Ed walked in. Lynn said, “You again?”
“That’s right.”
“Don’t you have to charge me or release me?”
“Not for another sixty-eight hours.”
“Aren’t you violating my constitutional rights?”
“Constitutional rights have been waived for this one.”
“_This one?_”
“Don’t play dumb. This one is Pierce Patchett distributing pornography, including picture-book photographs that exactly match the mutilations on a murder victim, namely his late ‘partner’ Sid Hudgens. This one is one of the supposed Nite Owl victims tied in to a conspiracy to distribute that pornography and your friend Bud White withholding major evidence on who the real victim was. Now, White told you to cooperate and you came here under the influence of a drug to counteract penthothal. That’s against you, but you can still save yourself _and White_ a lot of trouble by cooperating.”
“Bud can look after himself. And you look terrible. Your face is all red.”
Ed sat down, turned off the tape. “You don’t even feel the dosage, do you?”
“I feel like I’ve had four martinis, and four martinis just make me that much more lucid.”
“Patchett sent you in without a lawyer to buy time, I know it. He knows you were called in as part of the Nite Owl reopening, so he knows he’s a material witness at least. Personally, I don’t see him as a killer. I know a great deal about Patchett’s various enterprises, and you can save him a great deal of trouble by cooperating with me.”
Lynn smiled. “Bud said you were quite smart.”
“What else did he say?”
“That you were a weak, angry man competing with your father.”
Let it pass. “Then let’s concentrate on my smarts. Patchett is a chemist, and it may be reaching, but I’m betting he studied under Franz Englekling, a pharmacologist who developed drugs such as the antipsychotic compound Patchett put you under to beat the pentothal. Englekling had two sons, who were murdered in Northern California last month. Those two men came forward during the base Nite Owl investigation and mentioned a quote crazy sugar daddy-o unquote who had access to lots of quote high-class call girls unquote. Obviously Patchett, obviously tied to a would-be smut merchant named Duke Cathcart, one of the alleged Nite Owl victims. Obviously Patchett is all over this thing and in for some trouble he doesn’t need and you can help circumvent.”
Lynn lit a cigarette. “So you’re very, very smart.”
“Yes, and I’m a very good detective with a five-year backlog of withheld evidence to work from. I know about your file-burning episode, I know about Patchett’s proposed extortion plan with Hudgens. I’ve read the deposition Vincennes bargained you with and I know all about Patchett’s various enterprises, including Fleur-de-Lis.”
“So you’re assuming that Pierce has some very damaging information on Vincennes.”
“Yes, which the district attorney and I will quash in the interest of protecting the reputation of the Los Angeles Police Department.”
Fluster: Lynn dropped her cigarette, fumbled her lighter. Ed said, “You and Patchett can’t win. I’ve got twelve days to square this thing right, and if I can’t do it I’m going to start looking for subsidiary indictments. There’s at least a dozen I can hang on Patchett, and believe me if I don’t make this case I’ll do anything I can to make myself look good.”
Lynn stared at him. Ed stared back. “Patchett made you, didn’t he? You were a pom-pom girl from Bisbee, Arizona, and a whore. He taught you how to dress and talk and think, and I am very impressed with the results. But I’ve got twelve days to keep my life out of the toilet, and if I can’t do it I’m going to take you and Patchett down.”
Lynn turned on the tape player. “Pierce Patchett’s whore for the record. I’m not afraid of you and I’ve never loved Bud White more. It makes me happy that he withheld evidence and got the better of you, and you’re a fool for underestimating him. I used to be jealous of him sleeping with Inez Soto, but now I respect the poor girl’s good sense in leaving a moral coward for a man.”
Ed pressed “Erase,” “Stop,” “Start.” “For the record, sixtyseven hours to go and my next interrogation won’t be so cordial.”