Veins pulsed all over Leonard Rolff’s face. He said, “Yes.”
Dudley said, “Grand”; Mal wrote _L. Rolff, 1/8/50_ at the top of a clean sheet. Their interrogee squared his glasses. “Open court testimony?”
Mal took the cue. “Most likely deposition. We’ll start with–”
Dudley, his voice raised for the first time. “Let me have this witness, counselor. Would you mind?”
Mal shook his head and turned his chair around, steno pad braced on the top slat. Dudley said, “You know why we’re here, so let’s get to it. Communist influence in the motion picture business. Names, dates, places and seditious words spoken. Since I’m sure he’s much on your mind, we’ll start with Reynolds Loftis. Have you ever heard him advocate the armed overthrow of the United States government?”
“No, but–”
“Feel free to volunteer information, unless I state otherwise. Have you Side 104
Ellroy, James – Big Nowhere, The some grand tidbits on Loftis?”
Rolff’s tone seethed. “He tailored his policeman roles to make the police look bad. He said he was doing his part to undermine the American system of jurisprudence.” A pause, then, “If I testify in court, will he get the chance to tell about Sarah and me?”
Mal answered, half truth/half lies. “It’s very unlikely he’ll stand as a witness, and if he tries to volunteer that information the judge won’t let him get two seconds in. You’re covered.”
“But outside of court–”
Dudley said, “Outside of court you’re on your own, and you’ll have to rely on the fact that repeating the story makes Loftis appear loathsome.”
Rolff said, “If Loftis told you that, then he must have been cooperative in general. Why do you need information to use against him?”
Dudley, not missing a trick. “Loftis informed on you months ago, when we thought our investigation was going to be centered outside the UAES. Frankly, what with the recent labor troubles, the UAES presents a much nicer target. And frankly, you and the others were too ineffectual to bother with.”
Mal looked over and saw that Rolff bought it: his squared shoulders had relaxed and his hands had quit clenching. His follow-up question was dead on target: “How do I know you won’t do the same thing with me?”
Mal said, “This grand jury is officially on, and you’ll be given immunity from prosecution, something we never offered Loftis. What Lieutenant Smith said about the labor trouble is true. It’s now or never, and we’re here to make hay now.”
Rolff stared at him. “You acknowledge your opportunism so openly that it gives you an awful credibility.”
Dudley ha’ ha’d. “There is one difference between our factions–we’re right, you’re wrong. Now, concerning Reynolds Loftis. He deliberately portrayed American policemen as misanthropic, correct?”
Mal went back to transcribing; Rolff said, “Yes.”
“Can you recall when he said that?”
“At a party somewhere, I think.”
“Oh? A party for _the_ Party?”
“No. No, I think it was a party back during the war, a summertime party.”
“Were any of these people also present and making seditious comments: Claire De Haven, Chaz Minear, Mort Ziffkin, Sammy Benavides, Juan Duarte and Mondo Lopez?”
“I think Claire and Mort were there, but Sammy and Juan and Mondo were busy with SLDC around that time, so they weren’t.”
Mal said, “So this was summer of ’43, around the time the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee was going strongest?”
“Yes. Yes, I think so.”
Dudley said, “Think, comrade. Minear was Loftis’ bedmate. Was he there and acting vociferous?”
Mal caught up on his note-taking, shorthanding Dudley’s flair down to simple questions; Rolff ended a long pause. “What I remember about that party is that it was my last social contact with the people you mentioned until I became friendly with Reynolds again in Europe a few years ago. I recall that Chaz and Reynolds had been spatting and that Reynolds did not bring him to that party.
After the party I saw Reynolds out by his car talking to a young man with a bandaged face. I also recall that my circle of political friends had become involved in the Sleepy Lagoon defense and were angry when I took a job in New York that precluded my joining them.”