L. A. Confidential

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

Ed watched Ly

Kleckner was questioning her, a nice guy set-up for Mr. Bad Guy-himself. She'd been repentothaled; Ray Pinker was testing her blood. Three hours in a cell hadn't broken her-she was still lying with style.

Ed turned the speaker up. Kleckner: "I'm not saying that I don't believe you, I'm just saying my policeman's experience has shown me that pimps usually hate women, so I don't buy Patchett as such a philanthropist."

"You have to look at his background, how he lost a little girl to crib death. I'm sure your policeman's mentality can grasp the cause and effect, even if you can't accept it."

"Let's talk about his background then. You've described Patchett as a fmancier with L.A. roots going back thirty years. You've said that he puts deals together, so be specific about the deals."

Ly

Cozy: Bud White's girlfriend's pimp knew Preston Exley's good buddy. Kleckner changed tape. Ed studied the whore.

Beautiful-a good part of it hung on the fact that she wasn't perfect. Her nose was too pointed; she had crease lines on her forehead. Big shoulders, big hands-beautifully formed, all the more stu

"Captain, you got a call. It's Vince

Fisk had his phone, stretched to the end of the cord. Ed took it. "Vince

"Yeah, and listen close, 'cause that scandal sheet story was kosher and there's lots more."

"White?"

"Yeah, White was that phony P.I., and he braced old lady Lefferts two months or so ago. She told him that story of her daughter's boyfriend who looked like Duke Cathcart and another doozie."

"«What?»"

"Just listen. A couple weeks before the Nite Owl, a neighbor saw Susie and the boyfriend alone at the house and heard them get into a ruckus with another guy. The boyfriend was seen crawling around under the house later that same day. Now, when White braced the old lady, he called P.C. Bell and checked their records for toll calls from the house to L.A. mid-March to mid-April '53. I did the same thing and got three tollers, all to a pay phone in Hollywood near the Nite Owl. Now, you think that's hot, you-"

"Goddammit-"

"Captain, «listen». White crawled around under the house and told gra

Ed grabbed Fisk. "Where's Bud White?"

Fisk looked scared. "I heard he went up north with Dudley Smith. The Ma

Back to Trashcan. "That article said the woman saw some mugs."

"Yeah, White brought back some shots marked 'State Records Bureau.' Now we both know the state sets run light, so my guess is White didn't want to bring her down here to check our books. Anyway, she couldn't ID the boyfriend, and if the boyfriend was one of the Nite Owl stiffs we'll have him, 'cause Nort Layman took prison dental plate fragments out of his head back in '53. Bring her down? Show her our books?"

"Do it."

Fisk took the phone. Ray Pinker walked up, holding a chem sheet. "Prestilphyozine, Captain. It's an extremely rare experimental antipsychotic drug used to tranquilize violent mental patients. Somebody professional slipped it to our lady friend, because only a pro would know this breed of phyozine would be likely to counteract penthothal. Skipper, you should sit down, you look like you're about to have a coronary."

Chemistry whiz Patchett; the Englekling brothers' father: a themist who developed antipsychotic compounds. Bud White's whore across the glass-alone now, a tape recorder spi

Ed walked in. Ly

"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."

Ly

"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."

Ly

"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 Vince

"So you're assuming that Pierce has some very damaging information on Vince

"Yes, which the district attorney and I will quash in the interest of protecting the reputation of the Los Angeles Police Department."

Fluster: Ly