My Dark Places - James Ellroy [5]
Hallinen and Lawton examined the car. It looked pristine inside and out. The print deputy photographed the interior and exterior and dusted the doors and dashboard. He came up with no viable latent fingerprints.
A Temple deputy arrived. He impounded the Buick and drove it to a nearby Ford dealership for safekeeping.
Some civilians were lounging on the grass strip. Wire pointed out Roy Dunn and Al Manganiello—two Desert Inn bartenders.
Andre and Hallinen talked to them. Dunn said he worked last night; Manganiello said he only worked days. Hallinen showed them Mrs. Krycki’s snapshot of the victim. Both men said they’d never seen the woman before.
They never saw the red-and-white Buick before. Dunn was on duty last night—but he was buried behind the service bar and didn’t see any customers come and go. They both figured the Buick had been parked in the lot all day—maybe even overnight.
Andre asked them who else was working last night. Dunn said, Talk to Ellis Outlaw, the manager.
Hallinen and Andre walked inside. Captain Etzel and Lieutenant McGowan tagged along.
The Desert Inn was narrow and L-shaped. Leatherette booths lined the walls. A sit-down bar faced three rows of tables and the front door; the service bar and kitchen stood directly behind it. A dance floor and raised bandstand formed the short part of the L.
Andre and Hallinen braced Ellis Outlaw and showed him their photo of the victim. Outlaw said he’d never seen her—or that ’57 Buick out back. He wasn’t working last night, but he knew who was.
He gave them some names:
His wife, Alberta “Bert” Outlaw. His sister, Myrtle Mawby. They were both at his place now. Try the Royal Palms Apartments—321 West Mildred Avenue, West Covina. And try Margie Trawick—Gilbert 8-1136. She waitressed at the Desert Inn on and off—and he heard she was in last night.
Hallinen wrote down the information and followed the other cops outside. The parking lot was full of El Monte PD guys keeping up with the action. A second bunch of guys were staked out at Bryant and Maple—waiting for the victim’s ex-husband and kid to show up.
It was 6:30 p.m. and cooling off a little. It was a long early summer day and nowhere near dark.
A string of car radios crackled all at once.
The kid and the ex were back. Separate units were transporting them to the El Monte Station.
The victim’s ex-husband was a week shy of 60 years old. He was tall and athletically built. He seemed to be in control of his emotions.
The victim’s son was pudgy, and tall for 10 years old. He was nervous—but did not appear in any way distraught.
The boy arrived home in a cab, alone. He was informed of his mother’s death and took the news calmly. He told a deputy that his dad was at the El Monte bus depot—waiting for a Freeway Flyer to take him back to L.A.
A patrol car was dispatched to pick up Armand Ellroy. Father and son had not been in contact since their goodbyes at the depot. They were now being held in separate rooms.
Hallinen and Lawton interviewed the ex-husband first. Ellroy stated that he had been divorced from the victim since 1954 and that he was exercising his child visitation rights this weekend. He picked the boy up in a cab at 10:00 a.m. Saturday and did not see his ex-wife. He and his son took a bus to his apartment in Los Angeles. They ate lunch and went to a movie called The Vikings at the Fox-Wilshire Theatre. The show ended at 4:30. They did some grocery shopping and returned home. They ate dinner, watched TV and went to bed between 10:00 and 11:00 p.m.
They slept late this morning. They took a bus downtown and ate lunch at Clifton’s Cafeteria. They spent several hours window-shopping and caught a bus back to El Monte. He put his son in a cab at the depot and sat down to wait for an L.A-bound bus. A cop approached him and told him the news.
Hallinen and Lawton asked Ellroy how he got on with his ex. He told them they met in ’39 and got married in ’40. They got divorced in ’54—things went bad and they came to hate each other. The divorce proceedings were acrimonious and adversarial.