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 is a cheap wooden desk. There is 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 visitor. The rest of the furniture in my office consist 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 say: 'L.Samuel. Private Detective.' That's me. I'm quiet tall, nearly two meters,  and I weight  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 came 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 come 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'm , 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.'

TO BE CONTINUED...