White Jazz Part 41

Chimes streetside--ice cream trucks.

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

3rd Street, Bureau bound. A stoplight at Normandie-- Plymouths cut me off and boxed me in.

Four cars--Feds piled out aiming shotguns. Radio mike loud: "You are under arrest. Get out with your hands up."

I killed the engine, set the brake, complied. Slooow: grip the roof, arms spread.

Swamped/frisked/cuffed-crew-cut s.h.i.tbirds loving it.

Milner poked me. "Reuben Ruiz said he saw you dump Johnson."

Three men tossed my car. A skinny hump checked the glove compartment.

"Milner, look. Looks like white horse to me!"

Lying snitch f.u.c.k Ruiz.

Heroin jammed in my face.

Downtown--the Fed Building--manhandled upstairs. Shoved into an office-- Four walls paper-draped--graph lines visible underneath.

Noonan and Shipstad waiting.

Milner sat me down; Shipstad took my cuffs off. My dope pa.s.sed Fed to Fed--whistles all around.

Noonan: "Too bad Junior Stemmons is dead. He could have been your alibi on Johnson."

"You mean you _know_ Ruiz is lying? You _know_ he was sleeping when Johnson jumped?"

Shipstad: "There's no evidence sticker on this bag of white powder, Lieutenant."

Milner:"I think he's got a habit."

His partner: "Stemmons sure as h.e.l.l did."

Noonan tugged his necktie-his underlings walked out.

Shipstad: "Do you wish to examine the arrest warrant, Mr. Klein?"

Noonan: "We'll have to amend it to include violation of Federal narcotics statutes."

I threw a guess out: "You rigged the warrant with a friendly judge. You told Ruiz to lie, then recant when you turned me. You told the judge what you were doing. It's a Federal warrant on some trumped-up civil-rights violation, not a California Manslaughter One paper, because no Superior Court judge would sign it."

Noonan: "Well, it got your attention. And of course we have binding evidence."

"Release me."

Noonan: "I said '_binding_.'"

Shipstad: "Shortly after we released you early this morning, Abe Voldrich was released to take care of some personal business. He was found murdered this afternoon. He left a suicide note, which a graphologist examined and said was written under physical duress. Voldrich had agreed to testify as a Federal witness, on all matters pertaining to the Kafesjian family and this perhaps tangential burglary investigation that you and the late Sergeant Stemmons were involved in. An agent went by his house to pick Voldrich up for more questioning and found him."

Noonan: "Agent Milner canva.s.sed the area. A 1956 powder-blue Pontiac coupe was seen parked by his house around the approximate time of his death."

Shipstad: "Did you kill him?"

Noonan: "You own a blue automobile, don't you?"

"You know I didn't kill him. You know it's Tommy and J.C. You know that I own a dark blue '55 Dodge."

Shipstad: "The Kafesjians have an excellent alibi for the time of Voldrich's death."

Noonan: "They were at home, under twenty-four-hour Federal surveillance."

"So they called out a contract."

Shipstad: "No, their phone was tapped."

Noonan: "And _had_ been tapped, going back prior to the time we picked up Voldrich."

"What else did they discuss on the phone?"

Shipstad: "Unrelated matters. Nothing pertaining to that Richie you seemed to be so interested in last night."

Scooped--no Herrick update--clueless on the South Arden slaughter.

"Get to it. Get to 'binding evidence.'"

Noonan: "Your appraisal of the situation first, Mr. Klein."

"You want to take three witnesses to the grand jury. I'm one, one just died, one's this so-called major surprise witness. You're short a man, so you're doubling up on me. That's my appraisal, _so let's hear your offer_."

Noonan: "Immunity on the Johnson killing. Immunity on all potential criminal charges that you might accrue. A written guarantee that no Federal tax liens will be filed against you should it be revealed that you have unreported income earned as a direct result of criminal conspiracies that you've engaged in. For this, you agree to enter Federal custody and testify in open court as to your knowledge of the Kafesjian family, their LAPD history and most importantly your own history of dealings with organized crime, _excluding_ Mickey Cohen."

Light bulb--Major Witness Mickey.

Reflex jolt--never.

"You bluffed, I call."

Shipstad ripped the draping off the walls. Shredded paper in piles-- column graphs underneath.

I stood up. Boldface print--easy to read.

Column one: names and dates--my mob hits.

Column two: my property transactions detailed. Corresponding dates--Real Estate Board kickbacks--five thousand dollars each--my clip fee funneled.

Column three: kickback receivers listed. Detailed: slum dives offered to me lowball cheap. Corresponding dates: escrow and closing.

Column four--Meg's tax returns '51--'57. Her _unreported_ cash listed and traced: to appraisers and permit signers bribed.

Column five--witness numbers--sixty-odd bribe takers listed.

Names and numbers--pulsing.

Noonan: "Much of the data regarding you is circ.u.mstantial and subject to interpretation. We've listed only the men that the underworld grapevine credits you with killing, and those five-thousand-dollar windfalls that followed are circ.u.mstantially seductive and not much more. The important thing is that you and your sister are indictable on seven counts of Federal tax fraud."

Shipstad: "I convinced Mr. Noonan to extend the immunity agreement to cover your sister. If you agree, Margaret Klein Agee will remain exempt from all Federal charges."

Noonan: "What's your answer?"

Shipstad: "Klein?"

Clock ticks, heartbeats--something short-circuiting inside me.

"I want four days' grace before I enter custody, and I want a Federal bank writ to allow me access to Junior Stemmons' safe-deposit boxes."

Shipstad, bait grabber: "Did he owe you money?"

"That's right."

Noonan: "I agree, provided a Federal agent goes with you to the bank."

A contract in my face--fine print pulsing.

I signed it.

"You sound resigned."

"It's all gota life of its own."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning you should tell me things."

"You don't mention certain things. You call me from phone booths so you won't have to."

"I want to put it all together first."

"You said it's sorting itself out."

"It is, but I'm running out of time."

"You or we?"

"Just me."

"Don't start lying to me. Please."

"I'm just trying to put things straight."

"But you still won't tell me what you're doing."

"It's this trouble Igot you in. Let it go at that."

"I bought that trouble myself--you told me that."

"Now you sound resigned."

"Those Sheriff's men came by again."

"And?"

"And a cameraman told them we were sleeping together in my trailer."

"Do they know I was hired to tail you?"

"Yes.

"What did you tell them?"

"That I'm free, white and twenty-nine, and I'll sleep with whoever! want to.