Ellroy, James – Big Nowhere, The THE BIG NOWHERE

Audrey was sitting on her bargain basement lounge chair, hair in curlers, cold cream on her face. She saw Buzz and tried to cover herself; Buzz beelined for her and started kissing, getting all gooey. He said, “Mickey knows you skimmed him,” between kisses; Audrey squealed. “This isn’t fair!” and

“You’re not supposed to see me this way!” Buzz thought of Fritzie K. gaining ground, grabbed the lioness and slung her out to her car. He gasped, “Ventura by Pacific Coast Highway, and I’m right behind you. It ain’t the Beverly Wilshire, but it’s safe.”

Audrey said, “Five minutes to pack?”

Buzz said, “No.”

Audrey said, “Oh shit. I really liked LA.”

Buzz said, “Say goodbye to it.”

Side 169

Ellroy, James – Big Nowhere, The Audrey popped off a handful of curlers and wiped her face. “Bye-bye, LA.”

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The two-car caravan made it to Ventura in an hour ten. Buzz ensconced Audrey in the shack at the edge of his farmland, hid her Packard in a pine grove, left her all his money except a tensky and a single and told her to call a friend of his on the Ventura Sheriff’s for a place to stay–the man owed him almost as much as he owed Johnny Stompanato. Audrey started crying when she realized it really was bye-bye LA, bye-bye house, bank account, clothes and everything else except her bagman lover; Buzz kissed off the rest of her cold cream, told her he’d call his buddy to grease the skids and ring her at the guy’s place tonight. The lioness left him with a dry-eyed sigh. “Mickey was good with a buck, but he was lousy in bed. I’ll try not to miss him.”

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Buzz drove straight into Oxnard, the next town south. He found a pay phone, called Dave Kleckner at the Ventura Courthouse, made arrangements for him to pick up Audrey and dialed his own line at Hughes Aircraft. His secretary said Jack Shortell had called; she’d forwarded him to Herman Gerstein’s office and Mal Considine’s extension at the Bureau. Buzz changed his dollar into dimes and had the operator ring Madison-4609; Mal answered, “Yes?”

“It’s me.”

“Where are you? I’ve been trying to get you all morning.”

“Ventura. A little errand.”

“Well, you missed the goodies. Mickey went nuts. He gave his boys on Gower Gulch carte blanche, and they’re busting heads as we speak. I just got a call from a Riot Squad lieutenant, and he said it’s the worst he’s ever seen.

Want to place bets?”

Odds on him getting the lioness out of the country: even money. “Boss, Mickey’s nuts on Audrey, that’s what probably ripped his cork. He found out she was skimmin’ at his shark mill.”

“Jesus. Does he know about–”

“Ixnay, and I wanta keep it that way. She’s stashed up here for now, but it can’t last forever.”

Mal said, “We’ll fix something. Are you still hot on payback?”

“More than ever. You talk to Shortell?”

“Ten minutes ago. Do you have something to write on?”

“No, but I got a memory. Shoot me.”

Mal said, “The last thing Danny worked was a connection between the Joredco Dental Lab on Bunker Hill–they make animal dentures–and a naturalist who raises wolverines a few blocks away. Nort Layman identified bite marks on the victims as coming from wolverine teeth–that’s what this is all about.”

Buzz whistled. “Christ on a crutch.”

“Yeah, and it gets stranger. One, Dudley Smith never put tails on those men Danny wanted under surveillance. Shortell found out, and he doesn’t know if it means anything or not. Two, Danny’s fix on the Sleepy Lagoon killing and the SLDC ties in to some burglary accomplice of Marty Goines–a youth back in the early ’40s–a kid with a burned face. Bunker Hill had a lot of unsolved B&Es the summer of ’42, and Danny gave Shortell eight names from FI cards–curfew was being enforced then, so there were plenty of them. Shortell ran eliminations on the names and came up with one man with O+ blood–Coleman Masskie, DOB 5/9/23, 236 South Beaudry, Bunker Hill. Shortell thinks this guy may be a good bet as Goines’ burglar buddy.”

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