L.A. Confidential Part 46

IAD--packed.

Chester Yorkin, the Fleur-de-Lis delivery man, stashed in booth --1; in 2 and 3: Paula Brown and Lorraine Malvasi, Patchett wh.o.r.es--Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth. Lamar Hinton, Bobby Inge, Christine Bergeron and son could not be located; ditto the s.m.u.t posers--Fisk and Kleckner failed to make them from extensive mugbook prowls. In booth 4: Sharon Kostenza, real name Mary Alice Mertz, a plum off Vincennes' deposition-- the woman who once bailed Bobby Inge out of jail and paid a surety bond for Chris Bergeron. In booth 5: Dr. Terry Lux, his attorney--the great Jerry Geisler.

Ray Pinker standing by with counterdope--so far none of the new fish looked drugged.

Two officers guarding the squadroom--private interrogations--strict l.A. autonomy.

Kleckner and Fisk grilling Mertz and pseudo Ava--armed with deposition copies, s.m.u.t photos, a case summary. Yorkin, Lux and phony Rita cooling their heels.

Ed worked in his office: draft three of Vincennes' script. A thought nagged him: if Lynn Bracken reported to Patchett in full, he would have yanked his people before the police could bring them in--the way Inge, Bergeron and son disappeared immediately pre--Nite Owl. Two possibles on that--she was playing an angle or their rutting had her confused and she was stalling to figure the upshot. Most likely the former--the woman cut her last confused breath at birth.

He could still taste her.

Ed drew lines on paper. Inez to check Dieterling connections to Patchett and his father--that thought still made him wince. Two l.A. men out looking for White--apprehend the b.a.s.t.a.r.d and break him. Billy Dieterling and Timmy Valburn to be questioned--kid gloves, they had prestige, juice. A line to the Hudgens kill and the Hudgens/Patchett "gig"--Vincennes' deposition stated that Hudgens' _Badge of Honor_ files were missing at the time of his death, anomalous, the show was a Hudgens fixation. The _Badge of Honor_ people were alibied for the murder--but another reading of the case file was in order.

Half his maze of cases read extortion.

Line to an outside issue--Dudley Smith, going crazy for a quick Darktown collar. Line to a rumor: Thad Green was going to take over the U.S. Border Patrol come May. A theoretical line: Parker would choose his new chief of detectives solely on the basis of the Nite Owl case--him or Smith. Dudley might send White back to break his autonomy; criss cross all lines to keep his case sealed.

Kleckner walked in. "Sir, the Mertz woman won't cooperate. All she'll say is that she lives under that Sharon Kostenza alias and that she makes bail for Patchett's people when they get arrested for outside charges. n.o.body's ever been arrested working for him, we know that. She says she can't ID the people in the photos and she's mum on that extortion angle you told me to play up. She deadpanned the Nite Owl--and I believe her."

"Release her, I want her to go to Patchett and panic him. What did Duane get off Ava Gardner?"

Kleckner pa.s.sed him a sheet of paper. "Lots. Here's the high points, and he's got the actual interview on tape."

"Good. You go soften up Yorkin for me. Bring him a beer and baby sit him."

Kleckner walked out smiling. Ed read Fisk's memo.

Witness Paula Brown 3/25/58 1. Witness revealed names of numerous P.P. call girl/male prost.i.tute customers (specifics to follow in separate memo & on tape) 2. Could not ID people in photos (seems truthful on this) 3. Extortion hook got her talking a. P.P. gave his girls/male prost.i.tutes bonuses to get their customers to reveal intimate details of their lives b. P.P. makes his prosts quit at 30 (apparent bee in his bonnet) c. On in-home prost.i.tution a.s.signments, P.P. had prosts leave doors/windows open so men with cameras could take compromising photos. Prosts also made wax impressions of locks on certain rich casts doors d. P.P. had famous (T. Lux obviously) plastic surgeon cut male/female prosts to look like movie stars and thus make more $ e. Male prosts extorted $ from married h.o.m.os.e.xual custs & split take with P.P.

f. Bored by Nite Owl quests (obviously has no guilty knowledge)

Astounding audacious perversion.

Ed hit sweatbox row, checked the mirrors. Fisk and phony Ava talking; Kleckner and Yorkin drinking beer. Terry Lux reading a magazine, Jerry Geisler fuming. Lorraine Malvasi alone in a cloud of smoke. Astounding audacious perversion--the woman had Rita Hayworth's face down to the bone, up to the hairdo from _Gilda_.

He opened the door. Rita/Lorraine stood up, sat down, lit a cigarette. Ed handed her Fisk's memo. "Please read this, Miss Malvasi."

She read, chewing lipstick. "So?"

"So do you confirm that or not?"

"So I'm ent.i.tled to a lawyer."

"Not for seventy-two hours."

"You can't hold me here that long."

"Caaant"--a bad New York accent. "Not here, but we can hold you at the Woman's Jail."

Lorraine bit at a nail, drew blood. "You caan't."

"Sure I can. Sharon Kostenza's in custody, so she can't make bail for you. Pierce Patchett is under surveillance and your friend Ava just spilled what you read there. She talked first, and all I want you to do is fill in some blanks."

A little sob. "I caan't."

"Why not?"

"Pierce has been too nice to--"

Cut her off. "Pierce is finished. Lynn Bracken turned state's on him. She's in protective custody, and I can go to her for the answers or save myseW the trouble and ask you."

"I caaan't."

"You can and you will."

"No, I caaan't."

"You'd better, because you're an accessory to eleven felonies in Paula Brown's statement alone. Are you afraid of the d.y.k.es at the jail?"

No answer.

"You should be, but the matrons are worse. Big husky bull daggers with nightsticks. You know what they do with those--"

"All right all right all right! All right I'll tell you!"

Ed took out a notepad, wrote "Chrono." Lorraine: "It's not Pierce's fault. This guy made him do it."

"What guy?"

"I don't know. Really, for real, I don't know."

"Chrono" underlined. "When did you start working for Patchett?"

"When I was twenty-one."

"Give me the year."

"1951."

"And he had Terry Lux perform surgery on you?"

"Yes! To make me more beautiful!"

"Easy now, please. Now a second ago you said that a guy--"

"I don't know who the guy is! I caan't tell you what I don't know!"

"Sssh, please. Now, you confirmed Paula Brown's statement and you said that a 'guy,' _whose ident.i.ty you don't know_, coerced Patchett into the extortion plans detailed in that statement. Is that correct?"

Lorraine put out her cigarette, lit another one. "Yes. Extortion is like blackmail, right, so yes."

"When, Lorraine? Do you know _when_ 'this guy' approached Patchett?"

She counted on her fingers. "Five years ago, May."

"Chrono" hard underlined. "That's May of 1953?"

"Yeah, 'cause my father died that month. Pierce called us kids in and said we had to do it, he didn't want to, but this guy had him by the you-know-whats. He didn't say the guy's name and I don't think none of the other kids know it either."

"Chrono" one month post--Nite Owl. "Think fast, Lorraine. The Nite Owl ma.s.sacre. Remember that?"

"What? Some people got shot, right?"

"Never mind. What else did Patchett tell you when he called you in?"

"Nothing."

"_Nothing_ else on Patchett and extortion? Remember, I'm not asking you if you did any of this. I'm not asking you to incriminate yourself."

"Well, maybe three months or so before that I heard Veronica--I mean Lynn--and Pierce talking. He said him and that scandal mag man who got killed later were gonna run this squeeze thing where Pierce would tell him about our clients' secret little . . - you know, fetishes, and the man would threaten the clients with being in _Hush-Hush_. You know, pay money or be in the scandal mag."

_Extortion theory validated_. An instinct: on some level Lynn was playing straight, she hadn't told Patchett to prepare--he never would have let these people come in. "Lorraine, did Sergeant Kieckner show you some p.o.r.nographic pictures?"

A nod. "I told him and I'll tell you. I don't know any of the people and those pictures gave me the creeps."

Ed walked out. Duane Fisk in the hallway. "Good work, sir. When you got her on that 'this guy' bit, I went back and ran it by Ava. She confirmed it and confirmed that no ID."

Ed nodded. "Tell her that Rita and Yorkin have been booked, then release her. I want her to go back to Patchett. How's Kieckner doing with Yorkin?"

Fisk shook his head. "That boy's a hardcase. He's practically daring Don to make him talk. Hey, where's Bud White now that we need him?"

"Amusing, but don't keep it up. And right now I want you to take Lux and Geisler to lunch. Lux is here voluntarily, so be nice. Tell Geisler that this is a multiple homicide major conspiracy case, and tell him Lux gets full collateral immunity for his cooperation and a signed promise of no courtroom testimony. Tell him it's already in writing, and if he wants verification to call Ellis Loew."

Fisk nodded, walked down to booth 5. Ed checked the #1 look-in.

Chester Yorkin wising off at the mirror: making faces, flipping the bird. Skinny, a pompadour flopped over his eyes oozing grease. Welts on his arms--maybe old needle marks.

Ed opened the door. Yorkin said, "Hey, I know you. I read about you."

Tracks confirmed--scar tissue on the welts. "I've been in the news."

Giggle, giggle. "This is an old one, _kemo sabe_. Something like you saying, 'I never hit suspects 'cause that's the cop lowered to the level of the criminal.' You wanta hear my answer? I never snitch, 'cause cops are all c.o.c.ksuckers who get their cookies off making guys talk."

"You through?"--Bud White's stock line.

"No. Your father takes it up the a.s.s from Moochie Mouse."

Scared, but he did it--an elbow to the windpipe. Yorkin gasped; Ed got behind him, cuffed him, shoved him to the floor.

Scared, but steady hands: look, Dad, no fear.

Yorkin backed into a corner.

Scared, another Bad Bud move: a chair, a roundhouse swing, the chair smashed to the wall just above the suspect's head. Yorkin tried to squirm away; Ed kicked him back to his corner. Slow now: don't let your voice break, don't let your eyes go soft behind your gla.s.ses. "_Everything_. I want to know about the s.m.u.t and the other s.h.i.t you push through Fleur-de-Lis. _Everything_. You start with those tracks on your arms and why a smart man like Patchett trusts a junkie like you. And you know one thing right now--Patchett is finished and I'm the only one who can cut you a deal. _Do you understand me?_"

Yorkin bobbed his head yes yes yes. "Test pilot! I flew for him! Test pilot!"

Ed unlocked his cuffs. "Say that again."

Yorkin rubbed his neck. "Guinea pig."

"What?"

"I let him test horse on me. Here and there, a little at a time."

"Start over. Slowly."

Yorkin coughed. "Pierce got this heroin stolen off this Cohen-- Jack Dragna deal years ago. This guy Buzz Meeks left some with these guys Pete and Bar Englekling, just a sample, and they gave it to their father, who was some kind of chemistry hotshot. He taught Pierce in college, and he laid the s.h.i.t off to him and died, a heart attack or something. This other guy, I don't know his name so don't ask me, he killed Meeks or something like that. He got the rest of the s.h.i.t, like eighteen pounds' worth. Pierce has been developing compounds with the stuff for years. He wants to make the cheapest and the safest and the best. I just . . . I just take some test pops."

Astounding lines crossing. "You were making deliveries for Fleur-de-Lis five years ago, right?"

"Right, yeah, sure."

"You and Lamar Hinton."

"I ain't seen Lamar in years, you can't pin Lamar's s.h.i.t on me!"

Ed grabbed the spare chair, brandished it. "I don't want to. Give me an answer on this, and if I like it I'll owe you a solid. It's a test and you're a test pilot, so you should do well. Who shot at Jack Vincennes outside the Hollywood drop back in '53?"

Yorkin cringed. "Me. Pierce told me to clip him. I shouldn't of done it by the drop. I f.u.c.ked up and Pierce got p.i.s.sed."

Patchett nailed: attempted murder on a police officer. "What did he do to you for that?"

"He tested me bad. He gave me all these bad compounds he said he had to eliminate. He made me take these bad f.u.c.king flights."