Dudley ha’ ha’d. “There is one difference between our factions–we’re right, you’re wrong. Now, concerning Reynolds Loftis. He deliberately portrayed American policemen as misanthropic, correct?”
Mal went back to transcribing; Rolff said, “Yes.”
“Can you recall when he said that?”
“At a party somewhere, I think.”
“Oh? A party for the Party?”
“No. No, I think it was a party back during the war, a summertime party.”
“Were any of these people also present and making seditious comments: Claire De Haven, Chaz Minear, Mort Ziffkin, Sammy Benavides, Juan Duarte and Mondo Lopez?”
“I think Claire and Mort were there, but Sammy and Juan and Mondo were busy with SLDC around that time, so they weren’t.”
Mal said, “So this was summer of ‘43, around the time the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee was going strongest?”
“Yes. Yes, I think so.”
Dudley said, “Think, comrade. Minear was Loftis’ bedmate. Was he there and acting vociferous?”
Mal caught up on his note-taking, shorthanding Dudley’s flair down to simple questions; Rolff ended a long pause. “What I remember about that party is that it was my last social contact with the people you mentioned until I became friendly with Reynolds again in Europe a few years ago. I recall that Chaz and Reynolds had been spatting and that Reynolds did not bring him to that party. After the party I saw Reynolds out by his car talking to a young man with a bandaged face. I also recall that my circle of political friends had become involved in the Sleepy Lagoon defense and were angry when I took a job in New York that precluded my joining them.”
Dudley said, “Let’s talk about Sleepy Lagoon.” Mal thought of his memo to Loew: nothing on the case should hit the grand jury–it was political poison that made the Pinkos look good. Rolff said, “I thought you wanted me to talk about Reynolds.”
“Digress a little. Sleepy Lagoon. Quite an event, wasn’t it?”
“The boys your police department arrested were innocent. Concerned apolitical citizens joined the Southern California left and secured their release. That made it quite an event, yes.”
“That’s your interpretation, comrade. Mine differs, but that’s what makes for horse races.”
Rolff sighed. “What do you want to know?”
“Give me your recollections of the time.”
“I was in Europe for the trial and appeals and release of the boys. I remember the actual murder from the previous summer– ‘42, I think. I remember the police investigation and the arrest of the boys and Claire De Haven becoming outraged and holding fund-raisers. I remember thinking that she was currying favor with her many Latin suitors, that that was one reason she was so carried away with the cause.”
Mal butted in, thinking of culling facts from Dudley’s bum tangent, wondering why the tangent. “At these fund-raisers, were there CP bigshots present?”
“Yes.”
“We’re going to be getting some SLDC surveillance pictures. You’ll be required to help identify the people in them.”
“Then there’s more of this?”
Dudley lit a cigarette and motioned Mal to quit writing. “This is a preliminary interview. A City marshal and court reporter will be by in a few days with a long list of specific questions on specific people. Lieutenant Considine and I will prepare the questions, and if we’re satisfied with your answers we’ll mail you an official immunity waiver.”
“Are you finished now, then?”
“Not quite. Let’s return to Sleepy Lagoon for a moment.”
“But I told you I was in New York then. I was gone for most of the protests.”
“But you did know many of the SLDC principals. Duarte, Benavides and Lopez, for instance.”
“Yes. And?”
“And they were the ones who most loudly contended that the poor persecuted Mex boys got the railroad, were they not?”
“Yes. Sleepy Lagoon sparked the zoot suit riots, your police department running amok. A number of Mexicans were practically beaten to death, and Sammy and Juan and Mondo were anxious to express their solidarity through the Committee.”
Mal swiveled his chair around and watched. Dudley was on a big fishing expedition, soaking up a big dose of rhetoric in the process–not the man’s style. Rolff said, “If that sounds doctrinaire to you, I’m sorry. It’s simply the truth.”