The Cold Six Thousand - James Ellroy [262]
Let’s wait. The Feds will get Jimmy Ray. LAPD will give up on Durfee.
Bob Relyea had his hole-up. Bob had some shack near Phoenix. Wayne got better lodging. Wayne made phone calls. Wayne watched TV.
The Feds traced Ray to England. The search tapped out there. They’ll get him. They’ll kill him or bust him. He’ll give up “Raul.” They’ll say you’re crazy. They’ll say there is no “Raul.”
The TV spieled news. Wayne Senior called daily. Wayne Senior spieled gossip.
I work with Carlos now. Carlos said he got some tapes. Mr. Hoover sent them. The tapes scared him. Bobby K.’s out to fuck us. Let’s clip him fast.
Wayne Senior tattled. See what I know? Wayne Senior bragged.
Fred O.’s gigging it. He runs the new shooter. Pete B. runs backup. Wayne Senior gloated. I’m an insider. Wayne Senior bragged.
Pete killed some kadre men. Pete klipped loose ends at sea. Carlos told me that. Wayne Senior tattled. Your daddy hears things. Wayne Senior bragged.
The kadre biz was a shuck. The Boys fucked the Cause. Carlos told me that. Wayne hashed it out. Wayne came to this: I just don’t care.
He watched TV. He caught the war. He caught politics. Wayne Senior puffed. Bobby’s a dead man. I’ll set Nixon up with the Boys.
Wayne hashed it out. It felt felicitous. Wayne grooved the details. Wayne foresaw the balance.
King’s dead. Bobby soon. Shit will peak and resettle. The Poor People’s March tanked. The riots upstaged it. Fools popped their rocks and resettled. Chaos is taxing. Fools tire quick. King’s death let them roar and resettle. Bobby will go. Dick Nixon will reign. The country will roar and resettle.
The fix will work. Peace will reign. His type will run things. He saw it. He felt it. He knew.
And:
You’ll step up. You’ll get your piece. You know it. You’re making calls. You’re listening. You’re thinking.
He called Wayne Senior. He let him talk. He let him tattle and puff.
Wayne Senior said this:
Littell will retire. I’ll get his job. I’ll span Howard Hughes and the Boys. Dick Nixon and me. Dick and the Boys—shitfire.
Wayne listened. Wayne prompted. Wayne dropped soft tell-me-mores.
Wayne Senior said:
I ran Maynard Moore. He was my snitch. I bankrolled most of Dallas. I sent you there. I got you close. I bought you history. You killed Moore—didn’t you?—you lived history.
Wayne dodged the probe. Wayne rethought Dallas. Moore and the bankroll were old news. The hot news was contempt and hubris.
Dallas derailed your life. Dallas killed your wife. Dallas almost killed you. Wendell D. was there. You weekended with him. Cut to your last rendezvous.
Wayne Senior found Durfee. Dwight Holly helped. They found him and staked him for you. Durfee killed three more women. He killed them during that interval—before your last rendezvous.
Wayne Senior gloated. Hear this now. Wayne Senior bragged. Pete killed the kadre men. Carlos vouched the job. Carlos said Pete could “retire.” Carlos lied to Pete. Carlos told Wayne Senior why.
Pete was impetuous. Pete was erratic. Pete had ideals. Pete and Barb go. Pete and Barb go after Bobby. Carlos has a guy. His name’s Chuck the Vice. Chuck kills shitfire. Carlos will call Chuck après Bobby.
Hubris. Miscalculation. Pure contempt for YOU.
He had time. He had the phone. He had scrambled frequencies. He called out. He didn’t call Barb. He didn’t call Pete.
He called Janice. He listened. She talked.
She had cancer. They cut some out. Most of it spread. She had six months tops. She blamed herself. Her cramps hid the symptoms. Said cramps were Wayne Senior–derived.
She hid the prognosis. She never told Ward. She moved into his suite. She still loved the golf course. She still hit shag balls.
She was fading. Ward never sensed it. Ward was soooo Ward. Ward talked in his sleep now. Ward invoked “Bobby” and “Jane.”
Ward studied ledger books. There were two separate sets. Ward had them hidey-hole stashed. Ward was secretive. Ward was heedless. She found the stash.
Teamster books. Figures and code names. One set. Anti-Mob books. Typed pages with hand scrawls. One set.
Feminine