My Dark Places - James Ellroy [109]
They got hazy information and no information. They checked 130 car registrations. They hit married couples and one-night couples and adulterous couples and prostitute-and-customer couples. They couldn’t locate some people. They ran up a substantial call-and-clear list. They came up dead short on hard suspects.
A tip came in on Wednesday—1/28/59. A woman named Viola Ramsey snitched off her husband.
His name was James Orville Ramsey. He abandoned Mrs. Ramsey last month. He called her Monday night. He said, “If you want to put me on the goddamn spot, your ass is going to lay next to that waitress in the Puente Hills. If your friends miss you for three or four days, tell them they will find your ass laying in the sand next to hers.”
James Orville Ramsey was 33 years old. He was a fry cook. Mrs. Ramsey said he hated waitresses. He thought they were cheap and no good. He liked horse racing and Mexican food. He was a drunk. He served time for burglary and GTA. He liked older women. He threatened to kill Mrs. Ramsey and “spit in her blood.” He drove a ’54 Chevy two-door. His last known place of employment was the Five Points Bowling Alley in El Monte. He was shacked up with a 19-year-old girl named Joan Baker. She waitressed at Happy’s Cafe. Mrs. Ramsey waitressed at Jack’s Bar in Monterey Park.
Claude Everley questioned James Orville Ramsey. The tip was vindictive bullshit.
The LA papers ran the car photo on Thursday—1/29/59. They ran a sidebar piece requesting information and listed the Sheriff’s Homicide phone number. The Long case was six days old. It was going absolutely nowhere.
Andre and Everley canvassed the track again. A coffee-counter girl said she saw Bobbie Long last week. She pushed to the front of her line. She was quite rude.
Another coffee girl told the same story. Bobbie pushed to the front of her line. She was rude. She refused to wait in line like everybody else.
A cashier said he saw Bobbie last week. She cashed a ticket at his window. She “acted rummy.”
A security guard said he saw Bobbie last Thursday. She was alone.
A bartender said he served Bobbie last week. She was “half drunk.”
A bus driver said he saw a woman resembling Bobbie Long last week. She got into a ’53 Ford with two male Negroes. The car was powder blue. The passenger door squeaked.
The lab guys did some good work. They hung Bobbie Long’s coat, blouse and skirt on pegs and shot them in full color. Ward Hallinen picked up two dozen prints and drove out to the San Gabriel Valley. He left copies at the Temple City Sheriff’s Station, the San Dimas Sheriff’s Station and the Baldwin Park, Arcadia and El Monte PDs. He talked to five detective squad lieutenants. He asked them to run separate canvasses within their jurisdictions. They said they’d try to squeeze the work in.
Ethlyn Manlove came into the Bureau Thursday afternoon. Ray Hopkinson interviewed her. A stenographer transcribed her statement.
She said Bobbie Long lied about her age. She said Bobbie was married twice. Bobbie married a guy in New Orleans and a guy in Abilene, Kansas. She didn’t know their names. Bobbie had two brothers and a sister. She didn’t know their names. She said Bobbie had no need for love or sex. Bobbie loved money. Bobbie was “very mercenary.”
Hopkinson asked Miss Manlove if Bobbie would trade sex for money. She said she would. She said a sea captain “kept” Bobbie during World War II. He paid for her clothes and apartment. He sent her $250 a month.
Miss Manlove said Bobbie would demand good money. She’d want $25 or $50 a throw. Maybe she put out for some guy. Maybe he stiffed her. Bobbie threw a fit. The guy killed her to shut her up and keep his money.
Hopkinson said it was possible.
A woman called Sheriff’s Homicide on Friday—1/30/59. She identified herself as Mrs. K. E Lawter and said she saw the picture in the papers. The woman was her former tenant Gertrude Hoven. Gertrude used to live in a building