Leonard de Santis

Biography
Leonard de Santis was the proprietor of a Bohemian café called The Yellow Door. His establishment catered to beatniks, poets, musicians, artists and those who chose to follow them. Some of his more popular patrons included a woman named Carla and a social rebel and poet known as Maxwell H. Brock. A simple-minded man named Walter Paisley worked for Leonard as a busboy. Jealous of the respect and admiration cultivated by the other clients, Walter sought to become an artist in his own right. He presented his employer with a clay sculpture of a cat with a knife sticking out of its ribs, appropriately titled "Dead cat". Although Leonard saw no artistic value in the piece, Carla was extremely impressed, so Leonard promised Walter that he would try to sell it for him. The statue proved to be quite popular and Leonard even found a buyer willing to pay up to five-hundred dollars for it.

While cleaning the café one afternoon, Leonard accidentally knocked "Dead Cat" over, chipping away a few pieces of clay. Examining it, he saw fur sticking out from beneath the shell and realized that Walter took a dead cat and covered it in clay. Seeing him now as a fraud, Leonard poked fun at Walter's newfound celebrity status, hinting that he should make his next piece out of a dog or cockroaches found in his apartment. Leonard was ready to expose Walter until Paisley announced that he had just finished his next piece - "Murdered Man". Fearing what Paisley meant by the title, he reluctantly accompanied him back to his apartment where Walter unveiled the statue - a full-size likeness of a man with a gaping head wound. Carla felt the piece was wonderful, but Leonard began to suspect the truth; that the statue was in fact a dead body covered in clay. He could not bring himself to say anything however until he knew for sure though.

Walter continued to produce new, innovative pieces of art which included a sculpture of a nude woman and a severed human head. Leonard was disgusted at the display and now realized that not only was Walter using the remains of the dead in his artwork, but that he was actually murdering people to produce it. At a special exhibit at The Yellow Door, the truth was revealed. It was Carla who came to discover that the "Alice" statue consisted of the dead body of a local woman and former model. Walter fled from the café and many of the patrons chased after him. Leonard telephoned the police.