Джеймс Эллрой: White Jazz

“Poor Dan” — one short sigh.

“Mrs. Kafesjian...”

“Come in. I’ll answer your questions if you promise not to slander the children.”

“Whose children?”

“Ours. Whoever’s. Just exactly what did you...?”

I sat her down. “Your family and the Herricks.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Tell me everything.”

1932 — Scranton, Pennsylvania.

J.C. Kafesjian and Phillip Herrick work at Balustrol Chemicals. J.C. is a laborer, Phillip a solvent analyst. J.C. is crude, Phil is cultured — they are friends — nobody knows why.

1932: the friends move to Los Angeles together. They court women and marry them: J.C. and Madge Clarkson, Phil and Joan Renfrew.

Five years pass: the men toil at boring chemical jobs. Five children are born: Tommy and Lucille Kafesjian; Richard, Laura and Christine Herrick.

J.C. and Phil are bored, angry and poor. Their chemistry knowledge inspires a scheme: brew homemade liquor.

They do it — and thrive.

The Depression continues; poor people need cut-rate spirits. J.C. and Phil sell it cheap — work-camp workers their chief clientele. They accrue profits and hoard their shares.

J.C. and Phil — friends and partners.

J.C. and Phil — cuckolding each other.

Neither man knows:

Two affairs predate their weddings. Lovers: J.C. and Joan, Phillip and Madge. The adultery continues — five children are born — their patrimony inconclusive.

J.C. opens a dry-cleaning shop; Phil invests in a chemical plant. They continue their home liquor business.

J.C. pushes Phil to cut costs: lower-quality alcohol solvents mean greater profits.

Phil agrees.

They sell a batch to some CCC workers — a dozen men go permanently blind.

June 22, 1937:

A blind man carries a pump shotgun into a tavern.

He fires the weapon at random — three people are killed.

He sticks the barrel in his mouth and blows his own head off.

Sergeant Dudley Smith investigates. He learns the source of the shotgun man’s blinding; he tracks the liquor to Phil and J.C. He makes them an offer: his silence for a percentage of their holdings.

They agree.

Dudley recognizes J.C.’s mean streak — and cultivates it. He believes that Negroes could be kept dope-sedated; he urges J.C. to sell them drugs. He urges Chief Davis to let J.C. “serve” them: as a sanctioned dope peddler and informant to the fledgling Narcotics Squad.

Dudley hides his role — few know that he is J.C.’s recruiter. Chief Davis retires in ’39; Chief Horrall takes over. He assumes credit for the Kafesjian recruitment — and taps Officer Dan Wilhite to serve as J.C.’s contact.

Years pass; Dudley continues to extract his business percentage. J.C.’s dry-cleaning shops flourish; he builds up a Southside dope kingdom. Phil Herrick earns legitimate wealth: PH Solvents is hugely successful.

The adultery goes on: J.C. and Joan, Phillip and Madge.

Both women have assured their lovers that birth control precautions have been taken. Both have lied — they loathe their husbands, but will not leave them. Madge knows J.C. would kill her; Joan needs Phillip’s money and newly developed social connections.

Five children.

Inconclusive patrimony.

No dangerous resemblances emerging.

Joan wanted J.C.’s baby: he treated her atypically tender. Madge wanted Phillip’s: she despised her vicious husband. Guesswork fathers softens things — both women believe it.

Post — World War II:

Major Dudley Smith, OSS, sells black-market penicillin to escaped Nazis. Phil Herrick, naval officer, serves in the Pacific; J.C. Kafesjian runs his dry-cleaning shops and dope racket. Dudley returns to L.A. late in ’45; Herrick, fourteen months at sea, comes home unexpectedly.

He finds Joan nine months pregnant. He beats her — and learns that J.C. has been her lover throughout their marriage. She had planned to put the child up for adoption; Phil’s surprise return prevented her. She hid her pregnancy with long indoor sojourns; Laura, Christine and Richie — away at boarding school — do not know what happened.

Joan runs to J.C.

Madge hears them talking and confronts them.

J.C. brutally beats both women.

Madge admits her long affair with Phil Herrick.

Cuckold husbands, cuckold wives. Enraged men — two women beaten and raped. Terrible chaos. Abe Voldrich calls in Dudley Smith.

He has the five children blood-tested — the results are ambiguous. Joan Herrick delivers her baby; Dudley strangles it three days old.

Laura and Christine never learn the facts of their lineage.

Tommy, Lucille and Richie do — several years later.

The boys grow up friends — maybe brothers — whose father is whose? They burglarize houses and play jazz; Richie falls in love with Lucille. He comforts her with Champ Dineen — he didn’t know his bloodlines either.

Tommy emulates his “name” father J.C. — selling dope while still in high school. He’s always lusted after Lucille — now there’s a chance she isn’t his sister. He rapes her — and makes her his personal whore.

Richie finds out — and swears to kill Tommy.

Tommy relishes the vow — he considers Richie a weakling.

Richie drives to Bakersfield and buys a gun. He gets caught selling dope; Dudley Smith intercedes, but cannot convince the DA to drop charges. Richie Herrick, sentenced to Chino: 1955.

Tommy swears he’ll kill him when he’s released — he knows his personal whore Lucille deeply loves him. Richie swears to kill Tommy — he has debased the maybe sister he loves chastely.

Lucille runs wild — prostitute, window dancer, taunter of men. Phil Herrick seeks her out — his maybe daughter. Their first coupling is a street assignation. Lucille agrees just to taunt him.

His gentleness surprised her — this maybe daddy more like Richie than Tommy. They continued to meet: always talking, always playing games. Phil Herrick and Lucille: maybe daddy-daughter lovers, maybe just a whore and a john.

And Madge and Joan became friends. They hid from the madness together — fugitive time spent simply talking. Confidantes: years of partial shelter.

Richie escaped from Chino — fit only to voyeur-watch Lucille. Joan and Richie exchanged letters; Richie said a friend soon to be paroled would avenge him painlessly. This man seemed to have a hold on Richie: Richie never even said his name.

Joan killed herself nine months ago; the insanity peaked all at once. Lucille did not know Richie was watching her; Tommy read Junior Stemmons’ reports and assumed that Richie was the voyeur. He vowed to kill him — afraid that Exley-linked men would find him first. Lucille found him — their ticket to shelter in a needle.

Tissues on the floor — Madge fretted a whole box to shreds.

“Would you call that ‘everything,’ Lieutenant?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then you’re a very curious man.”

“Do you know the name Wylie Bullock?”

“No.”

“Who killed Junior Stemmons?”

“I did. He was browbeating Abe Voldrich at one of our cleaning shops. I was afraid he’d find out the truth about Richie and Lucille, and I wanted to protect them. I attacked him rather foolishly, and Abe subdued him. We knew Dudley would protect us if we killed him, and Abe knew he was an addict.”

“So Abe shot him up and dumped him at Bido Lito’s.”

“Yes.”

“And you told Tommy, and he burned the place down. He hung out there, and he was afraid we’d find evidence on him.”

“Yes. And I don’t feel bad about that young man Stemmons. I think he was in as much pain as Richie and Lucille were.”

I emptied my pockets — big wads of cash.