Executioner's Song, The - Norman Mailer [335]
Did his best to psych them up. It seemed encouraging. They obviously accepted Farrell as a working journalist-as always Barry made a good impression-and Schiller could feel the special attention they offered today. Quite likely, he thought, they were also worrying over Gibbs. God, if they didn't start to produce, Gibbs's story might look better and better.
That afternoon, Moody and Stanger went out to the prison, and did a tape with Gary. It went on for hours, and they didn't get back unto midnight. Next day, when he heard it, Schiller was excited.
Gary had talked at length about his childhood and reform school and prison and the murders. Since this was only four days after his second suicide attempt, the responses were impressive. It was as if Gilmore was also concerned about Gibbs and had decided to tell his story. In fact, Schiller was ecstatic. After Farrell edited it, they would have, at the least, a good beginning for Playboy.
The meeting with Gibbs had been arranged by Moody through a detective named Halterman, who turned out to be a big, blond fellow with glasses, wearing a brown leather coat, a stuffing teddy-bear type, Schiller thought, except he was obviously one tough teddy bear.
Halterman had set it up for the interview room at the Orem Police Station, a cubbyhole with a desk and a couple of chairs.
Gibbs was in there, chain-smoking. Schiller's first impression was of a small, slimy, ratty, jailhouse guy. Red squinty eyes. He had a receding hairline, a Fu Manchu goatee, a little dingbat mustache.
Bad teeth. Pale as a ghost. A guy who would stick a shiv under your armpit. Farrell liked him even less. He looked like a poor old weasel sitting there. The total stamp of jail was on the man.
First thing after making introductions, Schiller took out a pack of Viceroy Super Longs and handed them over. It made Gibbs uneasy.
Yesterday, on the phone, Schiller acted like he had hardly heard of him. Now, he seemed up on his habits. Gary had obviously, Gibbs thought, informed Schiller of his personal preferences. Besides, there was something about the man, and his associate, this Farrell, that made Gibbs uncomfortable. They didn't look like rich writers or producers from Los Angeles. They were wearing old parkas and dungarees, and looked like they had been brought in for vagrancy.
Gibbs could feel the big money disappearing. Worse. He also felt a lot of warnings, so, even as he said hello, he asked if Schiller had disclosed their conversation to Gary. "I have to tell you," Schiller said, "I believe I made a mistake. I didn't understand that I wasn't supposed to tell him, and I did."
"You gave me your word," Gibbs said.
"I'm sorry," said Schiller, "I got it all mixed up."
"What did Gary say?" asked Gibbs.
The other fellow, Farrell, shook his head, and said, "Oh, Dick, Gary was so disappointed." On top of everything else, Gibbs hated to be called Dick. The name was Richard. He looked over at Halterman and Ken was almost puking. He gave a signal to Gibbs, and stepped out of the room. "That's the oldest con game in the world said Halterman. "Oh, Dick," said the detective, mimicking Farrell, "Gary was so disappointed." Then Halterman cussed. "You should have said, 'What do I care? He's just a cold-blooded killer.' " Still, he didn't disagree that it might be worth talking to these Los Angeles characters about a deal.
Gibbs was as upset as a man could, be. First of all, he was in a state of confusion, and that was not his accustomed place. Then, this fellow Schiller started to run a line on him. "Look," Schiller was saying confidentially, "Gary has gone crazy with anger, but I can get him calmed down. You see, I might be able to explain to the man that you're ready to work with us."
Gibbs didn't believe a word, but then he didn't dare not to believe him either. So when Schiller took out a Sony tape recorder from his pocket, Gibbs agreed to be interviewed. It was hard, however, to figure where Schiller was coming from. That guy Farrell just kept glaring at him.
When Schiller asked if he would sign