L.A. Confidential Part 50

Except Exley.

CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE

A stakeout on the house he grew up in. He couldn't go in and question his father; he couldn't ask for his help. He couldn't tell the man he confided secrets to a woman--and gave a brutal enemy the means to patricide. He brought the Atherton file with him--there was nothing in it he didn't already know, the man who made the s.m.u.t and killed Sid Hudgens was intrinsic to the Atherton murders, maybe the killer himself--truths Preston Exley would dispute out of pride. He couldn't go in; he couldn't stop thinking. He counted memories instead.

His father bought the house for his mother; it was really just a sop to his pride--the Exleys flee the middle cla.s.s grandly. They never had Christmas lights on the lawn--Preston Exley said it was lowlife. Thomas fell off balconies--and had the style not to cry. His father threw him a "back from the war" party--only the mayor, the City Council and LAPD men who could further his career were invited.

Art De Spain walked to his car, looking frail, one arm bandaged. Ed watched him drive off, his father's man, his Dutch uncle. Memory: Art said he wasn't cut out to be a detective.

The house loomed big and cold. Ed drove back to the hospital.

Trash was up, giving Fisk a statement. Ed watched from the doorway.

". . . and I was playing off Exley's script. I don't remember exactly what I said, but Patchett pulled out a gun and shot me. That s.h.i.t piece Exley gave me jammed, and Patchett slammed me with a hypo. Then I heard shots and 'No, Abe, no, Lee, no.' And now you know as much as I do."

From the hall, loud: "Abe Teitlebaum, Johnny Stompanato and Lee Vachss. They did the Nite Owl. Throw in Deuce Perkins as part of the gang and get ready to s.h.i.t when I tell you who else I got."

Ed smelled his sweat, his breath. White pushed him inside-- firm, not too rough. "Put our stuff aside for a minute. Did you hear what I said?"

The names registered: gang muscle, a not-bad line to HEROIN. 'White looked insane--disheveled, a zealot. Fisk said, "Sir, do you want me to . .

Ed moved his shoulders--White dropped his hands right on cue. "Two minutes, _Captain_."

Scared--_be a captain_. "Duane, go get yourself some coffee. White, get my interest before I ream you for the Chinamen."

Fisk walked out. Ed said, "Jack, you stay. White, you keep my interest."

White closed the door. Disheveled: soiled clothes, inksmudged hands. "Good I heard the radio on you, Trashcan. I didn't know you were here, I mighta tried to do it all myself."

Vincennes, on the bed looking queasy. "Do _what?_ Abe, Lee. You make Teitlebaum and Vachss for Patchett, spell it out."

Ed: "You look Crim 101, White. Make like you're writing an occurrence chronology."

White smiled--pure kamikaze. "I been tracking a string of hooker killings for years. It started with this girl Kathy Janeway. She got snuffed back in '53, right around the Nite Owl. She was Duke Cathcart's girlfriend."

Ed nodded. "I know that story. I.A. ran a personal on you when you pa.s.sed the sergeant's exam."

"Oh, yeah? What you don't know is that a few years ago my case broke. I thought my killer was Spade Cooley--his band was in all the hooker snuff cities on the DODs. I was wrong. Cooley ratted off the real killer--Burt Arthur Perkins."

Vincennes spoke up. "I buy Deuce as a woman killer. He's wrong to the core."

White said, "You should know, 'cause Cooley said he was pals with Johnny Stompanato, and back around '52 you told me you rousted him hanging out with Johnny Stomp, Kikey T. and Lee Vachss. Cooley told me Johnny and Deuce were tight, so I went looking for Johnny."

Ed said, "All right, so you went to Stompanato."

White lit a cigarette. "Nix. Now I tell you that Dudley Smith has been using me for strongarm jobs on the Mobster Squad going back years. You know how he talks? 'Containment,' that's one of his favorite words. Contain crime, contain this, contain that. He's been beating around the bush about offering me outside work, and the other night he said I could be useful keeping the 'obstreperous Italian' that's afraid of me in line. Johnny Stomp's afraid of me--he used to snitch for me and I used to muscle him good. You know how Dud's this so-called gangland peacemaker? Well, the other night him, Carlisle and Breuning worked over this guy Lamar Hinton at the Victory, supposedly a Mobster Squad job. Bulls.h.i.t--all Dudley asked him about was Nite Owl stuff--s.m.u.t, Pierce Patchett."

Ed, bug-eyed: this can't be coming. "So you went to Stompanato looking for Perkins."

"Right. I go to Kike's deli, and Johnny's there with Kikey. I ask Johnny about Deuce, and Johnny's all hiked. Kikey's hinked worse and they both lie and say Deuce is just some b.u.mf.u.c.k acquaintance. They deny that Deuce is tight with Lee Vachss, when I know G.o.dd.a.m.n otherwise. Johnny uses the word 'containment,' which is not a Johnny-type word. Hink all over these guys, and I drop that I'm on the Nite Owl reopening and they almost s.h.i.t, Deuce for the Nite Owl, ho, ho. I leave, go to a pay phone and have P.C. Bell put a fifteen-minute trace on all calls out of the deli. Two calls--one to Dot Rothstein, Dudley's good pal and Kikey's cousin, one to Dudley's house."

Vincennes said, "Holy f.u.c.king s.h.i.t." Ed jerked a hand to his gun--wrong--White was a cop. "Give me corroboration."

White flicked his smoke out the window. "Crim 101. The n.i.g.g.e.rs didn't do it, so Dud and his gang planted a car by the Nite Owl. I went to the DMV and checked April '53 registrations, Caucasians this time. Dot Rothstein bought a '48 Merc, primer gray, on April 10. A phony name, a phony address, but the stupid b.i.t.c.h used the real digits on her own phone number."

Vincennes looked sh.e.l.l-shocked. Ed reeled in a line so he wouldn't scream DUDLEY. "Right before the Nite Owl I was working late at Hollywood Station. Spade Cooley was playing a retirement party downstairs, and I saw Burt Perkins roaming the halls. Try this theory: Mal Lunceford, ex--LAPD patrolman. Call him the forgotten Nite Owl victim, and remember he worked Hollywood Division for most of his time on the Department. Now, did one of the shooters have a grudge against Lunceford? Was Perkins removing records of it that night at the station? Did the conspirators know that Lunceford was a Nite Owl regular and plan their Cathcart or Cathcart-impersonator hit so that they could clip him too?"

White answered. "Dudley put me on the Lunceford background check, probably because he thought I'd f.u.c.k it up. I checked for old Lunceford F.I.'s and couldn't find a G.o.dd.a.m.n one. I buy that theory."

DUDLEY past screaming--Ed held it down. Vincennes: "Fisk told me about Patchett, how he got the Cohen-Dragna summit heroin, how him and this unnamed bad guy who's obviously Dudley were getting ready to push it. Now, I know for a fact that Dud bodyguarded that deal, and there was this rumor floating around years ago--that Dud led this posse that killed this guy Buzz Meeks who heisted the summit. Fisk said that Patchett got most of the white horse that got clouted, some from the Englekling brothers and their father, some from this bad guy who's obviously Dudley. Okay, so what I'm thinking is-could Lunceford have been in on the posse? Was that when Dudley got the dope?"

White shook his head--new stuff for him. "You fill me in on that, because I got a lead that ties in. Dud was talking up his containment s.h.i.t, and he said something about keeping the n.i.g.g.e.rs sedated, which sounds like heroin to me."

Ed said, "Call that done for now. Jack, run with the Goldman-- Van Gelder angle. Put it together with our new leads."

Trash stood up, steadied himself on the bed rail. "Okay, let's say Davey G. was in with Dudley, Stompanato, Kikey, Vachss and Dot. How any of them could trust a psycho like Deuce I don't know, but f.u.c.k it. Anyway, they're all conspiring against Mickey C. White, you don't know this, but Goldman had a bug in Mickey's cell at McNeil. I'm betting Dudley and his friends were in with Davey from the beginning, but f.u.c.k it, however it happened, Davey heard the Englekling brothers approach Mickey with Duke Cathcart's s.m.u.t deal."

Ed raised a hand. "Chester Yorkin said that the man who brought Patchett the bulk of the heroin--let's a.s.sume it's Dudley--had a hard-on for s.m.u.t and quote 'contacts in South America and pervert mailing lists.' I always wondered about the profit on p.o.r.nography, and now Dudley's connection makes it seem more feasible."

Vincennes said, "Let me keep going. Dud worked with the OSS in Paraguay after the war and he ran Ad Vice back in '39 or so, so I know he's got those contacts, but sit on that. Right now we've got Goldman going to Smith and Stompanato with the word on the s.m.u.t plan. Everybody, especially Dud, likes the idea, and they decide to crash the racket. On his own, a double cross, I don't know, Davey sends Dean Van Gelder, his prison visitor, to talk to Cathcart. Van Gelder decides to crash Duke's prostie racket and the s.m.u.t gig on his own. He'd been seen by Davey face-to-face, but the outside prison men had never seen him. He figured he looked like Cathcart, so he could impersonate Cathcart and cut his own deal. By the time the impersonation was found out he'd be too far in good with the outside men for Davey to care what he'd done. So Van Gelder moved to San Berdoo to be close to the Englekling brothers. He fell in with Sue Lefferts and snuffed Duke. He knew the names of at least one of the outside men, called them at a pay phone from the Lefferts' house and asked for a meet. He went in tough and suggested a public place, he figured Sue could sit nearby and he'd be safe. One of the outside guys put Lunceford together with the Nite Owl and said let's meet there. Dud or one of his guys approached Patchett right _before_ the Nite Owl and told him to get his loose ends tidied. Patchett didn't know exactly what was gonna happen, but he had Chris Bergeron and her kid and Bobby Inge blow town just as I was starting in on the s.m.u.t gig for Ad Vice."

An air-cooled room--Ed felt every word boost the temperature. "Let me throw out a chronology, starting right after Van Gelder as Cathcart contacts the outside men. Now, we know Dudley loves p.o.r.nography, we know he's been sitting on eighteen pounds of'H' since the Cohen-Dragna deal. Try this theory: he breaks into Cathcart's apartment and finds something that leads him to Patchett, something that includes mention of his chemistry background and his connection to old Dr. Englekling. He goes to Patchett, they strike a deal--develop the heroin, push the s.m.u.t. He's astounded that Patchett's thinking along the same lines, that he's already got some of the horse from Doc Englekling. Now Dudley wants Cathcart killed, Mal Lunceford silenced for whatever reason--and he wants Patchett terrified. He's a policeman, and he's read about those Negroes discharging shotguns in Griffith Park. He sets up the meet at the Nite Owl, knowing Lunceford will be there, and Jack's right--he was ambiguous, but he told Patchett to get rid of his loose ends. Moving ahead, the investigation goes wider than Dudley thinks it will--because the Negroes don't get killed during their arrest, and they don't confess. He puts White on the Cathcart background check, and he probably _didn't_ know that Perkins killed the Janeway girl, but he wanted White steered away from getting involved on general principles--he wanted him to steer clear of possible Cathcart--Nite Owl connections."

All eyes on Bud White. The zealot: "Okay, Dudley put me on the Cathcart check because he thought I'd screw up. But I checked out Duke's pad and saw that it was print-wiped, and I figured that somebody had tried on his clothes. The Dudley guys wiped the place, but they didn't touch the phone books, and I could tell that the San Berdoo printshop listings had been looked over. Now, I got a theory. When I was on the Carthcart check, I met Kathy Janeway at this motel out in the valley. Two days later she's raped and killed. When I left the motel I thought I was being tailed, but then I forgot about it. I think the tail was Deuce Perkins. I think Dud put a tail on Cathcart's K.A.'s, just to keep tabs on the investigation, which explains how he's always known so much about all this stuff that I've always kept secret. So Deuce, who's a rape-o s.h.i.tbird psycho, sees Kathy and goes for her. Maybe Dudley knew he killed her, maybe he didn't. Either way he f.u.c.king pays."

Vincennes lit a cigarette, coughed. "We've got no evidence, but I've got some more stuff to tie in. One, Doc Layman took five .30-30 slugs out of Patchett, and he said they match this gang unsolved in Riverside County. When Davey Goldman was babbling away up in Camarillo, he said something about three triggers. He babbled some other stuff that keeps running through my head, but it doesn't make any sense. Exley, did you listen to that tape I found at McNeil?"

Ed nodded. "You're right. Nothing salient at all, just a pa.s.sing mention of some gang hits."

White: "There's been a bunch of mob unsolveds. I know, 'cause a suspect spilled some tangent stuff on them on a Mobster Squad roust. Always three triggers, Cohen franchise holders and upstart hoods clipped. Easy money: Stompanato, Vachss and Teitlebaum keeping things copacetic for Mickey C's parole. They wanted to keep things chilled for their containment gig and they figured when Mickey got out they'd test the wind and either clip him or use him. My bet's on clip. They had Cohen and Goldman bushwhacked in prison--a pure cross on Davey. Mickey's house got bombed and Mickey lived to tell. They'll clip him before too long and they'll contain real good, 'cause Dud's Mr. Mobster Squad and he's got Parker's f.u.c.king--what's the word? mandate?--to keep out-of-town muscle out. Do you f.u.c.king believe it?"

Trash laughed. "Grand, lad, grand. And all the hits were paving the way for Dud to push Patchett's heroin. He got the command on the reopening so he could find some new patsies, and he's set to push the horse. He's got the s.m.u.t stashed, and he didn't warn Patchett about the investigation because he was already planning to kill him. He didn't touch Lynn Bracken, because he figured Patchett kept her in the dark on all his worst stuff. He let her come in for questioning because he figured she'd stall Exley's part of the investigation."

Lynn Bracken.

Ed winced, moved toward the door. "And we still don't know who made the s.m.u.t and killed Hudgens. Or the Englekling brothers, which doesn't look like a pro job. White, you went up to Gaitsville with Dudley, and he submitted a soft-pedal report on--"

"It was another psycho job. Heroin lying around, and the killer just left it. He tortured the brothers with chemicals and burned up a bunch of s.m.u.t negatives with acid solutions. The lab tech said he thought the killer was trying to ID the people in the pictures. The chemistry stuff made me think Patchett, but then I thought he must've already known who the picture people were. I don't really think their heroin ties to our heroin, the brothers were dope peddlers on and off for years. Chemists and dope peddlers, and if Patchett wanted their dope, he would've stolen it. I think the brothers got killed by somebody, I don't know, outside the center of this mess."

Trash sighed. "_There's no evidence_. Patchett and the whole Englekling family are dead, and Dud probably killed Lamar Hinton. You got nothing at the Fleur-de-Lis drop and White's little grandstand with Stompanato and Teitlebaum means that now Dudley's been alerted and he's taking care of _his_ loose ends. I don't think we've got much of a case."

Ed thought it through. "Chester Yorkin told me Patchett had a b.o.o.by-trapped safe outside his house. The house is being guarded now, the West L.A. squad has a team on it. In a day or so, I'll go lift the guards. There might be something in that safe that nails Dudley."

White said, "So right now, what? No evidence, and Stompanato's leaving for Acapulco today with Lana Turner. What now?"

Ed opened the door--Fisk was outside drinking coffee. "Duane, get back in touch with Valburn, Stanton, Billy Dieterling and Pelts. Change the meeting to the downtown Statler at 8:00. Call the hotel and set up three suites and call Bob Gallaudet and tell him to call me here--tell him it's urgent."

Fisk went for a phone. Vincennes said, "You're hitting the Hudgens end."

Ed turned away from White. "_Think_. Dudley's a policeman. We need evidence, and we may get it tonight."

"I'll take Stanton. We used to be friends."

Line it--a Dieterling kid star, Preston Exley. "No . . . I mean are you up to it?"

"It's my case too, Captain. I've come this far, and I went up against Patchett for you and d.a.m.n near got killed."

Weigh the risk. "All right, you take Stanton."

Trash rubbed his face--pale, stubbled. "Did I . . . I mean when Karen was here and I was unconscious . . . did I . .

"She doesn't know anything you don't want her to. Now go home, I want to talk to White."

Vincennes walked out--ten years older in a day. White said, "The Hudgens end is bulls.h.i.t. It's all Dudley now."

"No. First we buy some time."

"Protecting Daddy? Jesus, and I thought I was dumb on women."

"_Just think_. Think what Dudley is and what taking him down means. Think, and I'll make you a deal."

"I told you _never_."

"You'll like this one. You keep quiet about my father and the Atherton case and I'll let you have Dudley and Perkins."

White laughed. "The collars? I got them anyway."

"No. I'll let you kill them."

CHAPTER SEVENTY

Exley's rule rankled: no hitting, Billy and Timmy were too upscale to take muscle. Hotel good guy/bad guy rankled--they should be muscling Dudley at the Victory. Bob Gallaudet took Max Pelts; Trashcan was grilling Miller Stanton. Gallaudet got briefed by Exley--everything but the Atherton angle. He thought he could prosecute Dudley Smith, Exley didn't tell him Dud and Deuce Perkins were paid for. f.u.c.king Exley wouldn't let him out of his sight--he took him through every piece of the case step by step, like they were partners who could trust each other. The case all put together was amazing, Exley had an amazing f.u.c.king brain--but he was stupid if he didn't know one thing: after Dudley and Deuce, Preston E. was next. Easy: d.i.c.k Stens wouldn't have it otherwise.

Bud watched--a crack in the bathroom doorway.

The queers sat side by side; Mr. Good Guy p.u.s.s.yfooted. Yes, they bought Fleur-de-Lis dope; yes, they knew Pierce Patchett "socially." Yes, Pierce snorted "H," we heard rumors he sold p.o.r.nographic books--but we never indulged in such things. Kid gloves: the fruits thought the Patchett snuff was why they got the royal hotel treatment. Captain Exley would never be nasty-- Preston Exley was running for governor, Ray Dieterling throwing hot financial backup.

Exley, loud. "Gentlemen, there's an old homicide that might tie in to the Patchett killing."

Bud walked in. Exley said, "This is Sergeant White. He has a few questions for you, then I think we can wrap it up."

Timmy Valburn sighed. "Well, I'm not surprised. Miller Stanton and Max Pelts are down the hall, and the last time the police questioned all of us was when that awful man Sid Hudgens was killed. So _I'm_ not surprised."

Bud pulled a chair up. "Why'd you say 'awful'? You kill him?"

"Oh, Sergeant _really_. Do I look like the killer type to you?"

"Yeah, you do. Guy who makes his living playing a mouse has gotta be capable of anything."

"Sergeant, _really_."

"Besides, _you_ weren't called in on the Hudgens job. Billy tell you about it? A little pillow talk, maybe?"

Billy Dieterling to Exley. "Captain, I don't like this man's tone."

Exley said, "Sergeant, keep it clean."

Bud laughed. "That's the pot calling the kettle black, but screw it. You guys alibied each other for Hudgens, now it's five years later and you alibi each other up for Patchett. Hinky to me. My take on fruits is that they can't stick to the same bed for five minutes, let alone five years."

Valburn: "You're an animal."

Bud pulled out a file sheet. "Alibis on the Hudgens case. You and Billy in bed together, Max Pelts porking some teenage quiff. Miller Stanton at a party where your queer buddy Brett Chase also happens to be. So far, we got a real all-American crew on _Badge of Honor_. David Mertens the set man, he's at home with his male nurse, so maybe he's fruit, too. What I want--"

Exley, on cue: "Sergeant, watch your language and get to the point."

Valburn seethed; Billy D. faked boredom. But something in the last spiel nudged him--his eyes went from good guy to bad guy. "The point is that Sid Hudgens had a b.o.n.e.r for _Badge of Honor_ at the time he was killed. Patchett gets killed five years later, and him and Hudgens were partners. These h.o.m.os here, they're both tied to _Badge of Honor_ and they kicked loose with intimate details on Patchett's rackets. Captain, if it walks, talks and quacks like a duck, then it's a duck--not a mouse."

Valburn said, "Quack, quack, idiot. Captain, will you tell this man who he's dealing with?"

Exley, stern. "Sergeant, these gentlemen aren't suspects. They're voluntary interviewees."

"Well, s.h.i.t, sir, I don't see no difference."

Exley, exasperated. "Gentlemen, to end this once and for all, please tell the sergeant. Did either of you even know Sid Hudgens personally?"

Two "No" head shakes. Bud flew--Exley poetry. "If it squeaks like a mouse and swishes, it's a queer mouse. Captain, think. These guys bought dope off Fleur-de-Lis, and they admitted they knew Patchett sniffed horse and pushed p.o.r.nography. They've got the lowdown on Patchett's rackets, but they claim they didn't know Patchett and Hudgens were partners. I say we take them through Patchett's little enterprises and see what they do know."

Exley raised his hands--fake helpless. "A few more specific questions then, gentlemen. Again, anything illegal that you admit to will be overlooked--and will not go outside this room. Do you understand, Sergeant?"

f.u.c.king brilliant: build them up to who made the blood s.m.u.t. Trash said Timmy was spooked by the stuff--he showed it to him in '53. Credit Exley with b.a.l.l.s--the closer they got to the s.m.u.t the closer they got to his old man and Atherton. "Okay, sir."