James Ellroy - L. A. Confidential

b. P.P. makes his prosts quit at 30 (apparent bee in his bonnet)

c. On in-home prostitution assignments, P.P. had prosts leave doors/windows open so men with cameras could take compromising photos. Prosts also made wax impressions of locks on certain rich casts doors

d. P.P. had famous (T. Lux obviously) plastic surgeon cut male/female prosts to look like movie stars and thus make more $

e. Male prosts extorted $ from married homosexual custs & split take with P.P.

f. Bored by Nite Owl quests (obviously has no guilty knowledge)

Astounding audacious perversion.

Ed hit sweatbox row, checked the mirrors. Fisk and phony Ava talking; Kleckner and Yorkin drinking beer. Terry Lux reading a magazine, Jerry Geisler fuming. Lorraine Malvasi alone in a cloud of smoke. Astounding audacious perversion-the woman had Rita Hayworth's face down to the bone, up to the hairdo from «Gilda».

He opened the door. Rita/Lorraine stood up, sat down, lit a cigarette. Ed handed her Fisk's memo. "Please read this, Miss Malvasi."

She read, chewing lipstick. "So?"

"So do you confirm that or not?"

"So I'm entitled to a lawyer."

"Not for seventy-two hours."

"You can't hold me here that long."

"Caaant"-a bad New York accent. "Not here, but we can hold you at the Woman's Jail."

Lorraine bit at a nail, drew blood. "You caan't."

"Sure I can. Sharon Kostenza's in custody, so she can't make bail for you. Pierce Patchett is under surveillance and your friend Ava just spilled what you read there. She talked first, and all I want you to do is fill in some blanks."

A little sob. "I caan't."

"Why not?"

"Pierce has been too nice to-"

Cut her off. "Pierce is finished. Lynn Bracken turned state's on him. She's in protective custody, and I can go to her for the answers or save myseW the trouble and ask you."

"I caaan't."

"You can and you will."

"No, I caaan't."

"You'd better, because you're an accessory to eleven felonies in Paula Brown's statement alone. Are you afraid of the dykes at the jail?"

No answer.

"You should be, but the matrons are worse. Big husky bull daggers with nightsticks. You know what they do with those-"

"All right all right all right! All right I'll tell you!"

Ed took out a notepad, wrote "Chrono." Lorraine: "It's not Pierce's fault. This guy made him do it."

"What guy?"

"I don't know. Really, for real, I don't know."

"Chrono" underlined. "When did you start working for Patchett?"

"When I was twenty-one."

"Give me the year."

"1951."

"And he had Terry Lux perform surgery on you?"

"Yes! To make me more beautiful!"

"Easy now, please. Now a second ago you said that a guy-"

"I don't know who the guy is! I caan't tell you what I don't know!"

"Sssh, please. Now, you confirmed Paula Brown's statement and you said that a 'guy,' «whose identity you don't know», coerced Patchett into the extortion plans detailed in that statement. Is that correct?"

Lorraine put out her cigarette, lit another one. "Yes. Extortion is like blackmail, right, so yes."

"When, Lorraine? Do you know «when» 'this guy' approached Patchett?"

She counted on her fingers. "Five years ago, May."

"Chrono" hard underlined. "That's May of 1953?"

"Yeah, 'cause my father died that month. Pierce called us kids in and said we had to do it, he didn't want to, but this guy had him by the you-know-whats. He didn't say the guy's name and I don't think none of the other kids know it either."

"Chrono" one month post-Nite Owl. "Think fast, Lorraine. The Nite Owl massacre. Remember that?"

"What? Some people got shot, right?"

"Never mind. What else did Patchett tell you when he called you in?"

"Nothing."

"«Nothing» else on Patchett and extortion? Remember, I'm not asking you if you did any of this. I'm not asking you to incriminate yourself."

"Well, maybe three months or so before that I heard Veronica-I mean Lynn-and Pierce talking. He said him and that scandal mag man who got killed later were gonna run this squeeze thing where Pierce would tell him about our clients' secret little.. – you know, fetishes, and the man would threaten the clients with being in «Hush-Hush». You know, pay money or be in the scandal mag."

«Extortion theory validated». An instinct: on some level Lynn was playing straight, she hadn't told Patchett to prepare-he never would have let these people come in. "Lorraine, did Sergeant Kieckner show you some pornographic pictures?"

A nod. "I told him and I'll tell you. I don't know any of the people and those pictures gave me the creeps."

Ed walked out. Duane Fisk in the hallway. "Good work, sir. When you got her on that 'this guy' bit, I went back and ran it by Ava. She confirmed it and confirmed that no ID."

Ed nodded. "Tell her that Rita and Yorkin have been booked, then release her. I want her to go back to Patchett. How's Kieckner doing with Yorkin?"

Fisk shook his head. "That boy's a hardcase. He's practically daring Don to make him talk. Hey, where's Bud White now that we need him?"

"Amusing, but don't keep it up. And right now I want you to take Lux and Geisler to lunch. Lux is here voluntarily, so be nice. Tell Geisler that this is a multiple homicide major conspiracy case, and tell him Lux gets full collateral immunity for his cooperation and a signed promise of no courtroom testimony. Tell him it's already in writing, and if he wants verification to call Ellis Loew."

Fisk nodded, walked down to booth 5. Ed checked the #1 look-in.

Chester Yorkin wising off at the mirror: making faces, flipping the bird. Skinny, a pompadour flopped over his eyes oozing grease. Welts on his arms-maybe old needle marks.

Ed opened the door. Yorkin said, "Hey, I know you. I read about you."

Tracks confirmed-scar tissue on the welts. "I've been in the news."

Giggle, giggle. "This is an old one, «kemo sabe». Something like you saying, 'I never hit suspects 'cause that's the cop lowered to the level of the criminal.' You wanta hear my answer? I never snitch, 'cause cops are all cocksuckers who get their cookies off making guys talk."

"You through?"-Bud White's stock line.

"No. Your father takes it up the ass from Moochie Mouse."

Scared, but he did it-an elbow to the windpipe. Yorkin gasped; Ed got behind him, cuffed him, shoved him to the floor.

Scared, but steady hands: look, Dad, no fear.

Yorkin backed into a corner.

Scared, another Bad Bud move: a chair, a roundhouse swing, the chair smashed to the wall just above the suspect's head. Yorkin tried to squirm away; Ed kicked him back to his corner. Slow now: don't let your voice break, don't let your eyes go soft behind your glasses. "«Everything». I want to know about the smut and the other shit you push through Fleur-de-Lis. «Everything». You start with those tracks on your arms and why a smart man like Patchett trusts a junkie like you. And you know one thing right now-Patchett is finished and I'm the only one who can cut you a deal. «Do you understand me?»"

Yorkin bobbed his head yes yes yes. "Test pilot! I flew for him! Test pilot!"

Ed unlocked his cuffs. "Say that again."

Yorkin rubbed his neck. "Guinea pig."

"What?"

"I let him test horse on me. Here and there, a little at a time."

"Start over. Slowly."

Yorkin coughed. "Pierce got this heroin stolen off this Cohen- Jack Dragna deal years ago. This guy Buzz Meeks left some with these guys Pete and Bar Englekling, just a sample, and they gave it to their father, who was some kind of chemistry hotshot. He taught Pierce in college, and he laid the shit off to him and died, a heart attack or something. This other guy, I don't know his name so don't ask me, he killed Meeks or something like that. He got the rest of the shit, like eighteen pounds' worth. Pierce has been developing compounds with the stuff for years. He wants to make the cheapest and the safest and the best. I just… I just take some test pops."