homicide in Hollywood. They had the victim's name. It was her. It was the most horrible day of my life.' 'What happened next?'
Conklin rubbed a hand on his forehead and continued. 'I learned that she had been found that morning. She — I was in shock. I couldn't believe this could have happened. I had Mittel make some inquiries but there was nothing useful coming out. Then the man who had ... introduced me to Marjorie called.' 'Johnny Fox.'
'Yes. He called and he said he had heard the police were looking for him. He said he was innocent. He threatened
me. He said if I did not protect him, he would reveal to the police that Marjorie was with me that last night. It would be the end of my career.'
'So you protected him.'
'I turned it over to Gordon. He investigated Fox's claim and confirmed his alibi. I cannot remember it now but it was confirmed. He had been in a card game or somewhere where there had been many witnesses. Since I was confident that Fox was not involved, I called the detectives assigned to the case and arranged for him to be interviewed. In order to protect Fox and thereby protect myself, Gordon and I concocted a story in which we told the detectives that Fox was a key witness in a grand jury investigation. The plan was successful. The detectives turned their attention elsewhere. At one point I spoke to one of them and he told me he believed that Marjorie was the victim of some sort of a sex killer. You see, they were quite rare back then. The detective said the outlook on the case was not good. I'm afraid that I never suspected ... Gordon. Such a horrible thing to do to an innocent person. It was right there in front of my face but I didn't see it for so long. I was a fool. A puppet.'
'You're saying that it wasn't you and that it wasn't Fox. You're saying that Mittel killed her to eliminate a threat to your political career. But that he didn't tell you. It was all his idea and he just went out and did it.'
'Yes, I say that. I told him, I told him that night when I called, I said that she meant more to me than all of the plans he had for me, that I had for myself. He said it would mean the end of my career and I accepted it. I accepted it as long as I started the next part of my life with her. I believe those minutes were the most peaceful of my life. I was in love and I had made a stand.'
He softly pounded a fist onto the bed, an impotent gesture.
'I told Mittel I didn't care what he thought the damage to my career would be. I told him we were going to move away. I didn't know where. La Jolla, San Diego, I threw a few places out. I didn't know where we were going to go but I was defiant. I was mad at him for not sharing the joy of our decision. And in doing so I provoked him, I know now, and I hastened your mother's death.'
Bosch studied him a long moment. His agony seemed sincere. Conklin's eyes looked as haunted as the portholes on a sunken ship. There was only blackness behind them. 'Did Mittel ever admit this to you?' 'No, but I knew. I guess, it was a subconscious knowledge but then something he said years later brought it out. It confirmed it in my mind. And that was the end of our relationship.'
'What did he say? When?'
'Many years later. It was at the time I was preparing for a run for attorney general. Do you believe such a charade occurred? Me the liar, the coward, the conspirator being groomed for the office of the state's top law enforcement officer. Mittel came to me one day and said that I needed to take a wife before the election year. He was that blunt about it. He said there were rumors about me that could cost me votes. I said that was preposterous and that I wouldn't take a wife just to assuage some rednecks out in Palmdale or the desert somewhere. Then he made a comment, just a flippant, offhand comment as he was leaving my office.'
He broke off to reach for the glass of water. Bosch helped him and he slowly drank. Bosch noticed the medicinal smell about him. It was horrible. It reminded him of dead people and the morgue. Bosch took the glass when Conklin was done and put it back. What was the comment?' 'As he was leaving my office, he said, and I remember it
word for word, he said, 'Sometimes I wish I hadn't saved you from that whore scandal. Maybe if I hadn't, we wouldn't have this problem now. People would know you aren't queer.' Those were his words.' Bosch just stared at him for a moment. 'It might've been just a figure of speech. He could have just meant that he had saved you from the scandal of knowing her by taking the steps to keep you out of it. It's not evidence that he killed her or had her killed. You were a prosecutor, you know that's not enough. It wasn't direct evidence of anything. Didn't you ever directly confront him?'
'No. Never. I was too intimidated by him. Gordon was becoming a powerful man. More powerful than I. So I said nothing to him. I simply dismantled my campaign and folded my tent. I left the public life and haven't spoken to Gordon Mittel since that time. More than twenty-five years.'
'You went into private practice.'
'Yes. I took up pro bono work as my self-imposed penance for what I was responsible for. I wish I could say it helped suture the wounds of my soul but it did not. I'm a helpless man, Hieronymus. So tell me, did you come here to kill me? Don't let my story dissuade you from believing I deserve it.'
The question at first startled Bosch into silence. Finally, he shook his head and spoke. '
'What about Johnny Fox? He had his hooks into you after that night.'
'Yes, he did. He was very capable as extortionists go.'
'What happened with him?'
'I was forced to hire him as a campaign employee, paying him five hundred dollars a week for practically nothing. You see what a farce my life had become? He
was killed in a hit and run before picking up his first paycheck.'
'Mittel?'
'I would assume that he was responsible, though I must admit he's a rather convenient scapegoat for all the bad deeds I've been involved in.'
'You didn't think that it was just a little too coincidental that he got killed?'
'Things are so much clearer in hindsight.' He shook his head sadly. 'At the time I remember being thrilled with my luck. The one thorn in my side had been removed by serendipity. You have to remember, at the time I had no inkling that Marjorie's death was in any way connected to me. I simply saw Fox as being a man on the make. When he was removed through the luck of an automobile mishap, I was pleased. A deal was made with a reporter to keep Fox's background on the QT and everything was fine ... But, of course, it wasn't. It never was. Gordon, genius that he was, didn't plan on me not being able to get over Marjorie. And I'm still not.' 'What about McCage?' 'Who?'
'McCage Incorporated. Your payoffs to the cop. Claude Eno.'
Conklin was quiet a moment while he composed an answer.
'Of course, I knew Claude Eno. I didn't care for him. And I never paid him a dime.'
'McCage was incorporated in Nevada. It was Eno's company. You and Mittel are both listed as corporate officers. It was a payoff scam. Eno was getting a grand a month from somewhere. You and Mittel.'
'No!' Conklin said as forcefully as he could. The word came out as little more than a cough. 'I don't know about McCage. Gordon could have set it up, even signed for me
or made me sign unwittingly. As district attorney he took care of things for me. I signed when he told me to sign.' He said it while looking directly at Bosch and Harry believed him. Conklin had admitted to far worse deeds. Why would he lie about paying off Eno?
'What did Mittel do when you folded your tent, when you told him you were through?'
'By then he was already quite powerful. Politically. His law firm represented the city's upper tier and his political work was branching out, growing. Still, I was the centerpiece. The plan was to take the attorney general's office and then the governor's mansion. Who knows what after that. So Gordon ... he was unhappy. I refused to see him but we talked on the phone. When he could not convince me to change my mind, he threatened me.'
'How?'
'He told me that if I ever attempted to assault his reputation, he would see to it that I was indicted for Marjorie's death. And I had no doubt that he could have done it.'
'From best man to greatest enemy. How'd you ever get
hooked up with him?'
'I guess he slipped in the door while I wasn't looking. I never saw the real face until it was too late ... I don't think in my life I've come across anyone as cunningly focused as Gordon. He was — is — a dangerous man. I'm sorry I ever brought your mother into his path.'
