The Cold Six Thousand - James Ellroy [261]
He made the door. He flashed the lock. He tapped the keyhole. Go—the knife blade/the card/one sharp twist.
He got leverage. He applied force. The door popped.
He tilt-walked inside. He caught his breath. He pulled the door shut. He flashed the waiting room. He saw clown prints. He saw one desk and one couch.
He flashed a side door. He saw a caduceus. He saw G. N. BLUMENFELD. He walked over. He braced off the walls. His breath snagged and huffed.
He tried the door. It was unlocked. There’s the shrink chair. There’s the file bank. There’s the shrink couch.
His breath jerked. He got dizzy. He stretched out on the couch. He laughed—I’m Sirhan Sirhan—RFK watch out!
He got his breath. He stowed the yuks. His pulse leveled out. He flashed the file bank: A to L/M to S/T to Z.
He got up. He pulled drawer handles. The file drawers slid out. M to S—be there, you fuck.
He pulled drawer 2. He finger-walked. He found him: one folder/two pages/three-visit summary.
He flashed the pages. Quotes leaped:
“Memory loss.” “Fugue states.” “Disoriented condition.”
“Overdependence on supportive male figures.”
Boffo quotes. Fred O. would swoon. Hello, you camel jockey!
DOCUMENT INSERT: 4/11/68. Atlanta Constitution headline and subhead:
SEARCH FOR KING ASSASSIN BROADENS
FBI IN MASSIVE HUNT
DOCUMENT INSERT: 4/12/68. Houston Chronicle headline and subhead:
LAUNDRY-MARK CLUE ID’S ASSASSINATION SUSPECT
SEARCH WIDENS IN LOS ANGELES
DOCUMENT INSERT: 4/14/68. Miami Herald subhead:
RIOT DAMAGE ASSESSED IN WAKE OF KING ASSASSINATION
DOCUMENT INSERT: 4/15/68. Portland Oregonian headline and subhead:
ASSASSIN’S CAR FOUND IN ATLANTA
SEARCH FOR SUSPECT GALT BROADENS
DOCUMENT INSERT: 4/19/68. Dallas Morning News subhead:
HUNT FOR KING ASSASSIN “#1 PRIORITY,” HOOVER SAYS
DOCUMENT INSERT: 4/20/68. New York Daily News headline and subhead:
FINGERPRINT CHECK YIELDS PAYDIRT!
“GALT” REVEALED AS PRISON ESCAPEE!
DOCUMENT INSERT: 4/22/68. Chicago Sun-Times headline and subhead:
RFK IN HUGE INDIANA PRIMARY PUSH
CITES LEGACY OF DR. KING
DOCUMENT INSERT: 4/23/68. Los Angeles Examiner subhead:
SKID ROW MURDER VICTIM DURFEE REVEALED AS LONG-SOUGHT RAPIST-KILLER
DOCUMENT INSERT: 5/7/68. New York Times headline:
RFK WINS INDIANA PRIMARY
DOCUMENT INSERT: 5/10/68. San Francisco Chronicle headline:
RFK WINS NEBRASKA PRIMARY
DOCUMENT INSERT: 5/14/68. Los Angeles Examiner subhead:
SEARCH FOR KING ASSASSIN SHIFTS TO CANADA
DOCUMENT INSERT: 5/15/68. Phoenix Sun subhead:
RFK IN OREGON-CALIFORNIA CAMPAIGN PUSH
DOCUMENT INSERT: 5/16/68. Chicago Tribune subhead:
HOOVER SAYS KING ASSASSINATION “NOT A CONSPIRACY”
DOCUMENT INSERT: 5/22/68. Washington Post headline and subhead:
LOW TURNOUT FOR POOR PEOPLE’S MARCH
KING’S DEATH CITED AS REASON
DOCUMENT INSERT: 5/26/68. Cleveland Plain Dealer subhead:
HUNT FOR SUSPECT RAY WIDENS
DOCUMENT INSERT: 5/26/68. New York Daily News subhead:
RAY DESCRIBED AS “AMPHETAMINE ADDICT-LONER”
WITH BENT FOR “GIRLIE” MAGAZINES
DOCUMENT INSERT: 5/27/68. Los Angeles Examiner subhead:
FRIENDS CITE RAY’S RACE-HATE HISTORY
DOCUMENT INSERT: 5/28/68. Los Angeles Examiner subhead:
NO LEADS IN HUNT FOR SKID-ROW KILLER
LAPD LINKS VICTIM TO RECENT RAPE-MURDERS OF THREE WOMEN
DOCUMENT INSERT: 5/28/68. Portland Oregonian headline and subhead:
RFK LOSES OREGON PRIMARY
MOVES CAMPAIGN TO CRUCIAL CALIFORNIA TEST
DOCUMENT INSERT: 5/29/68. Los Angeles Times subhead:
HUGE CROWDS AS RFK STORMS STATE
DOCUMENT INSERT: 5/30/68. Los Angeles Times subhead:
RECORD CROWDS CHEER RFK’S PLEDGE TO END WAR
DOCUMENT INSERT: 6/1/68. San Francisco Chronicle subhead:
RFK SETS BREAKNECK PACE IN CALIFORNIA CAMPAIGN
115
(Lake Tahoe, 6/2/68)
The hole-up:
Wayne Senior’s cabin / four rooms / secluded. Up mountain roads. Wide views and trout streams.
Home for now. Home since Memphis.
He had a scrambler phone. He had a food stash. He had a TV. He had shit to sort