“Sweetie, you already do. Come on, I’ll fix you up with a place.”
“I want to stay with you.”
“All I’ve got’s a fold-out.”
“Fine by me. I figure there has to be a first time again.”
“Give it a rest and get yourself a college boy.”
Inez stood up. “I was starting to trust him.”
Bud opened the door. The first thing he saw was the bed– trashed from Carolyn or whatever her name was. Inez plopped down on it–seconds later she was sleeping. Bud tucked her in, stretched out in the hail with his suitcoat for a pillow. Sleep came slow–his long strange day kept replaying. He went out seeing Lynn Bracken; toward dawn he stirred and found Inez curled up next to him.
He let her stay.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
He knew he was dreaming, knew he couldn’t stop. He kept flinching with the replay.
Inez at the cabin: “Coward,” “Opportunist,” “Using me to further your career.” Her out-the-door salvo: “Officer White’s ten times the man you are, with half the brains and no big-shot daddy.” He let her go, then chased: back to L.A., the Soto family shack. Three pachuco brothers came on strong; old man Soto supplied an epitaph: “I don’t have that daughter no more.”
The phone rang. Ed rolled over, grabbed it. “Exley.”
“It’s Bob Gallaudet. Congratulate me.”
Ed pushed his dream away. “Why?”
“I passed the bar exam, making me both an attorney and a D.A.’s Bureau investigator. Aren’t you impressed?”
“Congratulations, and you didn’t call at 8:00 A.M. to tell me that.”
“Right you are, so listen close. Last night a lawyer named Jake Kellerman called Ellis Loew. He’s representing two witnesses, brothers, who say they’ve got a viable Duke Cathcart connection to Mickey Cohen. They say they can clear the Nite Owl. They’ve got some outstanding L.A. warrants for pushing Benzedrine, and Ellis is giving them immunity on that, plus possible immunity on any conspiracy charges that might stem from their connection to the Nite Owl. We’re having a meeting at the Mirimar Hotel in an hour–the brothers and Kellerman, you, me, Loew and Russ Millard. Dudley S. won’t be there. Thad Green’s orders–he thinks Millard’s the better man for this.”
Ed swung out of bed. “So who are these brothers?”
“Peter and Baxter Englekling. Heard of them?”
“No. Is this an interrogation?”
Gallaudet laughed. “Wouldn’t you love that. No, it’s Kellerman reads a prepared statement, we hobknob with Loew over whether to let them turn state’s and take it from there. I’ll brief you. Mirimar parking lot in forty-five minutes?”
“I’ll be there.”
o o o
Forty-five on the button. Gallaudet met him in the lobby–no handshake, straight to it. “Want to hear what we’ve got?”
“Go.”
They talked walking. “They’re waiting for us, a steno included, and what we’ve got are Pete and Bar Englekling, age thirty-six, age thirty-two, San Bernardino–based . . . quasi-hoods, I guess you’d call them. They both did Youth Authority time for pushing maryjane back in the early ’40s, and except for the bennie pushing warrants, they’ve stayed clean. They own a legit printshop up in San Berdoo, they’re what you’d call genius fix-it guys, and their late father was a real piece of work. Get this: he was a college chemistry teacher and some kind of pioneering pharmaceuticalist who developed early antipsychotic drugs. Impressive, right? Now get this: Pops, who kicked off in the summer of ’50, developed dope compounds for the old mobs– and Mickey C. was his protector back in his bodyguard days.”
“This won’t be dull. But do _you_ make Cohen for the Nite Owl? He’s in prison, for one thing.”
“Exley, I make those colored guys in custody. Gangsters _never_ kill innocent citizens. But frankly, Loew likes the idea of a mob angle. Come on, they’re waiting.”
Into suite 309, the meeting in a small living room. One long table–Loew and Millard across from three men: a middle-aged lawyer, near twins in overalls–thinning hair, beady eyes, bad teeth. A steno by the bedroom door, perched with her machine set to go.
Gallaudet carried chairs over. Ed nodded around, sat by Millard. The lawyer checked papers; the brothers lit cigarettes. Loew said, “For the official record, it is 8:53 A.M., April 24, 1953. Present are myself, Ellis Loew, district attorney for the City of Los Angeles, Sergeant Bob Gallaudet of the D.A.’s Bureau, Captain Russ Millard and Sergeant Ed Exley of the Los Angeles Police Department. Jacob Kellerman represents Peter and Baxter Englekling, potential prosecution witnesses in the matter of the multiple homicides perpetrated at the Nite Owl Coffee Shop on April 14 of this year. Mr. Kellerman will read a prepared statement given to him by his clients, they will initial the stenographer’s transcript. As a courtesy for this voluntary statement, the District Attorney’s Office is dismissing felony warrant number 16114, dated June 8, 1951, against Peter and Barter Englekling. Should this statement result in the arrests of the perpetrators of the aforementioned multiple homicides, Peter and Baxter Englekling will be granted immunity from prosecution in all matters pertaining to the said, including accessory, conspiracy and all collateral felonies and misdemeanors. Mr. Kellerman, do your clients understand the aforesaid?”