I pulled the Triumph to a stop just in front of Safari Don's Bazaar Safari shop, off Wilshire Boulevard on the West side, damn near giddy I'd found a such a great parking spot. I'm at a point in my life where it's the little things that make life worth living. Okay, so the fact that it was 97 degrees and I was dehydrated from the second worst hangover I'd ever experienced had something do to with it. I must have looked even worse than I felt, because a good-looking dame in a navy blue power suit was coming at me, holding out a half-empty bottle of designer water. "You must be Diamond," she said. "You look better on TV. Here, drink this."

I took the bottle and downed it in two swallows. "Thanks. Just what I needed -- a three-dollar bottle of water. You're an astute woman. I assume you're Miss Emmons."

"Samantha. And not so astute, Mr. Diamond. From the sweat soaking through your shirt it wasn't hard to figure out. You hardly look like the local celebrity who found Conrad Christian's murderer."

"It was a lucky guess."

"Oh, there's a confidence builder. Shall we?"

"Why not?" I hopped out on shaky legs, desperately wishing she'd brought an extra bottle with her. Of something. She took out a key and slid it in the lock to Safari Don's Bazaar Safari. The door swung open with an huge and unholy roar. "AAIIIEE! What in the hell was that?"

"The Ugly American version of an African doorbell. Come in, come in, we don't have a lot of time. Don will be back from lunch soon." She slammed and locked the door behind me.

I looked around the store. The place looked more bizarre than bazaar to me -- it was floor-to-ceiling with all manner of kitchy Africana -- hand-carved elephants (hand carved in Thailand); zebra-skin shields; a wooden mace with a label on it, which informed me that the weapon was properly called a nob-kerry; several AFRICA AWAITS YOU travel posters on the walls, and spears of various shapes and sizes. It didn't matter than most of Africa was colonized by now -- in Safari Don's Bazaar, the last hundred years of progress had never happened... and Safari Don knew just the places to take you to prove it. I turned to Ms. Emmons. "So tell me again, how long has this girlfriend been missing?"

"The last time I saw her was last Thursday, here. She was closing up the shop. Don was flying back from Zaire -- I mean the Congo -- that night to check on the stores, and Rachel was going to break up with him."

"And you know this... how?"

"She's my best friend, Mr. Diamond. That's how I have a key. She told me. But by the time Don got here, Rachel was gone. Or so he says. Now come here. You said you wanted to look at Don's books. Can you tell me why?"

She went into the office and brought out a stack of ledgers, slamming them down on the counter. I flipped through the pages, getting an overview of the business. "Sure," I told her. "I like to start with the money. Next to love, it's the usual motive. Any money troubles with Safari Don's Bazaar here?"

"Are you kidding? The place is a mint. People LOVE this garbage. He runs a tour a month. Just take a look at net profit there."

I nodded, furrowing my brow so I'd look like I knew what I was looking for. It didn't work, so I gave in. "Um...what is the difference between gross profit and net profit?"

1) Gross profit is sales minus cost of goods sold, net profit is gross profit minus selling expenses.
2) Gross profit is sales minus discounts, net profit is gross profit minus selling expenses.
3) Gross profit is sales minus cost of goods sold, net profit is gross profit minus all other expenses.
4) None of the above is correct.

Income Statement information provided by Joe Louderback.

The answer is 3) Gross profit is sales minus cost of goods sold, net profit is gross profit minus all other expenses. Gross profit, or gross margin, is sales less cost of goods sold, and net profit, or net income, or net earnings, is the "bottom line" on the income statement, representing what is left after all expenses, including income taxes.

Think of gross profit/margin as the value of everything you sold, minus what all of it cost you. So for a wholesaler or retailer, cost of goods sold is essentially what the company paid, or still owes suppliers, for the goods that it sold. For a manufacturer, cost of goods sold includes the cost of the materials and components the company bought, plus the cost of labor and other manufacturing costs required to turn the components into finished products.

Samantha Emmons was right -- for whatever reason the bizarre bazaar was making a ton of scratch. Too bad -- solving the Christian case had been fairly easy because of the financial troubles the company had been having. Love cases were harder. I didn't have much to go on, but I couldn't really afford to be picky -- and Ms. Emmons had proposed five green reasons why I should take the case. I never met a C-note I didn't like.

"Okay, I'll help you out, Samantha. But let's get out of here before Don comes back. Is there someplace we can grab a cup of Joe? I'm gonna need a little more background."

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