L.A. Confidential Part 52

Techs swarming now--Ed led Vincennes out to the porch. Cool air, bright bright headlights. Trash said, "Mertens is the right age to be that older kid Stanton was talking about. Lux cut him, so Miller wouldn't have recognized him on the set. All the grafts on his back, he could have been cut lots of times. Jesus, the look on your face. You're taking it all the way?"

"I don't know. I want one more day to see what we can get on Dudley."

"And see if White tries to shank you. He could have told Gallaudet the whole story, but he didn't."

"White's as crazy as anybody in this thing."

Trash laughed. "Yeah, like you. Boss, if you and Gallaudet want this mess to go to due process, you'd better lock that boy up. He's out to kill Dudley and Deuce, and believe me he'll do it."

Ed laughed. "I told him he could."

"You'd _let him_ do--"

Cut him off. "Jack, do this. Stake Mertens' place and see if you can find White, then--"

"He's chasing down Perkins, how do I--"

"Just try to find him. And with or without him, meet me at Mickey Cohen's house tomorrow at nine. We're going to brace him on Dudley."

Vincennes looked around. "I don't see anybody from Homicide here."

"You and Fisk caught it, so Homicide doesn't know. I can keep it I.A.-sealed for twenty-four hours or so. It's ours until the press gets it."

"No APB on Mertens?"

"I'll call out half of l.A. He's a drooling psychotic. We'll get him."

"Suppose I find him. You don't want him talking old times, not with your father part of it."

"Take him alive. I want to talk to him."

Vincennes said, "For crazy, White's got nothing on you."

Ed sealed it.

He called Chief Parker, told him he had an I.A.-related double homicide and was keeping the victims' ident.i.ties secret. He woke up five I.A. men, filled them in on David Mertens, sent them out to search for him. He made the neighbor lady who called in the squeal take a sedative, go to bed, promise she wouldn't spill the name "Billy Dieterling" to the press. The press arrived--he mollified them with John Doe IDs, sent them packing. He walked to the end of the block and examined the car--Kleckner watchd.o.g.g.i.ng it--a Packard Caribbean with the front wheels up on the curb, the fender nosed into a tree. The driver's seat, dash and shift lever--b.l.o.o.d.y; perfect b.l.o.o.d.y handprints on the outside of the windshield. Kleckner stripped the license plates; Ed told him to drive the car home, stash it, team up with the searchers. Courtesy calls from a pay phone: the watch commander at Rampart Station, the duty M.E. at the City Morgue. A lie: Parker wanted a twenty-four-hour blanket on the killings-- no statements to the press, no autopsy reports circulated. 3:40 A.M., no Homicide bra.s.s at the scene--Parker carte-blanched him.

Sealed.

Ed walked back to the house. Quiet--no newsmen, no rubberneckers. Tape outlines--no bodies. Techs dusting, bagging evidence. Fisk in the kitchen doorway--looking nervous. "Sir, I've got Valburn. Inez Soto's with him. I went down to Laguna on a hunch. You told me Miss Soto knew him."

"What did Valburn tell you?"

"Nothing. He said he'd only talk to you. I broke it to him, and he cried himself out on the ride up. He said he's ready to make a statement."

Inez walked out. Grief all over her, her nails chewed b.l.o.o.d.y. "I blame you for this. I blame you for pushing Billy to it."

"I don't know what you mean, but I'm sorry."

"You had me spy on Raymond. Now you did this."

Ed stepped toward her. She slapped him, hit him. "Leave us all alone!"

Fisk grabbed her, eased her outside. Gentle--soft hands, a low voice. Ed walked down the hall looking in rooms.

Valburn in the den, taking pictures off the wall. Bright eyes glazed over, a too-bright voice. "If I keep doing things I'll be fine."

A group shot came down. "I need a full statement."

"Oh, you'll get one."

"Mertens killed Hudgens, Billy and Marsalas, plus Wee Willie and those other children. I need the why. Timmy, look at me."

Timmy plucked a framed photo. "We were together since 1949. We had our little indiscretions, but we always stayed together and loved each other. Don't give me a speech about getting his killer, Ed. I just couldn't bear it. I'll tell you what you want to know, but try not to be decla.s.se."

"Timmy--"

Valburn threw the frame at the wall. "David Mertens, G.o.dd.a.m.n you!"

Gla.s.s shattered. The picture landed face up: Raymond Dieterling holding an inkwell. "Start with the p.o.r.nography. Jack Vincennes talked to you about it five years ago, and he thought you were holding back."

"Is this another third degree?"

"Don't make it one."

Timmy squared a stack of frames. "Jerry Marsalas made David create that strange . . . filth. Jerry was a very bad man. He'd been David's companion for years, and he regulated the drugs that kept him . . . relatively normal. Sometimes he'd escalate and de-escalate his dosages and get David to do commercial art piecework, just so he could keep the money. Raymond paid Jerry to look after David. He got David the job at _Badge of Honor_ so that Billy could look after him, too--Billy ran the camera crew since the show first went on."

Ed said, "Don't get ahead of yourself. Where did Marsalas and Mertens find the posers?"

Timmy hugged his pictures. "Fleur-de-Lis. Marsalas had used the service for years. He'd buy call girls when he was flush, and he knew lots of Pierce's old string of girls and lots of . . . s.e.xually adventurous people that the girls told him about. He found out that a lot of Fleur-de-Lis customers had a bent for specialty s.m.u.t, and he talked some of Pierce's old girls into letting him voyeur their s.e.x parties. Jerry took pictures, David took pictures, and Jerry escalated David's drug intake and made him do pasteup work. The ink blood was all David's idea. Jerry hired some studio art director to make finished books out of the pictures and took them to Pierce. Do you follow? I don't know what _you_ know."

Ed got out his notebook. "Miller Stanton told us some background things. Patchett and Dieterling were partners at the time of the Atherton killings, and you know I make Mertens for them. Just keep going. If I need something clarified, I'll tell you."

Timmy said, "All right then. If you don't know it, the ink pictures were similar to the woundings on the Atherton victims. Pierce didn't know it when he saw the books, I guess only policemen saw the evidence photos. He also didn't know that David Mertens was the Wennerholm killer's new ident.i.ty, so when Marsalas hatched this plan to sell the books and went to Pierce for financing, he just thought it was dirty books that compromised his prost.i.tutes and their customers. He turned Marsalas down on his offer, but he did buy some of the books to sell through Fleur-de-Lis. Then Marsalas went to this man Duke Cathcart, and he went to these people the Englekling brothers. Ed, your Mr. Fisk hinted that all this has to do with the Nite Owl case, but I don't--"

"I'll tell you later. You're talking about early '53, and I'm following you so far. Just keep telling it in order."

Timmy laid his pictures down. "Then Patchett went to Sid Hudgens. He and Hudgens were going to be partners in some extortion thing that I don't know anything about, and Pierce told Hudgens about Marsalas and his s.m.u.t. He'd had Marsalas checked out, and he knew he was a regular on the _Badge of Honor_ set, which interested Hudgens, because he had always wanted to do an expose on the show for _Hush-Hush_. Pierce gave Hudgens a few of the books he'd held back from Fleur-de-Lis, and Hudgens approached Marsalas. He demanded information on the show's stars and threatened Jerry with exposure of his s.m.u.t dealings if he didn't cooperate. Jerry gave him some tame stuff on Max Pelts, and a little while later it appeared in print. Then Hudgens was murdered, and of course it was Jerry who put David up to it. He lowered his drug dosage and drove him insane. David reverted to his old . . . to the way he killed the children. Marsalas did it because he was afraid Hudgens would keep trying to extort him. He went with David, and he stole Hudgens' _Badge of Honor_ files from his house, including an incomplete file Hudgens had on him and David. I don't think he knew that Pierce already had carbons of the files he and Hudgens were going to use for their blackmail thing, or that Pierce knew the bank where Hudgens kept his original files stashed."

Three key questions coming up; more corroboration first. "Timmy, when Vincennes questioned you five years ago, you acted suspiciously. Did you know back then that Mertens made the s.m.u.t?"

"Yes, but I didn't know who David _was_. All I knew was that Billy kept an eye on him, so I kept quiet to Jack."

Question number one. "How do you know all this? Everything you've told me."

Timmy's eyes glazed fresh. "I found out tonight. After the hotel, Billy wanted that awful policeman's hints about Johnny Stompanato explained. Billy's known most of the story for years, but he wanted to know the rest. We went to Raymond's house in Laguna. Raymond knew about the more recent things from Pierce, and he told Billy the whole story. I just listened."

"And Inez was there."

"Yes, she heard it all. She blames you, sweetie. Pandora's box and all that."

She knew, his father probably knew. Full disclosure as good as public. "So Patchett supplied the dope that's kept Mertens docile all these years."

"Yes, he's quite physiologically ill. He gets brain inflammations periodically, and that's when he's most dangerous."

"And Dieterling got him the job with _Badge of Honor_ so Billy could look after him."

"Yes. After the Hudgens killing Raymond read about the mutilations and thought they sounded like the ones from the old child murders. He contacted Patchett, who he knew was friendly with Hudgens. Raymond revealed David's ident.i.ty to Pierce, and Pierce became terrified. Raymond was afraid to take David away from Jerry, and he's been paying Jerry extraordinary money to keep David drugged up."

Key question two. "You've been waiting for this one, Timmy. Why has Ray Dieterling gone to all this trouble for David?"

Timmy turned a picture around--Billy, a lump-faced man. "David is Raymond's illegitimate son. He's Billy's half brother, and look at him. Terry Lux has cut him so often that he's so ugly next to my sweet Billy that you almost can't look."

Moving on grief--Ed cut in before he snapped. "What happened tonight?"

"Tonight Raymond filled Billy in on everything going back to Sid Hudgens--he didn't know any of it. Billy made me stay with Inez at Laguna. He told me he was going to s.n.a.t.c.h David from Jerry's house and wean him off the drugs. He must have tried it, and Marsalas must have retaliated. I saw those pills on the floor . . . and oh G.o.d David must have just gone insane. He couldn't understand who was good and who was bad and just..."

Three. "At the hotel you reacted to Johnny Stompanato. Why?"

"Stompanato's been blackmailing Pierce's customers for years. He caught me with another man and got part of the Mertens story out of me. Not much, just that Raymond paid for David's upkeep. It . . . it was before I knew very much. Stompanato's been preparing a dossier to bleed Raymond dry. He's been threatening Billy with notes, but I don't think he knows who David is. Billy was trying to convince his father to have him killed."

Sun broke through a window--it caught Timmy when his tears broke through. He held Billy's picture, a hand over David's face.

CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE

An I.A. goon relieved him at 7:00--p.i.s.sed that he was sleeping, slumped in the doorway with his gun out. The house stayed virgin--no blood-crazed David Mertens showed up. The l.A. guy said Mertens was still at large; Captain Exley's orders: meet him and Bud White at Mickey Cohen's place at 9:00. Jack rolled to a pay phone, played a hunch. A call to the Bureau--Dudley Smith on "emergency family leave." Breuning and Carlisle working "out of state"--the squad lieutenant at 77th the temporary Nite Owl boss. A buzz to the Main Woman's Jail: Deputy Dot Rothstein on "emergency family leave." The hunch: they had nothing but theories, Dudley's loose ends were getting snipped.

Jack drove home, shaking off a dream: Davey Goldman's wet-brain ramblings. Make the "Dutchman" Dean Van Gelder, the "Irish Cheshire" Dudley. "Franchise boys got theirs three triggers blip blip blip"--call that the shooters--Stompanato, Vachss, Teitlebaum--taking out hoods. "b.u.mp b.u.mp b.u.mp b.u.mp b.u.mp b.u.mp b.u.mp cute train"--??????? Crazy--maybe Patchett's dope was still working some voodoo.

Karen's car was gone. Jack walked in, saw a layout on the coffee table: airplane tickets, a note.

J.-- Hawaii, and note the date. May 15, the day you become an official pensioner. Ten days and nights to get reacquainted. Dinner tonight. I made reservations at Perino's, and if you're still working call me so I can cancel.

x.x.xxx K.

P.S. I know you're wondering, so I'll tell you. When you were at the hospital you talked in your sleep. Jack, I know the worst I can possibly know and I don't care. We never have to discuss it. Capt. Exley heard you and I don't think he cares either. (He's not as bad as you said he was.)

Many X's K.

Jack tried to cry--no go. He shaved, showered, put on slacks and his best sports jacket--over a Hawaiian shirt. He drove to Brentwood thinking everything around him looked new.

Exley on the sidewalk, holding a tape recorder. Bud White on the porch--l.A. must have found him. Jack made it a threesome.

White walked over. Exley said, "I just spoke to Gallaudet. He said without hard evidence we can't go to Loew. Mertens and Perkins are still out there, and Stompanato's in Mexico with Lana Turner. If Mickey doesn't give us anything good, then I'm going directly to Parker. Full disclosure on Dudley."

From the doorway: "Are you coming in or aren't you? You want to give me grief, give me indoor grief."

Mickey Cohen in a robe and Jew beanie. "Last call to give grief! Are you coming?"

They walked up. Cohen closed the door, pointed to a small gold coffin. "My late canine heir, Mickey Cohen, Jr. Distract me from my real grief, you goyisher cop f.u.c.ks. The service is today at Mount Sinai. I bribed the rabbi to give my beloved a human sendoff. The shmendriks at the mortuary think they're burying a midget. Talk to me."

Exley talked. "We came to tell you who's been killing your franchise people."

"What 'franchise people'? Continue in this vein and I shall have to stand on the Fifth Amendment. And what is that tape doohickey you're holding?"

"Johnny Stompanato, Lee Vachss and Abe Teitlebaum. They're part of a gang, and they got the heroin you lost at your meeting with Jack Dragna back in '50. They've been killing your franchise people, and they tried to have you and Davey Goldman killed at McNeil. They bombed your house and didn't get you, but sooner or later they will."

Cohen laughed outright. "Granted, those old pals have been vacant from my life and are not amenable to rejoining me. But they do not have the intelligence to f.u.c.k with the Mickster and succeed."

White: "Davey Goldman was working with them. They crossed him when they tried to clip you two at McNeil."

Mickey Cohen, livid. "No! Never in six thousand millenniums would Davey do that to me! Never! Sedition in the same league as Communism you are talking!"

Jack said, "We got proof. Davey had your cell bugged. That's how word on the Englekling brothers and who knows what else got out."

"Lies! Combine Davey with the others and you still do not have the voltage to f.u.c.k with me!"