Shouts up top:
“Mr. Noonan! Mr. Noonan, he’s on the radio!”
Noonan splashed up the hill; Exley hooked a finger my way.
Duck him–up to the bluff fighting shivers. Fed cars, Feds: Shipstad, Noonan, Milner et fucking al.
Mickey Cohen on KMPC:
“… This is a public announcement undertaken in true sincerity, so I will say it now: I am severing my rackets connections. It is a mitzvah and a good deed of atonement, and I am coming forth to aid the Federal rackets probe currently doing business in Nigger–I mean Southside Los Angeles. I do this with great personal tsuris, which is the same as agony to you many Angeleno viewers and listeners who do not understand Yiddish. I am doing this severing because vicious midwestern hoodlums killed four of my men some months ago, and they are now threatening to kill my ex-wife, and let me now state that those rumors of her leaving me for some shvartze calypso singer are false. I am doing this severing because it is the moral thing to do as taught in the Bible, that wonderful perennial bestseller with many wonderful lessons for gentiles and Jews alike. I sold my Nig–I mean Southside vending-machine business to the midwestern hoodlums to save lives. I am now prepared to aid my dear friend U.S.
Attorney Welles Noonan and his courageous. .
Side 207
Ellroy – White Jazz
Mickey rambling.
Shipstad grinning.
Noonan trembling–wet feet, rage.
“… and the Federal rackets probe is undertaken out of principles espoused in the Bible, one of those goyishe chapters that serve as the basis of inspirational movies like _Samson and Delilah_ or maybe the scintillating _The Ten Commandments_.”
Noonan: “Mickey’s testimony is a bit anticlimactic now. I would like to blame these deaths on the Kafesjians, but vending machines have never been their raison d’Ítre. Eight A.M. tomorrow, Brother Klein. Bring Kafesjian information, and don’t even think of asking for an extension.”
“Trust ME, lad”–Dudley Smith sweet as Jesus.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
4:09: J.C. and Madge at home.
4:16: Lucille walking– Lincoln Heights–bars, newsstands.
4:23: Tommy walking–Lincoln Heights. Unit 3-B67: “I think he’s checking out shooting galleries. He’s hit four places the past two hours, and they look like hype pads to me.”
4:36: Lucille walking.
4:41: Tommy walking.
3-B67: “I called the Highland Park Squad about those places Tommy hit. They said hype pads affirmative. Him and Lucille haven’t run into each other yet, which goddamn amazes me.”
4:53–4:59, all units: No Richie Herrick sightings.
5:02: Base to all J.C./Madge units: proceed to Lincoln Heights and saturate for Richie Herrick.
5:09: Lucille at Kwan’s Chow Mein Pagoda. 3-B71: “She walked straight to the kitchen, and I _know_ this place. Uncle Ace Kwan sells white horse, so I’ll bet Lucy didn’t stop in for chop suey.”
5:16: Lucille exiting the restaurant. 3-B71: “She looks nervous, and she’s carrying a brown paper bag.”
Weird–hype Lucille?–unlikely.
Junkie Richie–ditto.
Tommy cruising dope pads–????
5:21: Tommy pissing in the street in full view of children. 3-B67: “Jesus, what a whanger! This clown has gotta hold the white man’s world record!”
A clerk nudged me; I pulled off my headset. “What is it?”
“High brass to see you. The parking lot, ASAP.”
Exley.
Go–past the squadroom–civilian radio blaring: Gangland Slayings! Mickey Cohen Reforms! Outside-Dudley.
Lounging on a prowl car.
Side 208
Ellroy – White Jazz
Breuning and Carlisle by the fence–out of earshot. Breuning wearing a herringbone coat–MOVIE TIME patterns.
“Hello, lad.”
Don’t flinch, don’t move too sudden, don’t tremble.
“I got your notes, lad.”
I stepped closer. Smell him: bay rum cologne.
“I hope you availed yourself of a splendid mink stole for that lovely sister of yours. Is she still consorting with Jack Woods?”
“I’ve got Chick Vecchio stashed. He snitched you on the movie, the furs, you running Mickey and those slot guys you clipped in Watts.”
“I would say you’re dissembling. I would say Exley hearsay is your sole source of information. You’re assuming I told Chick things that indeed I didn’t, and frankly I doubt that he would speak indiscreetly, even under the most severe duress.”
“Try to find him.”
“Is he dead or just temporarily indisposed?”
“He’s alive, and he’ll talk to stay that way.”