Worksheet
Answer Key
The Dark Side of the City Alan Battersby
Summary
Nat Marley, a private investigator, gets a call from
Curtis Wilson, a man who used to be a hip-hop
star. He is worried about his sisters husband, Ellis
Freeman. His sister, Dionne Freeman, says he has
been acting strangely recently and wont talk about it.
The Freemans run a pet store. Marley visits the store
to see what he can find out, and says that he wants to
buy a snake for his sons birthday; however, everything
seems normal at the store. The next day, Marley
goes with his old police friend Joe Blaney to follow
Freeman as he transports pets and pet food around
New York. Before he sets off, however, two blonde
men, twins, come out of another store a little way
down the street bringing some extra bags, which they
make Freeman put in his van. The bags are green and
yellow like the other pet store bags, but these have a
red stripe around them. At one apartment
52 West 112th Street nobody answers when Freeman
rings, so he puts the last bag from the brothers back
in his van and drives home. That evening, Marley
gets an old friend and expert lock man, Mario Rossi,
to go with him to the Freemans pet store and break
in. First, they find a dangerous rattlesnake, and when
they find the last bag with the red line around it, they
see that it is full of cocaine. Back at home, Marley
hears a news report about a mans death at a party at
Morningside Heights, the area where Freeman had
tried to leave a bag earlier in the day. Later he finds
out that the cause of death was cocaine and alcohol,
and that the man, Ross Gallagher, had died in the
same building that Freeman had visited the day before.
Marley meets Wilson, and shows him photos of the
snake and the cocaine he had found in Freemans
shop. It turns out that the rattlesnake is in danger and
so cannot be brought into the USA. Marley finds out
that the blonde twins, Grant and Tyler Gray, have
a business called Computer Kitchen, but he thinks
that the business is probably a front for another
business. He therefore gets his assistant, Stella, to visit
the Computer Kitchen to find out about the Grays
business. She returns saying the brothers know nothing
new about computers, which makes Marley think
Cambridge English Readers Cambridge University Press 2012
Level 2
that the business is not a real business. Marley then
gets a call from Wilson with the news that Freeman
has been hurt quite badly, but that he has told his wife
Denise that it was a street robbery. Marley comes up
with a plan to try to speak with Freeman alone and
goes to the pet store to ask Freeman to bring a snake
to his apartment for his sons birthday next day. When
Freeman arrives, Marley shows him the photos of the
Grays and the cocaine, and then calls in Wilson who
has been waiting in the kitchen to talk to Freeman.
Freeman explains that Dionne had had an expensive
operation, and he had borrowed $50,000 from the
bank to pay for it. Then he had started buying and
selling snakes that arent allowed into the country to
make enough money to pay the money back. He tells
them that he had sold a Burmese python to the Grays.
However, they had filmed him taking the money and
said they would tell the police if he didnt deliver their
drugs for them. The death of Gallagher, however, had
made him realise that he had to stop, but when he told
the Grays, they hit him in the face and said they would
do the same to his wife if he stopped working for them.
Marley wants to get Freeman out of his difficulties
without involving the police, so he thinks of a plan.
The next morning Marley, Blaney and Wilson meet
at the pet store early. Freeman phones the Grays to
say that his van wont start, and that he cant therefore
take their bags. They tell him to go to their office.
Instead, Marley, Blaney and Wilson go to see the
twins. At that moment, however, another gang arrives,
but Marley and Blaney frighten them off with shouts
and gun shots. Blaney then takes the Grays to his car
while Wilson and Marley clean the office to remove
anything that could lead the police to Freeman. Wilson
then goes to the pet store to help Freeman clean up
there too. Blaney and Marley drive the Grays to their
apartment. They find the door open, their money
stolen, and their snake dead on the desk. A message
written on the wall reads: We know where you live.
Joe then drives the twins to LaGuardia airport and
makes them wait for a flight to San Francisco. Marley
goes to his local diner, from where he phones the
police, without giving his name, to tell them that he
has heard shots, that there are drugs in the Computer
www.cambridge.org/elt/readers PHOTOCOPIABLE
 Worksheet
Answer Key
Level 2

The Dark Side of the City Alan Battersby

Kitchen office, and that the Grays are at the airport.
Chapter 3
Some days later Captain Oldenburg of the NYPD
phones to ask Marley what he knows about the case, 1. a) True; b) False; c) False; d) True; e) True;
but he says he knows nothing. At the end, Marley gets f) False; g) True; h) True
a thank you letter from the Freemans, with a photo of a 2. Nobody answers.
little girl in it holding the birthday snake he had ordered. 3. He phones the number of the apartment to rent;
he asks whether renters can keep pets there; the
person tells him that pets arent allowed.
Before reading 4. He tries to take it back to the twins, but they
1. It shows a large city at night (it is New York arent there, so he takes it back to his shop.
City): there are many buildings, low and high- 5. He asks him to watch Freemans pet store and
rise (offices and flats) with lots of lights. On the see what happens.
horizon there is a brightly lit bridge. Students
own answer. Chapter 4
2. It refers to the bad, poor or criminal side of the 1. a) Italian-American; b) bad; c) opening locks in
city (i.e. not where there is literally no light). doors and windows; d) he has a lock and key
3. Nat Marley. Hes a private investigator. store.
4. Businessman, personal assistant, pet store owner, 2. a
ex-policeman, newspaper reporter, software 3. b
business owners, detective. 4. A rattlesnake.
5. Animal International, Computer Kitchen, 5. In a cupboard under a tank in a corner.
Columbia University, Grand Central Station, 6. Drugs probably cocaine.
Bronx Zoo. 7. Because a police car drives past slowly.
6. As Curtis Wilson, Ellis Freeman and Dionne 8. About a death at a party near Columbia
Freeman are the only ones related, it might have University.
been one of them.
Chapter 5
Check your reading
1. correct: b/c/d/f
Chapter 1 2. a) Gallagher died from cocaine and alcohol at a
party.
1. Because he has no family. b) It is the place where Freeman was unable to
2. He had been a hip-hop musician called leave a bag the day before.
Bad Boy Bronx.
3. Curtis Wilsons sister Dionne is worried about
Chapter 6
her husband because he has changed recently.
4. Hes afraid of something or someone. 1. f a c e b d
5. To visit their pet store and say that he is 2. He wants to question him.
interested in buying a snake.
Chapter 7
Chapter 2 1. Photos of the Gray brothers and the drugs.
1. 1 c; 2 e; 3 a; 4 d; 5 f; 6 b 2. Curtis Wilson.
2. Nothing strange. 3. To pay for his wifes operation in hospital.
3. Follow Ellis Freeman when he transports things 4. He bought and sold snakes that werent allowed
in his van. into the USA.
Cambridge English Readers Cambridge University Press 2012 www.cambridge.org/elt/readers PHOTOCOPIABLE
 Worksheet
Answer Key
Level 2

The Dark Side of the City Alan Battersby

5. c
6. They said they would show the police the film of
him selling them the snake.
Chapter 8
1. a) Ellis Freeman; b) Nat Marley; c) Curtis
Wilson; d) the Gray brothers; e) four guys
the big boys; f) Joe Blaney.
2. a) open; b) broken; c) open and empty; d) dead
on the desk; e) covered with a message that
reads: We know where you live.
3. To the airport.
Chapter 9
1. He phones the NYPD and tells them about the
drugs and that the Grays are at the airport.
2. Because Oldenburg thinks Marley knows
something about the Grays case, but cannot
prove it.
3. A letter of thanks and a photo of a little girl with
the birthday snake he had nearly bought.
After reading
Students own answers.

Cambridge English Readers Cambridge University Press 2012 www.cambridge.org/elt/readers PHOTOCOPIABLE