My Dark Places - James Ellroy [128]
She walked us inside. Mr. Krycki stayed outside with his broom. We sat down in the living room. The furniture was garishly upholstered and mismatched. Plaids, stripes, geometric designs and paisleys worked against each other. The overall effect was agitation.
Bill stated his name and displayed his badge. I stated my name. I waited a beat and said I was Jean Ellroy’s son.
Mrs. Krycki ran some gestures and sat on her hands. She said I got so big. She said I was the most spasticated boy she ever saw. I couldn’t even push a broom. God knows her husband tried to teach me. I said broom work was never my forte. Mrs. Krycki didn’t laugh.
Bill said we wanted to talk about Jean Ellroy and her death. He told Mrs. Krycki to be absolutely candid.
Mrs. Krycki started talking. Bill flashed me a let-her-talk sign.
She said the Mexican influx drove her and George out of El Monte. The Mexicans destroyed the San Gabriel Valley. Her son, Gaylord, was living in Fontana now. He was 49. He had four daughters. Jean had red hair. She cooked popcorn and ate it with a spoon. Jean answered a newspaper ad and rented their little back house. Jean said, “I think this place will be safe.” She thought Jean was hiding in El Monte.
Mrs. Krycki stopped talking. Bill asked her to explain her last remark. Mrs. Krycki said Jean was cultured and refined. She was overqualified for El Monte. I asked her why she thought that. Mrs. Krycki said Jean read condensed books published by the Reader’s Digest. She stood out in El Monte. She didn’t belong there. She came to El Monte for some mysterious reason.
Bill asked her what Jean talked about. Mrs. Krycki said she talked about her nursing school adventures. I asked her to describe those adventures. She said that was all she recalled.
I asked Mrs. Krycki about my mother and men. She said Jean went out most Saturday nights. She never brought men home. She never bragged about men. She never talked about men at all. I asked Mrs. Krycki about my mother and liquor. She contradicted all her old statements.
George smelled liquor on Jean’s breath one day. He found two empty bottles in the bushes outside. Jean brought bottles home in brown paper bags. Jean looked tired most of the time. They suspected that Jean was quite a heavy drinker.
Mrs. Krycki stopped talking. I looked directly at her and nodded. She ran a fast free-form riff.
Jean had a deformed nipple. She saw Jean’s body at the morgue. They had her under a sheet. Her feet stuck out. She recognized them. Jean always walked around the yard barefoot. The cops ran up her phone bill. They never offered to pay for their calls.
Mrs. Krycki stopped talking. Bill eased her through 6/21 and 6/22/58. Her account matched our Blue Book reports.
Mr. Krycki walked in. Bill asked him to recount those two days. Mr. Krycki told the same basic story. I asked him to describe my mother. He said she was a good-looking woman. She wasn’t the El Monte type. Anna May knew her better than he did.
Mr. Krycki looked uncomfortable. Bill smiled and told him we were fresh out of questions. Mr. Krycki smiled and walked outside.
Mrs. Krycki said there was one thing she never told the cops.
I nodded. Bill nodded. Mrs. Krycki started talking.
It happened around ’52. She was living on Ferris Road in El Monte. Gaylord was six or seven. She was separated from her first husband.
She shopped at a market nearby. A family named LoPresti owned it. This box boy played cupid with her. He said his uncle John wanted to take her out real bad. John LoPresti was about 30 then. He was tall. He had dark hair and an olive complexion.
She went out with him. He took her to the Coconino Club. They danced. He was a good dancer. He was “smooth and calculating.”
They left the Coconino. They drove out to the Puente Hills. LoPresti stopped the car and made some very fresh moves. She told him to stop. He slapped her. She got out of the car. He grabbed her and shoved her in the backseat.
He pulled at her clothes. She resisted him. He climaxed and wiped his pants off with a handkerchief. He