by James Ellroy
The sense of inevitability dug in like spurs and drove him down to the fourth-floor computer room, where he had the programmer feed in queries on white/Mexican stickup teams and their current dispositions, male Mexicans with both armed robbery and sex offense convictions, and known and suspected gangland armorers. The results came back in twenty minutes—a printout of forty names and criminal records. The first two categories were washouts; the twelve white/Mexican heist teams all had at least two members currently in prison, and the nine Mexican armed robber/sex offenders were all men aged forty-eight to sixty-one. Lloyd took the list of gun dealers up to his cubicle and read through the twenty-one names and criminal records, immediately dismissing the blacks—Latin and black hoodlums hated each other like poison. This eliminated thirteen names, and the printout showed that four of the eight men remaining were in county jail and state prison on various charges. He wrote down the four names that were left: Mark McGuire,
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Vincent Gisalfi, Luis Calderon and Leon Mazmanian, then called his most trusted snitch and gave him the names, an outline of the Hawley/
Issler case and the promise of a C-note for hard info. The shit work completed, he looked out his window at the rain and wondered what Janice was doing. Then he balled his bad hand into a fist, checking the gauze for seepage. Seeing none, he pulled off the bandage and dressing and tossed it into the wastebasket.
10
Joe Garcia woke up on the morning of his second strong-arm assault and found himself eyeball to eyeball with another flattened .45 slug, this one mounted on mattress stuffing that had popped out of his Sealy Posturepedic while he slept. Rolling onto his back, he saw the lumber the workmen had stacked for the reconstruction of his bedroom wall and added the spent piece of metal to the ones he’d already dug out of his clothes and books and records. Eleven. Bobby had shot off both guns, a total of fourteen rounds. A stack of his sci-fi paperbacks, his Pendletons and all of his old Buddy Holly records got wasted, and three of the little cocksuckers were still hiding, waiting to tell him that even though he had almost two grand in his kick and Bobby was paying for the damage, he was thirty-one and going nowhere. Figure today’s score as ten times the money in a ten times more dangerous plan, and he was going nowhere rich. Then Bobby would talk him into some sleazoid quick-bucks scam, and he’d be going nowhere broke. Pushing himself out of bed, Joe felt shivers at his back and nailed the source: two days ago he became a righteous hardball criminal. If he was going nowhere, at least he was doing it in style. Then his eyes caught the silencered handgun on top of his dresser, and the source nailed him, turning his knees to rubber. He was an hour away from committing felonies that could send him to prison for the rest of his life or have him shot on sight. The one good line from his longtime “epic”
song supplied the final nail and made his arms shake like Jell-O: “. . . and death was a thrill on Suicide Hill.”
Joe fought the shakes by thinking of Bobby, knowing he’d get pissed or de-514
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pressed or grateful if he kept running riffs on him. While he dressed he remembered growing up in Lincoln Heights and how Bobby held him when the old man came home juiced and looking for things to hit; how he tied him to his bed so he could go out and play without him; how all the neighbors despised their family because only two kids meant they were bad Catholics, and how Bobby beat up the kids who said they were really Jews in disguise. Bobby saved his ass then, but when Father Chacon talked the old lady into trying for more rug rats against doctor’s advice and she died in childbirth, Bobby kicked the shit out of him when he called the dippy old priest a puto. And Bobby carried him through burglary and jail; and Bobby spit on his dreams; and he could split from him, but he had to stay in L.A. for the music biz, and if he stayed in L.A., Bobby would find him and Bobby would need him, because without him Bobby was a one-way ticket to the locked ward at Atascadero.
The rundown calmed Joe to the point where he could shave, and dress in his camouflage outfit of business suit and shiny black shoes. But when he stuck the .45 into his belt, the shakes returned. This time he fought them with pictures of 10K worth of guitars, amps and recording equipment. It worked until Bobby jumped into the doorway, his arms raised like the Wolfman, growling, “Let’s go, pendejo. I’m hunnnnggry.”
*
*
*
The brothers drove to their target.
At Studio and Gage they parked and fed two hours’ worth of coins to the meter, then walked the three blocks north to Hildebrand. Street traffic was scarce, pedestrian traffic nonexistent. At 8:17 they came up on Christine Confrey’s ranch-style house, her red Toyota parked in the driveway. Bobby said, “Walk like you’re the landlord”; Joe whispered, “Be ultra frosty.” Bobby grinned. “Now, little brother.”
They took the driveway straight to the back door. Joe looked for witnesses while Bobby took a metal ruler from his jacket pocket and slipped it between the door and doorjamb and pushed up. The catch snapped, and they entered into a tiny room filled with folding lawn chairs. Joe reset the latch and felt his sweat go ice-cold at the moment of B&E terror: if they were seen, it was over.
Bobby eyed the door to the house proper and picked a soiled towel up off the floor; Joe slipped a length of nylon cord from his back pocket, then watched his brother’s lips do a silent countdown. At “5” they donned their ski masks and gloves; at “1” they moved, pushing through the door at a fast walk.
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The connecting hallway was still. Joe heard music coming from a door at the far left end and took that side of the hall, knowing part of his watchdog job was to be the one who grabbed the girl. As the music grew louder, he pressed himself to the wall; when the music drowned out the slamming of his heart, he leaped through the open door and jumped on the woman who was standing with one foot on the bathtub ledge, poising a razor over her leg. The woman screamed as Joe’s arms went around her; the razor gouged a section of calf. Bobby elbowed his way into the bathroom and wrapped the towel over her head, stuffing a large wad of it into her mouth, stifling her screams. Joe fumbled her robe into her breasts so they wouldn’t stick out, then circled the cord around her, pressing her arms to her sides. When he got it tied, he lifted her off the floor, kicking and flailing, still tightly grasping the razor. He whispered, “Sssh, sssh, sssh. We’re not going to hurt you. We just want money. We just want money.”
Bobby got out his roll of tape and pulled a long piece loose, then withdrew the towel. The woman let out a short screech before he was able to loop the tape around her head and press it to her mouth. When he saw the terror in her eyes, his whole body started to twitch, and he whispered, “Get her fucking calmed down.”
Joe loosened his grip on the woman as Bobby stumbled out of the bathroom. With one hand he took out his .45 and held it in front of her; with the other he smoothed her disheveled hair. “Sssh. Sssh. We’re not going to hurt you. This is a robbery. It’s got to do with you and your boyfriend Eggers. You have to do two things: you have to not be scared, but you have to act scared when the phone rings and you talk to your boyfriend. My buddy’s a crazy man, but I can control him. Be cool and you won’t get hurt. ”
Christine Confrey’s tremors decelerated just a notch; Joe could feel her thinking. When she dropped the razor, he relaxed his grip and steered her into the hallway. Bobby was there, leaning against the wall, giving the thumbs-up sign. “The phone is gonna ring real soon,” he giggled. Joe nodded and moved Christine into the bedroom, motioning Bobby to stay out. He noticed the phone on a nightstand; it had the look of something about to explode. When it rang shrilly, he looked into his captive’s eyes. “Just be cool, ” he whispered, gently pulling the tape from her mouth. He picked up the phone on the fifth ring and said, “Eggers?” getting a
“Y-yes, Chrissy. P-please p-put her on.” Nodding at Christine and holding up the .45 for her to see, he handed the receiver over. She grasp
ed it with shaking hands and tried to form words. Joe fought a 516
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desire to smooth her hair. Finally her voice caught: “John, there’s these two men here. They’ve got guns and they say that all they want is money.” She watched Joe stroke the barrel of his .45, and her voice accelerated: “Please, John, goddammit. Don’t be fucking cheap—do whatever they tell you to do or they’ll kill me. They—”
Joe grabbed the phone and put his free hand over Christine’s mouth. He said, “Got it, Eggers?” and got “Yes, you animal” in return. Joe said, “Just do what our friend says,” then hung up.
Christine Confrey twisted her head free and said, “Now what?” Joe thought of tire-squealing black-and-whites and shotgun-wielding fuzz.
“Now we wait,” he said. “An hour tops. Then we get another call, and we tape your mouth and you never see us again.”
“You’re a slimy piece of Mexican shit,” Christine Confrey replied. Joe caught himself starting to nod in agreement, but said instead, “Be cool.” His face began sweating beneath the ski mask. It felt like a shroud. They waited in silence, Christine sitting on the bed, Joe standing by the bedroom door, looking at his watch and listening to Bobby giggle as he prowled the house. It felt like he had two senses, both of them working toward something bad. After thirty-two minutes of scoping out the Timex, Bobby’s giggles exploded into a big burst of laughter. Then the door pushed open, and the ski-masked loony was there, a magazine in his hands, growling, “Check the skin book, homeboy. Righteous hairpie. ”
Christine pointed to the magazine Bobby was waving, hyperventilating, then getting out: “I-I-I was nineteen! I needed the money and I only kept it because John likes to see what I was like then and I—”
Joe moved to the bed and wrapped the discarded section of tape around Christine’s mouth. Bobby was at his back, holding the copy of Beaverooney open, jabbing his right forefinger at the pictures inside. “Dig it, bro! Is this bitch fine as wine, or am I woofin’! Dig it!”
To placate Bobby, Joe glanced at the legs-apart nude spread. “Yeah, but just maintain. Main-fucking-tain. ”
Bobby shoved him aside and sat down on the edge of the bed. Christine strained against the cord and tape, kicking her legs in an effort to propel herself away, working her lips trying to scream. A stream of urine stained the front of her robe and trickled down her thighs. Bobby squealed, “Righteous,” and grabbed both her ankles with his left hand and held them to the bed, while his right hand hovered over her pelvis in a parody of a shark about to attack. He grunted, “Duhn-duhn-duhn-duhn,” and Joe recognized
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it as the theme from Jaws. Bobby’s shark hand did slow figure eights; Bobby himself whispered, “We reconned you good, baby, but I didn’t pick up on how fine you are. Fine as wine. I’m the Sharkman, baby. Duhn-duhn-duhnduhn. I give righteous fin and even better snout.”
Joe whimpered, “No, no, no,” as Bobby stuck his tongue through the hole in his ski mask and lowered his head; when his mouth made contact with Christine’s leg, he shrieked, “No, you fucking rape-o, no!”
The phone rang.
Bobby jerked his head up as Joe moved toward the nightstand. He pulled the .45 from his waistband and aimed it straight between his brother’s eyes.
“Let it ring, puto. The shark wants to give some snout, and no candy ass watchdog is gonna stop him.”
Joe backed into the wall; the phone rang another six times, then stopped. Bobby giggled and started making slurping noises. Christine squeezed her eyes shut and tried to bring her hands together in prayer. Joe shut his own eyes, and when he heard Bobby titter, “Shark goin’ down,” he stumbled out of the bedroom, picturing tear gas and choppers and death. Then there was a crashing sound from the rear of the house. Joe opened his eyes and saw Duane Rice running down the hallway holding a briefcase and the .45, no ski mask and no beard disguise on. The house went silent, then Bobby’s “Sharkman, Sharkman,” reverberated like thunder. Rice crashed into the bedroom, and Joe heard a sound he’d never heard before: Bobby squealing in terror.
He ran to the bedroom door and looked in. Rice had Bobby on the floor and was slamming punches at his midsection. Christine Confrey was still on the bed, trying to scream. Her robe was pulled up over her stomach and her panties were curled around her ankles. Joe ran to the bed and pulled down the robe, then grabbed Duane Rice’s shoulders and screamed, “Don’t!
Don’t! You’ll kill him!”
Rice’s head and fists jerked back at the same instant, and he twisted to look up at the voice. Joe said, “Please, ” and Rice weaved to his feet and gasped, “Get the briefcase.”
Bobby moaned and curled into a ball; Christine tried to bury her head in the bed sheets. Rice felt the throbbing redness that was devouring him ease down. When Joe came back holding the briefcase, he pinned his shoulders to the wall and hissed, “You listen to this and we’ll survive. Get psycho out of here and run herd on him like you never did before. Tie the woman up 518
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even better and don’t let that piece of shit near her. If I find out he even touched her again, I’ll kill him. Do you believe me?”
Joe nodded and said, “Yes.” Rice released him, opened the briefcase and started extracting handfuls of money, dropping them on the bed. When the briefcase was half empty, he pointed to the pile and said, “Your share. I’ll call you tonight. I trust you for some reason, so you take care of him.”
Joe looked at the wads of cash covering the crumpled sheets and Christine Confrey’s legs, then looked down at Bobby, slowly rising to his knees. He turned around for sight of Duane Rice, but he was already gone.
*
*
*
Rice forced himself to walk slowly to the Trans Am, parked a block from Christine Confrey’s house. He swung the briefcase like Mr. Square Citizen and wondered how good a look the woman got at his face, and why for a split second her face looked just like Vandy’s. Then he remembered how at their first meeting Joe Garcia had called his brother a rape-o and how it didn’t register as anything but jive. Eggers was angel dust pie, but it was Bobby Boogaloo who put them inches away from the shithouse. After stashing the briefcase in the trunk, Rice drove down Gage to Studio, and at the corner saw the Garcias’ ’77 Camaro parked at the curb. He pulled into a liquor store lot across the street to observe the brothers’ getaway and see if the fuzz approached the Confrey pad. If no black-and-whites descended and Joe and the rape-o looked good, they were clear, and Pico and Westholme was still a possible.
He thought of the score, of the sheer audacity of trashing Eggers’s sterile Colonial crib and the look on his face when he showed him the knives he’d stolen and said, “Christine Confrey, chop, chop. Your prints. You know what I want. ” The look got better as the heist progressed, the bank man realizing there was no way out except to obey. Even though the take was probably only 12K tops, it was twice the amount of the first job—a good omen, and a better appetite whetter.
After ten minutes, no patrol cars or unmarked cruisers appeared, and he could see straight up Gage and tell that the house was still undisturbed. His hands throbbed from whomping Bobby Garcia, and he gripped the steering wheel to control the pain. After twenty minutes, the Garcias swung onto Studio Boulevard from a block east of Gage, walking two abreast with shopping bags partially shielding their faces. Bobby was limping, probably from abdominal pain, and Joe was talking him through the whole scene, more like a daddy than a kid brother. Rice smiled as they got in their Camaro and
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drove off. For a cowardly tagalong criminal, Joe Garcia had balls. If he could control the rape-o’s balls for three hours, he’d make Pico and Westholme happen. When he got “home” to the Holiday Inn, Rice changed from his bank robber suit into a new shirt-Levi combo and counted the proceeds of the Eggers/Confrey job. His half of the haphazardly split take came to
$5,115.00. Fondling the
money felt obscene, and he remembered what a soft-hearted old bull at Soledad told him: don’t fuck whores, because then all women start looking like whores. He remembered Christine Confrey’s terrified face and wondered if you loved a woman, then did all women start looking like her? Even though Christine and Vandy were physical opposites, their resemblance was weird. Rice looked at the phone and flashed on an idea to call the fuzz and tip them to Christine, then double-flashed on it as suicide and dialed Louie Calderon’s bootleg number.
Louie picked up on the first ring. “Talk to me.”
“It’s Duane. Got any messages for me?”
“Duane the Brain. How’s it hangin’?”
“A hard yard. Any calls?”
“Yeah. If a nigger and a Mexican jump off the top of the Occidental Building at the same time, who hits the ground first?”
“Jesus, Louie. Who?”
“The nigger, ’cause the Mexican’s gotta stop on the way down and spray his name on the wall!” Louie went into a laughing attack, then recovered and said, “I thought it was funny, and I’m a fuckin’ Mexican. Got a pencil?”
“I can remember it. Shoot.”
“Okay. Call Rhonda—654-8996. Sexed-out voice, Duane, really fine.”
Rice said, “Yeah” and hung up, then dialed Rhonda’s number. After six rings, the hooking stockbroker’s sleepy voice came on the line. “Yes?”