Exley fucking _smiled_. “You’ve put it together exactly as I have.”
“Get to Johnny. Tell me how you operated him.”
“No, tell me about your Stemmons evidence first.”
I ticked points: “I know about those bank accounts you set up. I know how you paid those reporters to write stories about Johnny. I know you paid off his debts, got him to tank that fight and got him into the Academy. You set up the fur heist yourself, so I’m thinking you arranged leads to have Dudley actually _make_ Johnny for the heist. You _knew_ how Dudley loved developing ‘protÈgÈs,’
so you put a fucking humdinger right in front of his nose.”
“Keep going.”
Side 199
Ellroy – White Jazz
“Breuning and Carlisle–they’re in with Dudley.”
“Correct.”
“You got Johnny that Academy undercover job.”
“Elaborate on that.”
Leading me/pushing me/praising me–this string-pulling weak sister.
“You coached him to overreact. Dudley likes tough boys, so you made damn sure Johnny established some strongarm credentials.”
“Bravo, Lieutenant”–toss the dog a bone.
“You like running people as much as Dudley does. It must gall you to know he’s better at it.”
“You’re sure of that?”
“No, you cocksucker, I’m not. But I know it must get you to look in the mirror and see Dudley.”
Exley “anger”–a tight little grimace.
“Continue.”
“No, you give me a chronology. Dudley bit, and got Johnny assigned to the Mobster Squad. He’s the Robbery Division CO, so he got the Hurwitz heist pro forma. You planted leads to put Dudley on to Johnny, then what?”
“Then Johnny became an official Mobster Squad goon. It’s brutal work, Lieutenant. I always thought you’d be well suited for it.”
Tight fists–my knuckles ached. “Reuben Ruiz said Johnny was doing some ‘very bad things.’ Dudley started working _him_ then, right? He made Johnny for the robbery, and he _liked_ it. It impressed him, so he let Johnny in on his plans.”
“You’re on track. Continue.”
“Continue shit–what ‘very bad things’?”
“Dudley had Johnny terrorizing out-of-town hoodlums he had plans for. Johnny told me he was having difficulty doing it.”
“You should have pulled him then.”
“No. I needed more.”
“Do you think those out-of-town guys were the guys working Mickey’s slots? Do you think it ties into Dud running Mickey?”
“Yes. I’m not entirely sure, but I think it’s possible.”
His chair–Scotch tape dangling off a slat.
“Wrap it up.”
Exley buffed his glasses–his eyes looked soft without them. “Johnny began to lose Dudley’s respect. He was too lax with the out-of-town men, and he told me that Carlisle and Breuning were surveilling him sporadically, apparently because Dudley became instinctively suspicious of him. Junior Stemmons came back into Johnny’s life then, quite accidentally. Both he and Johnny were working South-Central, and somehow Stemmons got Johnny to admit his participation in the fur robbery. Johnny didn’t, apparently, implicate me, but Stemmons sensed that he was being operated. Dudley became aware of how dangerously unstable Stemmons was, and I _think_ he suspected him of trying to extort Johnny. I _know_ for a fact that Dudley tried to get a bank writ to seize potential Stemmons evidence, Side 200
Ellroy – White Jazz
and I’m assuming that he tortured Johnny for information on the extent of Junior’s knowledge before he had you kill him. I had already gone to a Federal law clerk that I know, and he stalled Dudley’s writ while I tried to get one.
You got to the vault boxes first, and I’m thinking that Welles Noonan must have assisted you.”
That dangling tape–just maybe.
“He did.”
“Are you going to be a Federal witness?”
“I’m supposed to be.”
“But you’re considering not testifying?”
Glenda–potential FED indictments pending.
“Mostly I’m thinking of running.”
“What’s stopping you?”
“The Kafesjian-Herrick job.”
“You’re expecting some kind of payoff?”
“No, I just want to know why.”
“Is that all you want?”
“No. I want you to get me a cup of coffee, and I want to know why you assigned me to the Kafesjian burglary.”
Exley stood up. “Do you think Dudley killed Junior Stemmons?”
“No, he would have ditched the body to buy more time to get at the vault boxes.”
“Are you thinking it was a legitimate overdose?”