I got him on the fifth ring.
“Walt, it’s Leo. I saw the piece and I’ve talked to Darla about it. She says it’s all a crock. That Stephanie had her kid with her while she was working. I think that the drug setup was a way to taint Darla if she came out and disputed the story. She may be the only person who saw her and the kid together during the time she worked. The bust doesn’t even have to stand to compromise her as a witness. It’s a very cheap insurance policy. All this is speculation, but it hangs together and in your hands would generate the requisite level of doubt. What do you think?”
“You’re right. I don’t have to prove my case, just cast doubt on theirs, and this helps substantially.”
“I’ve saved the best part for last. She found a photograph of her, Sasha Alexander, and her baby at a cast party while she was working.”
Walt made a gurgling noise. “What’s that?” I asked.
“The USS Steinmetz taking water fast, direct hit amidships. Once we get her back there and get the fugitive thing taken care of, I’ll approach him with this little gem. If the complainant refuses to testify, that puts a real crimp in the state’s case. If they compel her, she’s in a bad place. She lies and we release the photograph. She recants and she’s perjured herself. She signed that affidavit under oath. My guess is they’d drop the charges. You and she should go celebrate, this is excellent news.”
“One thing still bothers me though. Bellicosi’s fairy tale. What was that all about? It doesn’t seem related to the bust.”
“I don’t know, Leo. Steinmetz doesn’t need a trial for his purposes. The arrest will do.”
“Okay. Let’s add something else to the mix. Darla says a guy came to her, claimed he could get the charges dropped if she made a porno flick for him in Mexico.”
Walt grunted. “Hmm. Somebody’s got the D.A. doing ’em favors. Did Darla do the film?”
“No. It didn’t pass her smell test. She disappeared and came here.”
“And Bellicosi, who’s in the D.A.’s office, lies to you so he can get her back in L.A. No, I don’t think so. You stay put with Darla. I’m going to put the screws to Steinmetz, get Mitchell to withdraw her affidavit. There’s not going to be a drug bust. Then I’ll deal with the D.A. about the fugitive charge. The potential stink of an ethics inquiry should convince them to drop that one too. She’ll be free and clear.”
“Great. We’ll wait to hear from you.” I hung up the phone.
“So?” she said.
“Walt says it’s a walkover. He’s going to get them to drop all the charges. You’ll be a free woman. You can do what you want. Go where you want. He’ll call as soon as he’s got it worked out. What do you say?”
“All right. That’s great.” She looked around the room. “I guess I should pack up. Get ready to blow this Popsicle stand. Shit. I left some really nice stuff behind when I split.” She shook her head. “When I zapped that guy with the hairspray, I left with the clothes on my back and a smuggler’s bag, and I’d have dumped that if he’d chased me. Now I wish I had everything back and I’m pissed at what I lost.”
“What about Ellen Piersall? You going to tell her where you’re going and why?”
“You know, Haggerty, you’re a real pain in the butt. Can I fire you now?”
“You can fire me anytime you want.”
“I hate good-byes. I’m not good at them. The first one, I was desperate. I had to leave. This one, shit, I don’t have to leave. I could stay here. But I don’t want to. I wouldn’t have left California if I didn’t have to. She’ll never understand. She gave me everything I wanted. I didn’t have to do anything. Just make her happy. God, that was easy enough to do. She’d just about start crying watching me walk around the bedroom. She couldn’t believe I was with her, all hers.”
“So why go back?”
She looked straight at me, lips compressed, brow furrowed. I was being assayed.
“Is this your version of ‘What’s a nice girl like you …’” she singsonged.
“Are you a nice girl? I don’t know you from squat. All I asked was what was back there for you. Ellen Piersall offered you a sweet deal. It’s my last act on your behalf. Think about how you leave people, it makes a difference. Let me tell you, I know.”
My face was starting to fracture. “Forget it. Do what you want to. Tomorrow you should call Walt and find out what he wants you to do. I’ll have somebody stay with you until then.” I brushed off an imaginary bug while I spoke.
I turned away and headed for the door. On my way out I said, “Thanks for the dinner.”
In my room I went around tossing things into my bag. I’d check out, settle my bill, and be back in my place in thirty minutes. Tomorrow Walt could set Darla on her way and this case would be closed. Amen, Lord.
She was pounding on my door. “Haggerty, open up.” I continued packing, turned off the lights, and did just that.
Darla blocked the doorway.
“You gonna let me by?” I said evenly.
“No. I want to talk to you.”
“Get out of the way.”
“No.”
“Darla, if you don’t get out of the way, I’m just going to sweep you out of the way, and I don’t care where you land.”
She checked my eyes for a bluff. “Okay, I’ll hire you again. I’ve got a dollar in my room.”
“Doesn’t work that way. New rate is eight hundred dollars a day.” I hooked an arm around her chest and backhanded her out of the doorway.
The motel office was at the far end of the wing. I started toward it.
“Oh, Christ, Haggerty, all right. You’re right. Is that what you want? You’re right. I do have to do something about Ellen.”
I turned back. “So what do you want from me?”
She threw her hands up and paced back and forth. “I don’t know. I just need to get it straight in my head, what I’m doing and why and how to tell her.”
I stood there. Walk away, I told myself. You need to get involved with other people like you need hemorrhoids. You did your job, you were successful. That’s that. In and out, no muss, no fuss. You don’t know jack-shit about this woman. Leave it at that. Then why’d you ask the questions, you dumbshit? You started it. Learn to walk away. You’ll last longer that way.
“Haggerty, I just need to talk it out with somebody. I just need you to listen. You can do that much, can’t you?”
Hags, there’s no way out, only through. You can go through as a bitter, lonely old man or you can try to go through with some grace.
“Actually I can’t. But maybe I can learn.”
Darla waited until I came up alongside her.
“Thanks. Anyway we didn’t have dessert.”
“Can’t end a meal like that. What was dessert again?”
“Some biscotti, hard almond cookies. They’re great for dunking, and I had some coffee specially ground with cocoa and orange zest.”
“Sounds good.”
I pushed open the door for her and took my seat while she put the coffee in a filter, poured water into the maker, and turned it on.
“So where were we?” I said. “I asked you why go back? You wanted to know if I was wondering what’s a nice girl like you doing …”
“Fucking for a living.”
“I wasn’t judging you. She’s offering you a sweet deal. Before you turn your back on it, just be clear why you’re doing it.”
“She is, but it’s not what I want. I don’t love her. I’m not ready to settle down with one person. She knew that. I’d go out on her now and then. I’d have done it more often, except I felt bad about her keeping me, paying my way. She’d just get hurt if it went on that way. I don’t need that shit, that hang-dog look when you come in, like it’s okay, I accept you, but you’re killing me. Besides, I wasn’t ready to quit yet.”
“When would you be?”
“I don’t know. Life in the bone zone has its ups and downs. You have good days and not-so-good days. You put in ten minutes shellackin
g some guy’s lumber. Your lips are numb and you’ve got lockjaw and the tech yells ‘changing tape.’ Or you’re ready to come and your partner’s got a balsawood baton and the stunt cock has termites. Real exciting. That’s why I was doing fewer tapes. When I started out it was real exciting. I was doing things I’d never done before. Getting turned on every day. Being watched was a turn-on, not something to block out. But it was starting to get stale. I watched what was happening to the other girls. One tape after another. The same scenes over and over again. Christ, you guys have the most limited imaginations. Blow job, girl-girl, a threesome king high, maybe a sandwich or an anal for dessert. I didn’t get into this business to be bored to death. There’s damn few people with any imagination, that do anything new. Great sex is in the mind. You imagine what turns you on, something intense and new, and you do it. The body’s just a tool for your imagination.
“I got into the business because sex was the most interesting thing I’d ever done. When I was sixteen I got a job as a waitress at the country club near my house. There were all these guys there who could fire my dad in a heartbeat. Rich men, powerful men, married men. I’d walk through the room twitching my little butt and you could hear their hearts racing. They couldn’t take their eyes off of me. They’d get this stupid look on their faces, like they were imagining me without my clothes on. I liked the way they watched me. It turned me on. I wasn’t a sixteen-year-old kid from the wrong end of town. I was a sweet young thing they wanted. Bad. They’d risk their reputations, marriages, everything. That was when I first realized how much power I had. Pussy power. If you ask me, sex is the great equalizer.”
“How’d you go from that to being Fantasia? I’d think most teenage girls would know that feeling.”
“Maybe they know the feeling but it scares them. Sex never scared me. I used to listen to the wives in the locker rooms all sit around and bitch about what lousy lays their husbands were and what tight buns the tennis pro had. Everybody wanted great sex and they weren’t getting it.
“The first guy I fucked was the tennis pro. He had great buns. I don’t know how great the sex was at first, but when I got the hang of it I knew what everybody was talking about. It was the most interesting thing in my life. The most fun. I couldn’t figure out why people spent their time doing anything else. I felt like I had been living in black and white and all of a sudden I was in full color. Nothing else did that for me.
“I got tuned into the power I had to turn people on. That was a major rush. I wanted that feeling whenever I could get it. The guys I went out with liked it at first, but then they wanted me to turn it off except when I was with them. No thank you. I had this great new body and I wanted to use it. A lot. You know the rest. I was called a slut by everybody I wouldn’t fuck.
“I was attracted to women all along, but for a long time that was more than I could deal with. Everybody wanted to put my sex drive into little boxes that they had built. Don’t do it at all. Don’t enjoy it, it’s a sacred duty. Don’t do it except with me. Don’t do it except this way. I wasn’t going to let anybody put me in a box. If I didn’t want to do something it would be because I tried it and it wasn’t me.
“So I went to L.A. when I turned eighteen. I enrolled in Fuck U. and took all the courses I could. I had my first lesbian experiences in the tapes I was making. It was where I learned to be comfortable with that piece of my sexuality. Hell, I don’t know if you guys realize how many of the girls that you think are so hot are gay. It’s easier to act wild in the scenes because the whole thing is an act. That’s the only cock they ever see. I’m bisexual but mostly I prefer sex with women. It’s more satisfying to me. Guys in general are lousy lovers. For me, it’s like wanting a steak. Mostly I’m a vegetarian, but every so often I get a real craving for a piece of steak, so I go out, get a good one, enjoy it, and it goes away. Men are kind of like that. They’re attractive to me and I enjoy sex with them, but not on a regular basis.”
“Is that where Ellen fits in?”
“I guess. I picked her up in a bar. She was one of those women who hasn’t really been able to accept her sexuality. She could say she was gay but she still felt bad about it. I think I was a real turn-on to her. I was sexy and proud of it.
“Frankly, she looked like she had plenty of money and she offered to have me move in right away. She was just what I needed. A sugar mama to take care of me. At first it was just until the doctor was satisfied with my recovery and I had the new identity in place. Then I was going to start saving money, but I didn’t have to, she gave me all I needed. More than I needed. I started to get pretty comfortable there.”
“How long would you have stayed?”
“I don’t know. I’d started to get used to the idea that I wasn’t going to be a performer any more. I wasn’t ready to quit but that was over. I wasn’t in love with Ellen but I don’t think she needed me to be. I’d have probably stayed until she wanted more from me or I got bored. But I was pretty comfortable.”
“If things were so cushy, how’d you get hooked up with Frohmeyer?”
“He made it worth my while. Time was running out for him in November, I think. In October I filed Ellen’s address for my driver’s license. I guess he was making one last desperate search and found me.”
“Did he offer you a percentage deal or just a flat figure?”
“He told me he knew of some money that was due me and if I signed over a release for seventy percent to him he’d tell me where the money was.”
“He must have thought you were legit and could demand to have an accounting of the estate.”
“I guess. Anyway, I told him that since it was my money I’d take ninety percent or he could have a hundred percent of nothing.”
“He took that deal?”
“I played hardball. Might have been my best acting job ever. I told him the money would never be his but I just might find it without him now that I knew there was something to look for. I figured a ten percent finders fee was reasonable. That was what my agent in L.A. took.
“We settled on a seventy-thirty split my way. Four hundred and twenty thousand dollars was definitely worth my while. I wouldn’t have to work, I could find a place to settle down and disappear in comfort. If I wanted a relationship I could choose who with and what kind. I guess it wasn’t meant to be.
“Now that I can go back, I know that I wasn’t ready to quit. Not yet. I liked being able to turn people on. I wasn’t over that rush yet. And there’s so much sweet pussy coming in every day.” She shrugged her shoulders. “That’s who I am. Take it or leave it.”
“So what about Ellen? You going to tell her this?”
“I don’t know. Why should I? She’ll just be hurt.”
“She’s already hurt. Telling her why you’re going, how you feel about it, what she’s losing you to, that won’t spare her the hurt, but it may help her to get over it without being too twisted. You leave somebody in the dark they get funny ideas, learn the wrong lessons. You want to make memories, you said, well, here’s your chance. You lived together for what, six months? Your good-bye will stay with her forever. Believe me, I know what I’m talking about.”
Darla slumped forward, picking at the pillow case. “All right. I’ll do it. I’ll call her and talk to her. If she wants to see me, do you mind giving me a lift?”
“Not at all.” I sat down to wait while Darla called Ellen. Maybe I should call Sam. Tell her she gives lousy farewell. Maybe not. I still had one plank left on my raft of hope. No need to sink it yet.
Darla put the phone down. “I’m going over to see her. I’ll probably spend the night. Will you call me when Walt has things fixed up?”
“Sure. I’ll go check us out. See you at the car.”
Darla was tossing stuff into her bags when I left. I paid for the rooms, went to my car, put my bag in the backseat, turned on the car, and listened to the radio while I waited.
Darla hauled her bags over to the car, tossed them inside, and slammed the d
oor. Twenty minutes later I dropped her off at Ellen Piersall’s McLean home. The front light was on and when I pulled into the driveway, Ellen opened the front door and came out on the porch. Darla took out her bags, shut the door, and leaned in the window.
“Thanks for everything. You know, I started out hating you. You were really fucking up my life. Now I’m going back to California and I’ll be free to do what I want. I don’t have to hide and I owe it all to you. These are strange days. If you ever come out to L.A., look me up. I have some friends that love older men. Thanks again.”
She waved good-bye and marched up the driveway to the house. When I pulled away Ellen Piersall was holding her tightly and stroking her.
I was in no hurry to leave. I had a date for solitaire with Rosy Palm and her Five Daughters.
CHAPTER 26
It was afternoon when Walt got hold of me. I was adrift in Clive McNair’s theories about madness and its treatment. He inverted almost everything I had ever heard. It was like reading the Queen of Hearts’ translation of Freud.
Kelly buzzed Walt through and I was ready for a break.
“Leo, Walt. I’ve been in touch with Steinmetz and the D.A.’s office. Mitchell has withdrawn her affidavit. No more drug bust. I told him we wouldn’t expose her past. We’re drawing up a live-and-let-live agreement. The D.A. is another matter. He wants her to return to L.A. and agree to be deposed for an internal investigation. In return for her cooperation he’ll waive the fugitive charge. I think it’s a good deal. They aren’t acting like they’re out to get her. She has to go back with one of their people, but after the deposition tomorrow, she’s free of all charges.”
“Who’s coming for her?”
“A guy named Melrose, Burton Melrose. He’s on a plane already. He’ll be here to pick her up about six-thirty tonight. Then he’ll turn right around and take the eight-ten back. He’s going to take custody of her here at my office.”
“Fine. I’ll let her know and make sure she gets there.”
“Come a little early. We need to discuss a retainer for what we’ve already done and the deposition. One last thing, Leo. The photograph she has. I don’t want that to return with her. Have her bring it with her and we’ll keep it in the safe here.”
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