L. A. Confidential

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

Hilda Lefferts tapped a mugshot. "There, that's Susan Nancy's beau. Will you take me home now?"

Bingo-a pudgy hardcase type, a real Duke Cathcart lookalike. Dean NMI Van Gelder, W.M., DOB 3/4/21. 5'8¾", 178 lbs., blue eyes, brown hair. One armed-robbery bounce-6/42- ten to twenty, released from Folsom 6/52, full minimum sentence topped-no parole. No further arrests-chalk it up to Bud White's theory-Van Gelder got it at the Nite Owl.

Hilda said, "That's it-»Dean». Susan Nancy called him 'Dean,' but he said, 'No, get used to calling me "Duke."'

Jack said, "You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Six hours of looking at these awful pictures and you ask me if I'm sure? If I wanted to lie I would have pointed somebody out hours ago. «Please», Officer. First you fmd a body under my house, next you subject me to these pictures. Now will you please take me home?"

Jack shook his head no. Work it: Who? to Van Gelder to Cathcart to the Nite Owl. One parlay made sense-the Englekling brothers to Cathcart to a brush with Mickey Cohen-in stir back in '53. He picked up the phone, dialed 0.

"Operator."

"Operator, this is a police emergency. I need to be put through to somebody in administration at McNeil Federal Penitentiary, Puget Sound, Washington."

"I see. And your name?"

"Sergeant Vince

"I see. Circuits to Wasington State have been-"

"Shit. I'm at MAdison 60042. Will you-"

"I'll try your call now, sir."

Jack hung up. Forty seconds by the wall clock-»bbring bri

"Vince

"Deputy Warden Cahill at McNeil. This pertains to a homicide?"

Hilda Lefferts was pouting-Jack turned away from her. "Yeah, and all I need's one answer. Got a pencil?"

"Of course."

"Okay. I need to know if a white male named Dean Van Gelder, that's two separate words on the last name, visited an inmate at McNeil say from February through April 1953. All I need's a yes or no and the names of any inmates he visited."

A sigh. "All right, please hold. This may take a while."

Jack held counting minutes-Cahill came back on at twelve plus. "That's a positive. Dean Van Gelder, DOB 3/4/2 1, visited inmate David Goldman on three occasions: 3/27/53, 4/1/53 and 4/3/53. Goldman was at McNeil on tax charges. Perhaps you've heard-"

Work in Davey G.-Mickey Cohen's man. Work in Van Gelder's last visit-two weeks before the Nite Owl, the same time the Englekling brothers lubed Mickey-the meet where they spilled the smut plan. The prison man kept babbling-Jack hung up on him. The Nite Owl case started to shake.

CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

Ed drove Ly

But the Atherton case and his father circuiting in was something else. Now he felt suspended, one simple instinct ru

He had a plan to work Bracken and Patchett.

Ly

Ed braked short. "One last question. At the Bureau you implied that you knew Patchett and Sid Hudgens were pla

"I don't recall endorsing that statement."

"You didn't dispute it."

"I was tired and bored."

"You endorsed it, implicitly. And it's in Jack Vince

"Then perhaps Vince

An opening. "Yes."

"And do you think you can trust him?"

Fake chagrin oozing. "I don't know. He's my weak point."

"So there you are. Mr. Exley, are you going to arrest me?"

"I'm begi

"Just to come clean. Did you show him Vince

The truth-make her grateful. "No."

"I'm glad, because I'm sure it's full of lies. Why didn't you show it to him?"

"Because he's a limited detective, and the less he knows the better. He's also a protégé of a rival officer on the case, and I didn't want him passing information to him."

"Are you speaking of Dudley Smith?"

"Yes. Do you know him?"

"No, but Bud speaks of him often. I think he's afraid of him, which means that Smith must be quite a man."

"Dudley's brilliant and vicious to the core, but I'm better. And look, it's late."

"Can I give you a drink?"

"Why? You spat in my face today."

"Well, given the circumstances."

Her smile made his smile easy. "Given the circumstances, one drink."

Ly

Ed walked in. Exquisite-the fabrics, the art. Ly

Ly

"You're too inteffigent to try to wrangle a deal, so I'll guess you're just curious about me."

"Bud hates you more than he loves me or anyone else. I'm begi

"I don't really want your opinion."

"I was leading up to a compliment."

"Some other time, all right?"

"I'll change the subject then. How's Inez Soto handling the publicity? She's been all over the papers."

"She's taking it poorly, and I don't want to talk about her."

"It galls you that I know so much about you. You don't have information to compete."

Move the wedge. "I have Vince

"Which I suspect you doubt the truth of."

Throw the change-up. "You mentioned that Patchett financed some early Raymond Dieterling films. Can you elaborate on that?"

"'Why? Because your father is associated with Dieterling? You see the disadvantages of being the son of a famous man?"

No hink, a deft touch with the knife. "Just a policeman's question."

Ly

The phone rang-Ly

"I can tell you do."

"I haven't seen much in the news about him lately."

"That's because he flushed everything he had down the toilet. «Badge of Honor», his friendship with Miller Stanton, all of it. Sid Hudgens getting murdered didn't help, since «Hush-Hush» owed half its filth to Vince

Ly

"No, but there's part of his deposition that I believe absolutely. Patchett has carbons of Sid Hudgens' private dirt files, including a carbon of a file on Vince