'1947?'
'I don't know!'
'1946?'
'I don't . . . I was in the navy then . . . I forget.'
Dudley butted in: 'You do pay income tax, don't you, Engels?'
Engels hung his head between his legs. 'No,' he said.
'You realize that income tax evasion is a federal crime, don't you, Engels?' Dudley continued, pressing.
'Yes.'
'I pay income tax, so does the inspector, so do all good law-abiding citizens. What the hell makes you so special that you think you don't have to?'
'I don't know.'
'Ease off, Lieutenant,' I said. 'Mr. Engels wants to cooperate. Mr. Engels, I'm going to name some people. Tell me of your association with them.'
Engels nodded dumbly. Dudley handed me a carefully typed slip of paper broken down into three columns headed: 'Gamblers,' 'Bookmakers,' and 'Hollywood Vice offenders.' I started with the gamblers. Mike Breuning got out his steno pad and poised his pencil over it. Dudley lit a cigarette for himself and one for Engels, who accepted it gratefully.
'Okay, Mr. Engels, listen carefully: James Babij, Leslie 'Scribe' Thomas, James Gillis, Walter Snyder, Willard Dolphine. Any of those names sound familiar?'
Engels nodded confidently. 'Those guys are high rollers, big spenders at Santa Anita. Entrepreneurs, you know what I mean?'
'Yes. Are you intimate with any of them?'
'What do you mean 'intimate'?' Engels narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
'I mean have you gambled with any of these men? Have you entertained any of them in your home?'
'Oh, no. I just see those guys at the track, maybe they buy me a drink at the Turf Club, maybe I buy them one. That kind of thing.'
'All right,' I said, smiling and going to the list of the bookies. 'William Curran, Louis Washington, 'Slick' Dellacroccio, 'Zoomer' Murphy, Frank Deffry, Gerald 'Smiler' Chamales, Bruno Earle, Duane 'The Brain' Tucker, Fred 'Fat Man' Vestal, Mark 'The Gimp' McGuire. Ring any bells, Mr. Engels?'
'Lotsa bells, Inspector. Those bimbos are all West L.A. handbooks. Cocktail lounge sharpies. Mark 'The Gimp' pimps nigger broads on the side. They're all small potatoes, strictly from nowhereville.' Engels smiled at his captors cockily. He was starting to feel confident of our purpose. All three of us gave him a deadpan. It made him nervous. 'Freddy Vestal pushes reefers, I heard talk,' he blurted out.
I gave Engels a winning smile. 'All right now, let's try these: Pat Morneau, 'Scooter' Coleman, Jack Foster, Lawrence Brubaker, Al Bay, Jim Waldleigh, Brett Caldwell, Jim Joslyn.'
Engels went ashen-faced. He swallowed several times, and, recovering quickly, threw out a smile that was pure charm, pure bravado. 'Don't know those guys, Inspector, sorry.'
Dudley went on the attack, saying very softly, 'Do you know who those men are, Engels?'
'No.'
'Those men are known degenerates—pansies, sissies, nancy boys, queers, homos, faggots, pederasts, and punks. They all have long rap sheets with the vice squads of every police agency in L.A. County. They all frequent queer bars in West Hollywood. Places we know you frequent, Engels. Half of those men have identified you from photographs. Half—'
'What photographs?!' Engels screeched. 'I'm clean! I ain't got a police record. This is all a lie! This is —'
I entered the fray: 'Mr. Engels, just let me ask you once, for our official records: are you homosexual?'
'Fuck, no!' Eddie Engels practically screamed.
'All right. Thank you.'
'Inspector,' Dudley said calmly, 'I don't buy it. We know for a fact that he's tight with this homo, Lawrence Brubaker. We know—'
'Larry Brubaker was an old navy buddy! We were stationed together at the Long Beach yard during the war!' Engels was sweating, his face and torso were popping sweat from every pore. I handed him a glass of water. He gulped it down in one second flat, then looked to me for support.
'I believe you,' I said. 'You used to live near his bar in Venice, right?'
'Right! With a woman. I was shacked with her. I tell you I dig women. Ask Janet, she'll tell you!'
'Janet?' I asked innocently.
'Janet Valupeyk. She's the dame I do the real estate gig with. She'll tell you. We shacked together for two years, she'll tell you.'
'All right, Mr. Engels.'
'Not all right, Inspector,' Dudley said, his voice rising in pitch and timbre, 'not all right at all. We have witnesses who place this degenerate at known queer bars like the Hub, the Black Cat, Sergio's Hideaway, the Silver Star, the Knight in Armor, and half the homo hangouts in the Valley.'
'No, no, no!' Engels was shaking his head frantically in denial.
I raised my voice and glared sternly at Dudley. 'This time you've gone too far, Lieutenant. You've been badly misinformed. The Silver Star isn't a homosexual hangout—I've been there myself, many times. It's just a congenial neighborhood cocktail lounge.'
Engels grabbed at what he thought was a life raft. 'That's right! I been there myself, lotsa times.'
'To place bets?' I interjected.
'Hell no, to chase tail. I picked up lots of good stuff there.' Unaware that he was hanging himself, Engels rambled on, squirming on the now sweat-drenched mattress. 'I scored in half the juke joints in Hollywood. Queer, shit! Somebody's been feeding you guys the wrong dope! I'm a veteran. Larry Brubaker's queer, but I just used him, borrowed money from him. He didn't try no queer stuff with me! You ask Janet. You ask her!' Engels was addressing all his remarks to me now. It was obvious he considered me his savior. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dudley draw his finger across his throat.
'Mr. Engels,' I said, 'let's take a break for a while, shall we? Why don't you take a rest?'
Engels nodded. I went into the bathroom and wet a paper napkin in the sink. I tossed it to him and he swabbed his face and upper body with it.
'Rest, Eddie,' I said, smiling down at the handsome killer.
He nodded again and hid his face in his hands.
'I'm going for a walk,' I announced to Dudley and Mike Breuning. I grabbed a container of cold coffee and a cold hamburger and walked outside.
A Santa Ana wind had come up, and the shabby front lawn was littered with a fresh array of debris. Palm fronds had blown out onto the sidewalk. The wind had cleared all traces of smog from the air, and the twilight sky was a pure light blue tinged with the remnants of a pink sun.
I tried to eat my burger, but it was too greasy and cold, and my nervous stomach balked. I threw the sandwich to the ground and sipped my coffee, pondering the rituals of justice.
Dudley came out a minute later. 'Our friend is asleep, lad,' he said. 'Mike slipped him a Mickey Finn. He'll wake up in about four hours or so with a devilish headache. Then I'll go to work on him.'
'Where's Carlisle?'
'He's going through handsome Eddie's apartment. He should be back soon. How do you feel, lad?'
'Expectant. Anxious for it to be over.'
'Soon, lad, soon. I'm going to have at that monster for a good long time. You stay out until I take off my necktie. Then you intervene. Meet force with force, lad, be it verbal or physical. Do you follow?'
'Yes.'
'Ahhh, grand. You are a brilliant young policeman, Freddy. Do you know that?'
'Yes, I do.'
'I've wanted a protege like you for a long time, lad. Mike and Dick are good cops, but they've got no brains, no imagination. You have a spark, a brilliant one.'
'I know.'
