to know each other. Patch started yelling at the cop, but I wasn't close enough to hear what he was saying. The policeman handed Patch the briefcase, and as Patch opened it, the policeman drew his revolver and aimed it at Patch."
    "And, of course, you yelled," Joe said, speculating.
    "Isn't that what you would have done?" Callie said sharply. "This is my story. Please stop interrupting. When the policeman heard my voice, he spun around and aimed at me. He was a good shot too. He smashed my camera, and I thought I was done for. But Patch stopped him. He hit him over the head with the briefcase."
    ' She frowned. "It flew open, and I could see it was empty. Whatever the policeman was supposed to bring he didn't. Patch took off down the beach while the policeman staggered in loopy circles. I grabbed the camera and took off.