My Dark Places - James Ellroy [19]
Q Do you recall who ordered those rounds?
A No, I don’t.
Q Did you notice the condition as to intoxication of the four people sitting at this table?
A The young fellow now known as Mike was quite intoxicated. The other three people, no.
Q Did both men dance with the two girls?
A After that I didn’t pay particular attention because I left at 11:30.
Q They were all four sitting at the table when you left?
A Yes, sir.
Q Did you go out of the Desert Inn with someone?
A Yes, I did.
Q And it was approximately 11:30 when you left?
A That’s right.
Q Did you return at any time that evening?
A Ten minutes to one. I brought the same fellow back. Took him to collect money that was owed to him.
Q What time did you arrive back?
A Ten to one.
Q Did you notice the condition as to the occupancy of the table and the bar of the Desert Inn?
A It was practically empty on the cocktail lounge side.
Q Did you notice the table you have previously described as having the four people there?
A It was empty.
Q Did you see any of those people previously described in the restaurant?
A No, I did not.
Q How long did you stay there?
A Just a few very few minutes.
Q And then you left?
A Then I went home, yes.
BY SERGEANT LAWTON:
Q This tall or thin Mexican man that you have described, if you saw him again, would you be able to identify him?
A I believe I could. He was so thin in here, you might think he had no teeth until you saw him smile.
Q You are indicating the jaw area?
A Yes.
Q He’s the one that asked the redhead to dance?
A Yes. I didn’t hear him ask her.
Q But they danced?
A Yes.
Q He’s the one you got the impression that they knew each other?
A That’s right.
Q Thank you very much.
STATEMENT CONCLUDED AT 10:10 P.M.
Two letters arrived at the El Monte Station Wednesday morning. Both were addressed to the Chief of Police.
The first letter was typed and postmarked Fullerton, California.
We have been trailing Mr. C.S.I, from Santa Ana and saw him throw that body, red-hair girl from his or a 1954 Plymouth two tone salmon pink, chocolate brown car that evening. You see he has a police record at various Southern California’s Police Dept. and has threatened several lives. We consider him TRASH and he is the one you are looking for. KI-28114 will tell you some more.
The letter was signed “Eye Witness, Peggy Jane, Mr. and Mrs. Virgil Galbraith, Fullerton.”
The second letter was postmarked Los Angeles. It was handwritten. “Consider Her Ways” was printed on the front of the envelope.
So shall thy poverty come as one that travalleth and thy want as an armed man.
Olga was raised in a house of ill fame, from other pros she learned all about burglary, robbery, theft, and the thief is like a murderer. Her trail leads past hold ups of banks— the 9th and Spring cashier within recent months as well as a “Job” of a bank in San Francisco known locally as Grandma. She disguises—having been around the movie studios and an elevator operator at the Ambassador, from the latter and maid work she developed the theft and murder technique she worked out in Hollywood to kill a woman in a hotel, Mrs. Greenwald, Miss Epperson and a woman in an L.A. hotel. Numerous other murders—a Stepanovich in MacArthur Park in recent months and others not revealed to the public. She hangs about the Santa Fe Trailways bus depot & museums and Forest Lawn, as well as changeable areas and districts where she may find a man to pick-pocket, a woman for sodomy, a drunk to roll, a travellar to fleece or pick pocket, Olivera Street where she sells her body & picks travellar pockets, and young men—usually two—to sleep with it in her gut.
She has to sleep so she finds a hotel over the bridge to West 7th Str. in L.A. En route is the market run by Anthony Jr. & the Senior Thomas. There Anthony seduced her and frequently A pays her, now A lives in El Monte, to prevent a new crime in El Monte, drive Anthony (by quenching him with fire) out of El Monte or she will slay you, your children and your love because she wants to get