“No, not yet.”
Change-up: “Give me the Hurwitz fur job. Take it away from Dudley.”
“No, and no emphatically, and don’t ask me again. Now, let’s wrap this up.”
Side 89
Ellroy – White Jazz
“Okay, then let me lean on Tommy Kafesjian.”
“Explain ‘lean on,’ Lieutenant.”
“_Lean on. Muscle_. I fuck Tommy up, he tells us what we want to know. You know, outrÈ police methods, like the time you shot those unarmed niggers.”
“No direct approach on the family. Other than that, you have carte blanche.”
* * *
Carte blanche shitwork, overdue: big tucking distractions.
Simple:
Lucille pix/tape rig/motel list–haul them southbound and ask questions: Have you rented to her?
Has a man requested a room adjoining hers?
Have wino/bums rented rooms here by proxy?
Bad odds–call the Red Arrow her sole trick pad.
Southbound–Central Avenue all the way. Police intrigue, big-time: IA cars trailing Fed cars–discreet. Bum rousts–Vag cops spread thick. Prostie wagons prowling for whores.
Feds:
License-plate checks outside bars and nightclubs.
Kibitzing a sidewalk crap game.
Staking out a swanky coon whorehouse.
Crew-cut gray suit Feds Darktown rife.
I stopped at 77th Street Station and borrowed a tape rig. Sweat box row was packed: jig-on-jig 187 “clearance.” Feds outside with cameras– snapping cop IDs.
Shitwork now:
Tick Tock Motel, Lucky Time Motel–no to all my questions. Darnell’s Motel, De Luxe Motel–straight nos. Handsome Dan’s Motel, Cyril’s Lodge–No City. Hibiscus Inn, Purple Roof Lodge–NO.
Nat’s Nest–81st and Normandie. “Kleen Rooms Always”–brace the clerk.
“Yessir, I know this girl. She’s a short-timer rental, an’ she always ask for the same room.”
I gripped the counter. “Is she registered now?”
“Nosir, an’ not for maybe six, seven days.”
“Do you know what she uses the room for?”
“Nosir. My motto is ‘See no evil, hear no evil,’ an’ I adheres to that policy
‘cept when they be makin’ too much noise doin’ whatever it is they be doin’.”
“Does the girl ask for a front room with a street view?”
Shocked: “Yessir. How you know that?”
Side 90
Ellroy – White Jazz
“Have you rented the room next to hers to a young white man? Did a bum request that particular room and register for him?”
Shut-my-mouth shocked–he dipped behind the counter and pulled out a rent card.
“See, ‘John Smith,’ which in my opinion be an alias. See, he gots two days left on his rent. He am’ in right now, I seen him leave this morn–”
“_Show me those rooms_.”
He beelined outside, fumbling keys. Two doors opened quick–good and cop scared.
Separate bungalows–no connecting door.
I caught up. Easy now–frost him with a ten spot. “Watch the street. If that white guy shows up, stall him. Tell him you’ve got a plumber in his room, then come and get me.”
“Yessir, yessir”–genuflecting streetside–
Two doors–no mutual access. Side windows–the peeper could WATCH her. Hedges below, a loose-stone walk path.
Look:
A wire out HIS window.
Into HIS hedge, out, under the stones.
I grabbed it and pulled–
Stones flew–the wire jerked taut. Into HER room–under the carpet, yank–a spacklecovered mike snapped off the wall.
Walk the cord back:
HIS window–jam the ledge up-step in. Pull–thunk–a tape machine under the bed.
Empty reels.
Back outside, check the doors–no pry marks. Figure HE went in HER window.
I shut both doors and tossed HIS room.
The closet:
Soiled clothes, empty suitcase, record player.
The dresser: skivvies, jazz albums–Champ Dineen, Art Pepper. Title matchers–Tommy K.’s smashed wax duplicated.
The bathroom:
Razor, shaving cream, shampoo.
Pull the rug:
Girlie mags–_Transom_–three issues. Cheesecake, text: movie-star
“confessions.”
No tape.
Dump the mattress, punch the pillow–a hard spot–tear, rip–
One tape spool–rig it up for a listen fast–
Nerves–I fumbled the goods, smeared potential prints. Spastic-handed–loop the tape/push Start.
Side 91
Ellroy – White Jazz
Rustles, coughs. I shut my eyes and imagined it: lovers in bed.
Lucille: “You don’t get tired of these games?”
Unknown Man: “Hand me a cigarette”–pause–“No, I don’t tire of them. You certainly know how to-”
Sobs–distant–motel room walls shutting my man out.
Trick Man: “… and you know that father-daughter games have staying power.
Really, given our age variance, it’s quite a natural bed game to play.”