L. A. Confidential

A strange voice: "Get him a bitch, and he won't have to."

Cohen: "My God to be so nimble and so hung, like Heifetz on the fiddle with his shlong that dog is, and hung like Joh

The strange-voice man cracked up. Cohen: "Enough already, you brow

Mickey cough, cough, coughed. Strange Voice: "How about Lee Vachss and Abe Teitlebaum? You could put them on it."

Cohen: "Such a shmendrik you are for a confidant, but you do play cribbage good. No, Abe has grown too soft to work muscle, too much grease noshed at his deli, such grease clogs the arteries that inspire mayhem, and Lee Vachss loves death too much to be discerning. Lana, what a snatch she must have, like cashmere."

The tape ran out. Goddard said, "Mickey sure does have a verbal style, but what did all that have to do with the Nite Owl case?"

"How's 'nothing' sound?"

CHAPTER SIXTY

One wall of his den was now a graph: Nite Owl related case players co

He agreed. It rankled. It made him feel like a child-like sleeping with Ly

Ed crossed lines.

Sid Hudgens lined to the ink smut Vince

A theoretical line-Pierce Patchett to Duke Cathcart. Ly

More lines:

Davey Goldman to Dean Van Gelder to Duke Cathcart and Susan Nancy Lefferts-incomprehensible until Vince

Too many lines to ignore.

Patchett bankrolled early Dieterling films. Dieterling's son Billy and boyfriend Timmy Valburn used Fleur-de-Lis; Valburn was a Bobby Inge K.A. Billy worked on Badge of Honor, the first focus of the Hudgens homicide investigation. Badge of Honor co-star Miller Stanton was a Dieterling kid star around the same time that Wee Willie We

Governor Exley. Chief of Detectives Exley.

Ed thought of Ly

He drove to Laguna Beach.

The press, swarming: perched by their cars, playing cards on Ray Dieterling's lawn. Ed pulled around the block, walked up, sprinted.

They saw him, chased him. He made the door, slammed the knocker. The door opened-straight into Inez.

She slammed it, bolted it. Ed walked into the living room- Dream-a-Dreamland smiled all around him.

Gimcracks, porcelain statues: Moochie, Da

"See, I've got company."

Ed turned to face her. "Thanks for letting me in."

"They've been treating you worse than me, so I figured I owed you."

She looked pale. "Thanks. And you know it'll pass, just like last time."

"Maybe. You look lousy, Exley."

"People keep telling me that."

"Then maybe it's true. Look, if you want to stay and talk awhile, fine, but please don't talk about Bud or all this «mierda» that's going on."

"I wasn't pla

She walked up. Ed embraced her; she grabbed his arms and pushed herself away. Ed tried a smile. "I saw some gray hairs. When you're my age you'll probably be as gray as I am. How's that for small talk?"

"Small, and I can do better. Preston's ru

"Governor Dad. Did he say I'd ruin his chances?"

"No, because he'd never say bad things about you. Just try to do what you can not to hurt him."

Reporters outside-Ed heard them laughing. "I don't want Father to be hurt either. And you can help me prevent it."

"How?"

"A favor. A favor between you and me, nobody else to know."

"What? Explain it."

"It's very complicated, and it involves Ray Dieterling. Do you know the name 'Pierce Patchett'?"

Inez shook her head. "No, who is he?"

"He's an investor of sorts, that's all I can tell you. I need you to use your access at Dream-a-Dreamland to check his financial co

"Exley, this sounds like police business. And what does it have to do with your father?"

Recoiling: doubting the man who formed him. "Father might be in some tax trouble. I need you to check Dieterling's financial records for mention of him."

"Bad trouble?"

"Yes."

"Check back to '50 or so? When they began pla

"No, go back to 1932. I know you've seen the books at Dieterling Productions, and I know you can do it."

"With explanations to follow?"

More recoil. "On Election Day. Come on, Inez. You love him almost as much as I do."

"All right. For your father."

"No other reason?"

"All right, for what you've done for me and the friends you gave me. And if that sounds cruel, I'm sorry."

A Moochie Mouse clock struck ten. Ed said, "I should go, I've got a meeting in L.A."