The Devil's Due Read Online Free PDF Page B

adding a luxury hotel into the mix.
    “Alley's clear,” Jack said. “I'll call a cab and we can sneak out the back.”
    While Jack made the call, Simon reviewed their plan. They would check into the hotels and get settled. After dinner, they'd start seeing what they could learn about Alan Grant.
    According to a Modern Screen “Behind the Scenes with Alan Grant” article Elizabeth had found online, Grant was a frequent visitor to many of Los Angeles' best nightclubs. Lucky for them, one of the most popular clubs, the Cocoanut Grove, was right in their hotel. It was as good a place as any to start.
    “Okay,” Jack said. “Cab'll come by Franklin and La Brea in a few minutes.”
    “Good,” Simon said, as he picked up their suitcase. “Can we go out the back door?” He nodded toward the door in the kitchen.
    “Yeah, just one thing,” Jack said holding up a finger. He disappeared into what Elizabeth assumed was the bedroom and came back out carrying a metal box. He set it down on the kitchen counter and pulled out something wrapped in a cloth. A gun. He flicked open the cylinder to make sure it was empty and snapped it closed.
    “Just in case,” he said as he tucked the gun into his jacket pocket and poured a handful of bullets into the other.
    It was a sharp reminder of what they might face. As excited as Elizabeth was to be here, the danger they faced was real. Judging from Simon's grim expression, he was thinking the same thing.
    Jack checked to make sure the alley was clear once again and the trio made their way down the back stairs and out into 1933.
    ~~~
    Los Angeles was unlike most other major cities; it didn't grow vertically like New York, it grew horizontally, spreading out over hundreds of square miles. In 1930 it was half orange groves and half upstart metropolis. Despite the Depression, Elizabeth saw signs of new construction everywhere. Los Angeles wasn't just about a place to live; it was about transformation. Nothing, including most of the people, was native. Even most of the ubiquitous palm trees had come from somewhere else to help transform the desert into a dream.
    Driving through Los Angeles in 1930 was like peeking into the dressing room of a star with only half her make-up on — blotchy and uneven, but a promise of seductive beauty just around the corner.
    Elizabeth rolled down the window in the enormous back seat of the cab and tried to get a better look. Even though it was still fairly early days for the automobile, they were everywhere in Los Angeles. And nearly every car in the thirties seemed big enough to house a small family.
    Their behemoth taxi drove down Western Avenue from the hilly residential section of the Hollywood foothills into the heart of Los Angeles. They came to a stop at Hollywood Boulevard and one of the Pacific Electric Red Cars, a large sprawling network of trollies and light rail, rumbled past. Sadly, the Red Cars' days were numbered and the automobile would soon supplant just about every form of public transportation in Los Angeles.
    Their cab crossed Sunset Boulevard and passed Paramount-Famous Lasky Studios and down to Wilshire Boulevard where Hollywood came to eat and play.
    “Look,” Elizabeth said. “The Brown Derby.” Although the Brown Derby had several locations, this was the most famous. The restaurant was shaped like its namesake, a huge brown derby, brim and all. “We have got to go there.”
    Simon smiled. “If we have time.”
    The cab turned away from the Derby and that's when Elizabeth saw the Ambassador Hotel. Before it became infamous for being the site of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination, it was one of the premiere hotels in Los Angeles. No wonder. It was enormous and gorgeous. A huge perfectly manicured lawn stretched out for hundreds of feet in front of the over 500-room hotel. The cab entered along the side entrance and under an overhang that protected people from imaginary Los Angeles rain.
    As Simon paid the driver, giving him enough to