“Hummel and DeGranzfeld were his boys; Lanier was his party girl- supporting that place on Fountain woulda been like you and me springing for lunch. In the process of asking around, I learned Lanier might have been more than just a party girl- she’d been known to enter Belding’s private office on the studio lot, stay in for a couple of hours, leave happy. This is stuff
“Offended how?” said Milo.
“Who knows? Maybe she got pushy about something. Maybe her stupid brother put the arm on the wrong guy.”
“The doctor- Neurath- could have been her sugar daddy,” said Milo.
Crotty shook his head. “Neurath had money problems. His wife was a compulsive gambler; he was into the sharks on and off- it’s why he started moonlighting in the first place. And one more thing: Lanier’s building on Fountain was owned by Belding.”
Milo and I looked at each other.
Crotty said, “Bastard owned half of L.A. at one time.”
“Neurath was an obstetrician,” I said. “Maybe Linda Lanier was seeing him professionally.”
“Pregnant?” said Crotty. “Putting the paternal squeeze on Belding? Sure, why not?”
Milo said, “How soon after the shooting did Hummel and DeWhatsisname quit?”
“Not long after, maybe a couple of months. And this with both of them commended and promoted. Now tell me more about the film Lanier and Neurath were on.”
“Doctor and nurse skit,” I said. “The doctor didn’t know he was on camera.”
“More strong-arm,” said Milo. “The brother?”
“Could be,” said Crotty.
“What would they be strong-arming Neurath about?”
“Who knows? Maybe the Scraper Club, maybe the wife’s gambling problem. Either could have screwed up his reputation- he had a society practice, nice plump Hancock Park matrons waiting for stirrup time.”
“Is he still around?”
“Who knows?”
“What about Hummel and DeGranzfeld?”
“DeGranzfeld died a couple of years after moving to Nevada. Affair with a married woman, husband had a temper. Far as I know, Hummel’s still in Vegas. One thing for sure, he’s still got pull in the department, or at least he did a couple of years ago.”
“How so?” said Milo.
“He had this nephew, real fascist fuckup, liked the booze, almost flunked out of the academy, the bullying son of a bitch- frigging chip off the old block. He was involved in that Hollywood Division robbery scandal a few years back, eminently qualified for a Board of Rights or worse. But nothing, except a transfer to Ramparts. Then all of a sudden, guy’s a born-again Christian, promoted to captain, West L.A.-” He stopped, stared at Milo, grinned like a kid on Christmas morning.
“So that’s what this is about.”
“What?” said Milo, innocently.
“Lump, you crafty badger. Gonna get that scum, aren’t you? Finally do a good deed, after all.”
24
After that, Crotty got solicitous, offering us coffee and cake, but we thanked him and declined, left him standing in the doorway, under the cowbell, surrounded by his animals.
“Feisty old guy,” I said when we were back in the car.
“Bluster,” said Milo. “He’s been pouring it on since he tested positive.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. Those pills weren’t vitamins- they’re some kind of immune strengthening regimen he got through his network. He beat hepatitis a few years back, thinks if he’s mean enough he’ll beat this too.” Pause. “That’s why I humored him.”
It took a while to turn the Seville around in the alley. When we’d gone a couple of miles on Sunset, Milo said, “Trapp. Paying off old debts to his uncle.” A moment later: “Got to find out what he’s fixing.”
“Maybe a murder made to look like suicide?”
“You keep coming back to that and wouldn’t it be nice. But where’s the evidence?”
“Belding and Magna were old hands at camouflaging murder.”
“Belding’s dead.”
“Magna lives on.”
“What? Some corporate conspiracy? The old chrome-and-glass bogeyman.”
“No,” I said, “it’s always people. It always comes down to people.”
Several blocks later he said, “The Kruse killings weren’t made to look like anything but murder.”
“Hard to do that with three bodies, so Trapp’s using the sex murder thing instead. And maybe killing Kruse wasn’t part of the plan- if Rasmussen did it, the way we theorized.”
Milo’s face got hard. We passed Vine. Hollywood was finally getting out of bed. The Cinerama Dome was showing a Spielberg movie and the lines stretched around the block. A few blocks farther it was all by- the-hour motels and jumpy-looking streetwalkers banking on loneliness and clean blood.
Milo stared at them, turned away, leaned back against the seat and said, “I could use a drink.”
“Early for me.”
“I didn’t say I
“Oh.”
When we stopped for a red light at La Cienega, he said, “What do you think of Crotty’s theory? Lanier and her brother squeezing Belding and Neurath?”
“The loop sure seemed to be setting Neurath up.”
“The loop,” he said. “Where’d those porn freaks say they got it?”
“They didn’t. Just said it was expensive.”
“I’ll bet,” he said. Then: “Let’s take a side trip, see if we can get them to be a little more forthcoming.”
I drove to Beverly Hills and turned left at Crescent. The streets were empty; people who tear down $2 million houses in order to build $5 million houses tend to stay inside to play with their toys.
We pulled up in front of the Fontaines’ green monstrosity and got out of the car.
The windows were shuttered. Empty driveway. No answer to Milo’s ring. He tried again, waited several minutes before heading back toward the car.
I said, “Last time there were four cars here. They’re not just out to brunch.”
Before he could answer, a rattling noise from the neighboring house drew our attention. A heavyset dark-haired boy of around eleven was riding his skateboard up and down the driveway, dodging between a trio of Mercedes.
Milo waved at him. The boy stopped, turned off his Walkman, and stared at us.
Milo flashed his gold badge and the kid gave his board a kick and skated our way. He turned a handle on the front gate, rolled through, and sped over.
“Hi,” said Milo. The boy peered at the badge.
