The Leander pearls I was sitting in my office, busy doing nothing. No phone calls, no messages. Nobody in Los Angeles seemed to need a private detective today. A warm wind blew in at the window, bringing with it the smell of the oil-burners from the hotel opposite. I was just thinking about going to lunch when Kathy Horne came in. Kathy was a tall blonde with sad eyes who had once been a policewoman. She lost her job when she married a cheap little crook called Johnny Horne, hoping to make him into an honest man. Now Johnny was back in prison again, and Kathy worked at the Mansion House Hotel across the road, selling cigars, and waiting to try again with Johnny She sat down and lit a cigarette Did you ever hear of the Leander pearls?' she asked. "God, that old blue suit of yours is so shiny. You must have money in the bank, the clothes you wear." "No," I said, 'to both your ideas. I never heard of the Leander pearls, and I don't have any money in the bank. "Then maybe you'd like to make yourself a cut of twenty- five grand I put my cigarette out. How was Kathy Horne going to put her hands on twenty-five thousand dollars?