The Cold Six Thousand - James Ellroy [235]
Huh? What? Don’t grab at straws. Don’t be this skittish refugee.
He got bored. He got crazed. His pulse skipped.
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/3/67. Bug-extract transcript. Marked: “Conñdential”/“Stage-1 Covert”/“Eyes Only”: Director, SA D. C. Holly.
Location: Card room/Grapevine Tavern/St. Louis/listening-post-accessed. Speaking: Norbert Donald Kling & Rowland Mark DeJohn, paroled felons (Armed Robbery/Bunco/GTA) & presumed organized-crime associates. (Conversation 14.1 minutes in progress.)
NDK: And people hear, you know. Word goes out.
RMDJ: It’s like the name of this place. The Grapevine.
NDK: Yeah. The grape for the ape.
RMDJ: Guys come through, they hear, they start thinking.
NDK: They think, shit, 50 G’s for a good deed, and it don’t go unrewarded.
RMDJ: You do it down south, no jury would convict you.
NDK: You’re right. It’s like those guys in Mississippi. They wax those civil rights humps and walk scot-free.
NDK: You know who I saw here? Like in May?
RMDJ: Who?
NDK: Jimmy Ray. I bought goofballs off him in Jeff City.
RMDJ: I heard he broke out.
NDK: He did. He breaks out, then he’s disappointed that there’s no big manhunt.
RMDJ: That’s Jimmy in a nutshell. Hey, world, notice me.
NDK: He hates niggers. You got to give him that.
RMDJ: He was tight with the guards. At Jeff City, I mean. I never liked that about him.
NDK: The guards were klanned-up. That was the attraction to Jimmy.
RMDJ: That one guard was a pisser. Remember him? Bob Relyea.
NDK: Bob the Brain. Jimmy called him that.
RMDJ: I heard he’s klanned-up down south now.
NDK: Klanned-up and a snitch is what I heard. As in, he works for the Feds.
RMDJ: That could be. Remember, he left Jeff and joined the Army.
NDK: Jimmy said he might go see him.
RMDJ: Jimmy’s a talker. He always talked about a whole lot of things.
NDK: He heard about the bounty. He nearly bust a gut talking about that.
RMDJ: Talk’s talk. Jimmy said he fucked Marilyn Monroe, which don’t mean he really did it.
(Non-applicable conversation follows.)
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/3/67. Bug-extract transcript. Marked: “Conñdential”/“Stage-1 Covert”/“Eyes Only”: Director, SA D. C. Holly.
Location: Office/Mike Lyman’s Restaurant/Los Angeles/listening-post-accessed. Speaking: Unidentified Males #1 & #2, presumed organized-crime associates. (Conversation 1.9 minutes in progress.)
UM #1: … you’ve heard the stories, right?
UM #2: Just glimmers. Carlos knows they’re on the boat, so he sends some guys to the Keys.
UM #1: Not just any guys. He sends Chuck the Vice and Nardy Scavone.
UM #2: Oh, Jesus.
UM #1: You have to assume that he wanted to prolong things. It is well known that Chuck and Nardy work slow.
UM #2: I have heard the stories, believe me.
UM #1: Here’s the good part. You’ll like it.
UM #2: So tell me. Don’t be a fucking cock-tease.
UM #1: Okay, they spot the boat. It’s docked someplace quiet. They sneak up quiet and climb on board.
UM #2: Come on, don’t string it—
UM #1: Arden and Danny see them coming. Danny starts bawling and saying rosaries. Arden’s got a gun. She shoots Danny in the back of the head to put him out of his misery. She aims at fucking Chuck and Nardy, but the fucking gun jams.
UM #2: Fuck, that is rich. That is just—
UM #1: Chuck and Nardy grab her and tie her down. Carlos wants to know why they rabbited and did someone tip them off. Chuck’s got his vice in a toolbox. He puts Arden’s head in. He leans on the handle, but Arden won’t give it up.
UM #2: Jesus.
UM #1: He cracked all her teeth and broke her jaw. She still wouldn’t talk.
UM #2: Jesus.
UM #1: She bit her tongue off. She couldn’t talk if she wanted to, so Nardy capped her.
UM #2: Jesus.
(Non-applicable conversation follows).
DOCUMENT INSERT: 12/3/67. Pouch communiqué. To: Dwight Holly. From: Fred Otash. Marked: “Conñdential”/“Eyes Only”/ “Read & Burn Immediately.”
DH,
Here’s the summary on my dealings with the PROSPECT to date, including my reasoning on why I think we should use him. I hate writing things down, so READ &