Columbo The Helter Skelter Murders

ONE August 9, 1994 Khoury's The name was on his store on Rodeo Drive, in gleaming stainless-steel block letters It was on his license platekhoury. It was on labels securely affixed to ten thousand items of merchandiseimported by khoury. It was the center of the oval logo fired on the bottom of every plate, saucer, and cup of his line of chinawarekhoury & co. It was engraved on the bottoms of gold and silver cigarette lighters, compacts, pocket flasks, and so on, and on the backs of watchesA khoury design. It was on the labels sewn into his line of lingeriethe khoury collection. His motion-picture production company was Khoury & Associates. Discriminating taste was his life: his life's work, his passion, his chief source of satisfaction. His very name was a synonym for chic. No, for more than that, for elegance. The name inspired confidence in the people who bought at Khoury's. Since 1946, when his father established the store, the name had connoted urbane and pricey. As they said around down, you couldn't buy tchotchkes at Khoury's. Yussefpereand now Yusseffils, father and son, traveled the world to find merchandise that would honor the name and appeal to their clientele. They had intuitive eyes for quality. Anything bought at Khoury's was something exquisite, superior for its kind, whatever it was: something simple or something elaborate. A gift might not be what the recipient wanted or had any use for, but the name Khoury's on the box usually made up the deficiency. The hour was six-thirty, and on an August evening the sun was still high and brilliant. Yussef Khoury could have driven into the store parking lot from the street behind, but he enjoyed driving past, looking at the palm-shaded building and at the stream of customers going in and coming out. His father had had the brick building painted white. The son had had the facade lightly sandblasted, knocking off about half the paint and leaving a dulled white and red surface that was a Beverly Hills landmark. No colored lights shone on the stainless-steel letters that spelled his name. No floodlights shone on the front of the store in the evening. People knew where Khoury's was. They would find it. His car was a 1954 gull-wing silver Mercedes sports sedan, a classic automobile now worth many times what it had sold for when it was new. Its most distinguishing feature was the doors. Hinged at the center of the roof, they swung up. He drove around the corner and into the parking lot. A uniformed guard and a plainclothesman were always on duty in the lot, and both of them saluted as Khoury drove in. He put the car in the space with his name on it. "Good evening, Mr. Khoury," said the plainclothesman, as Khoury popped the gull-wing open. "Did you have a good workout?" "Good evening, Mike. I sure did. With a swim. Best exercise in the world, a swim. Good for the body, good for the mind." Fifty-four years old, Yussef Khoury was a compact, muscular man of less than average height, with an olive complexion and small dark eyes. He was bald. In past years he had sometimes worn a toupee but hadn't done that for several years. He was dressed as was appropriate for Yussef Khourythat is, to perfection, in a dark-blue suit tailored to fit him exactly, a monogrammed white shirt, a necktie in the regimental stripe of the Third Royal Welch Fusiliers, and black Gucci loafers. He wore a handsome star sapphire ring and a Khoury wristwatch. Brushed-aluminum plaques affixed to the rear wall of the building marked two reserved parking places: his own and his wife's. Arlene Khoury's Silver Cloud was not there; and, since she alloweHarrington, William is the author of 'Columbo The Helter Skelter Murders' with ISBN 9780812530261 and ISBN 0812530268.