The Cold Six Thousand (24 page)
Read The Cold Six Thousand Online
Authors: James Ellroy
They schmoozed. They jumped the crime-scene rope. Wayne’s car was gone. The Buick was cut into scrap.
The cop taped a body—white tape on cement. Pete aimed the .45.
He popped six shots. He nailed a tree. He grabbed the slugs. He gauged trajectories. He dropped the slugs. He chalked them. The cop took pix.
Pete spritzed the body tape. Pete watched the blood dry. The cop took pix.
They drove to the shack. They jumped the crime-scene rope. The cop taped two bodies. The cop spritzed the tape.
Pete shot the .38. Pete popped four rounds. Pete hit the walls and dug the slugs out. The cop bagged them. The cop lab-logged them. The cop took pix.
They drove to the County Morgue. The cop greased the attendant geek. Said geek had three fish. Said fish reposed on three trays.
Leroy had no head. Leroy wore a dashiki. The cop pulled a sap. The cop broke Leroy’s right hand. The cop flexed the fingers free.
Pete rolled the fingertips. Pete smudged the magnum. Pete laid two butt spreads.
Curtis was stiff. Otis was stiff. They wore Dodger T-shirts and morgue sheets.
Pete squeezed their hands. Pete broke their fingers. Pete flexed the tips. The cop rolled prints—barrel spreads—the cop rolled the .45 and .38.
The stiffs stunk of morgue rouge and sawdust. Pete coughed and sneezed.
Ward set it up. We’ll meet at Wilt’s Diner—it’s out near Davis Dam.
They showed early. They grabbed a booth. They cleared table space and sipped coffee. Ward propped the bag up. Tabletop center—
très
hard to miss.
Dwight Holly showed. Punctual—2:00 p.m. straight.
He parked his car. He looked through the window glass. He saw them and walked straight in.
Pete made room. Holly sat beside him. Holly eyeballed the bag.
“What’s that?”
Pete said, “Christmas.”
Holly made the jack-off sign. Holly spread out.
He stretched. He made elbow room. He hard-nudged Pete.
He coughed. “I caught the fucking Tedrow kid’s bug.”
Ward smiled. “Thanks for coming out.”
Holly tugged his cuff links. “Who’s the big guy? The Wild Man of Borneo?”
Pete laughed. Pete slapped his knees.
Ward sipped coffee. “Have you spoken to the U.S. Attor—”
“He called me. He said Mr. Hoover told him not to file on the kid. I think Wayne Senior interceded, and I hope you didn’t run me out here to gloat.”
Ward tapped the bag. “Congratulations.”
“For
what
? The investigation your client fucked up?”
“You must have talked to the U.S. Attorney
yesterday
.”
Holly tugged his law-school ring. “You’re stringing me, Ward. You’re reminding me why I never liked you.”
Ward stirred his coffee. “You’re the new Chief Investigator for the Southern Nevada Office. Mr. Hoover told me this morning.”
Holly tugged his ring. It fell off. It hit the floor. It traveled.
Ward smiled. “We want to make friends in Nevada.”
Pete smiled. “You took down Leroy Williams and the Swasey brothers. They were out on bail when Wayne killed them.”
Ward tapped the bag. “The reports have been predated. You’ll be reading about it.”
Pete tapped the bag. “It’s a white Christmas.”
Holly grabbed the bag. Holly grabbed a steak knife. Holly stabbed one brick. Holly dipped one finger.
He licked it. He tasted it. He got the Big “H” bite.
“You convinced me. But I’m not done with the kid, and I don’t care who he’s got on his side.”
DOCUMENT INSERT
: 1/23/64. Las Vegas
Sun
article.
NARCOTICS LINK TO NEGRO KILLINGS REVEALED
At a joint news conference, spokesmen for the Las Vegas Police Department and the Southern Nevada District of the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced that Leroy Williams and Otis and Curtis Swasey, the three Negro men killed on the night of January 15th, had been recently arrested by agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and were out on bail at the time of their deaths.
“The three men had been the focus of a long-term investigation,” Agent Dwight C. Holly said. “They had been selling large quantities of heroin in nearby cities and were preparing to sell it in Las Vegas. They were apprehended in the early morning hours of January 9th, and three kilos (6½ pounds) of heroin were seized at their residence in West Las Vegas. Williams and the Swasey brothers made bail on the afternoon of January 13th and returned to their residence.”
Captain Robert Gilstrap of the LVPD went on to clarify events on the night of January 15th. “Newspaper reporters and local television commentators have assumed that the three men killed that night were killed by LVPD Sergeant Wayne Tedrow Jr. as revenge for the murder of his wife, Lynette, who was raped and killed, presumably by a male Negro named Wendell Durfee,” he said. “This is not the case. Durfee was a known associate of Williams and the Swasey brothers, and the brothers paid him to kill Mrs. Tedrow. What has not been revealed until now is that Mrs. Tedrow’s death postdated the deaths of Williams and the Swasey brothers and that Sergeant Tedrow, as part of a combined LVPD-Narcotics Bureau operation, had Williams and the Swasey brothers under constant surveillance in an effort to insure that they did not abscond on their bail.”
“Sergeant Tedrow heard a ruckus inside their residence, late on the evening of January 15th,” Agent Holly said. “He investigated and was fired upon by the Swasey brothers. No shots were heard, because both men fired silencer-fitted pistols. Sergeant Tedrow managed to disable both men and killed them with makeshift weapons he found on the premises. Leroy Williams entered the
residence at that time. Sergeant Tedrow chased him to an automobile dump on Tonopah Highway and exchanged gunfire with him. Williams died in the process.”
Agent Holly and Captain Gilstrap displayed photographic evidence compiled at both death scenes. Mr. Randall J. Merrins of the U.S. Attorney’s Office went on to say that it had been assumed that Sergeant Tedrow was being kept in custody while possible homicide charges against him were being discussed and prepared.
“This is not the case,” Merrins said. “Sergeant Tedrow was held for his own safety. We were afraid of reprisals from other unknown members of the Williams-Swasey dope gang.”
Sergeant Tedrow, 29, could not be reached for comment. Mrs. Tedrow’s presumed slayer, Wendell Durfee, was identified by fingerprints and other physical evidence found in the Tedrow home. Durfee is now the subject of a nationwide all-points bulletin and is also wanted by Texas authorities for the November 1963 disappearance of Dallas Police Officer Maynard D. Moore.
Agent Holly’s long pursuit of the Swasey brothers and Leroy Williams was praised by Assistant U.S. Attorney Merrins, who announced that Holly, 47, will soon take the position of Chief Investigator for that agency’s Southern Nevada Office. Captain Gilstrap announced that Sergeant Tedrow has been awarded the LVPD’s highest accolade, its “Medal of Valor,” for “conspicuous gallantry and bravery in his surveillance and subsequent deadly confrontation with three armed and dangerous narcotics pushers.”
Mrs. Tedrow is survived by one sister and her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert D. Sproul, of Little Rock, Arkansas. Her body will be shipped to Little Rock for interment.
DOCUMENT INSERT
: 1/26/64. Las Vegas
Sun
article.
GRAND JURY CLEARS POLICEMAN
The standing Clark County Grand Jury today announced that no criminal indictments will be filed against Las Vegas Policeman Wayne Tedrow Jr. for the deaths of three Negro dope pushers.
The Grand Jury heard six hours of testimony from members of the Las Vegas Police Department, Clark County Sheriff’s Department and U.S. Bureau of Narcotics. Members were in unanimous
agreement that Sergeant Tedrow’s actions were warranted and justifiable. Grand Jury foreman D. W. Kaltenborn said, “We believe that Sergeant Tedrow acted with great resolve and under all the due guidelines of the laws of the State of Nevada.”
A Las Vegas Police Department spokesman attending the grand jury proceedings said that Sergeant Tedrow had resigned from the LVPD that morning. Sergeant Tedrow could not be reached for comment.
DOCUMENT INSERT
: 1/27/64. Las Vegas
Sun
article.
NO PROTESTS, NEGRO LEADERS SAY
At a hastily arranged press conference in Washington, D.C., a spokesman for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) announced that that organization and several other civil-rights groups will not protest the January 15th killings of three Negro men by a white policeman in Las Vegas.
Lawton J. Spofford told assembled reporters, “Our decision is not based upon the recent decree from the Clark County Grand Jury, which exonerated Sergeant Wayne Tedrow Jr. for the deaths of Leroy Williams and Curtis and Otis Swasey. That body is a ‘rubber-stamp’ implement of the Clark County political establishment and as such has no sway with us. Our decision is based on information we have received from a friendly anonymous source, who told us that Sergeant Tedrow, under great personal duress, acted in a somewhat heedless but recognizably non-malicious manner that did not include racist designs.”
The NAACP, along with the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), had previously announced their intention to stage protests in Las Vegas, in order to “shed light on a horribly segregated city, where Negro citizens live in deplorable circumstances.” The killings, Spofford said, “were to have been our point of redress and overall explication.”
Other Negro leaders present at the press conference said that they did not rule out the possibility of future civil-rights protests in Las Vegas. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” spokesman Welton D. Holland of CORE said. “We do not expect Las Vegas to change its ways without some notable confrontations.”
DOCUMENT INSERT
: 2/6/64. Verbatim FBI telephone call transcript. Marked: “Recorded at the Director’s Request”/“Classified Confidential 1-A: Director’s Eyes Only.” Speaking: Director Hoover, Ward J. Littell.
JEH: Good morning, Mr. Littell.
WJL: Good morning, Sir.
JEH: You’ve been meeting some charming new people and rediscovering old friends. That might be a good place to start.
WJL: “Charming” might describe Mr. Rustin, Sir. “Old friend” would never describe Dwight Holly.
JEH: I could have predicted that response. And I doubt that Lyle Holly will become your lifelong chum.
WJL: We share a wonderful friend in you, Sir.
JEH: You’re feeling frisky this morning.
WJL: Yes, Sir.
JEH: Did Mr. Rustin bemoan my efforts against Mr. King and the SCLC?
WJL: He did, Sir.
JEH: And you were properly deplored?
WJL: Cosmetically, Sir, yes.
JEH: I’m sure you were entirely convincing.
WJL: I established a rapport with Mr. Rustin, Sir.
JEH: I’m sure you will sustain it.
WJL: I hope so, Sir.
JEH: Have you spoken to him again?
WJL: Lyle Holly facilitated a second conversation. I utilized Mr. Rustin to forestall some trouble in Las Vegas. It pertained to a client of mine.
JEH: I know elements of the story. We’ll discuss it momentarily.
WJL: Yes, Sir.
JEH: Do you still consider it impossible to re-tape the Dark Prince?
WJL: Yes, Sir.
JEH: I would enjoy some glimpses of his private pain.
WJL: I would, too.
JEH: I doubt that. You’re a voyeur, not a sadist, and I suspect that you’ll never reconcile your old crush on Bobby.
WJL: Yes, Sir.
JEH: Lyndon Johnson finds him difficult to reconcile. Many of his advisors think he should include him on the fall ticket, but he hates the Dark Lad too much to succumb.
WJL: I understand how he feels, Sir.
JEH: Yes, and you disapprove, in your uniquely non-disapproving way.
WJL: I’m not that complex, Sir. Or that compromised in my emotions.
JEH: You delight me, Mr. Littell. I will nominate your last statement for Best Falsehood of 1964.
WJL: I’m honored, Sir.
JEH: Bobby may run for Kenneth Keating’s Senate seat in New York.
WJL: If he runs, he’ll win.
JEH: Yes. He’ll form a coalition of the deluded and morally handicapped and emerge victorious.
WJL: Is he maintaining his work at Justice?
JEH: Not vigorously. He still appears to be shell-shocked. Mr. Katzenbach and Mr. Clark are doing most of his work. I think he’ll resign, in a timely fashion.
WJL: Is he monitoring the agents for the Warren Commission?
JEH: I haven’t discussed the investigation with him. Of course, he receives summaries of all my field agents’ reports.
WJL: Edited summaries, Sir?
JEH: You are frisky today. Impertinent might describe it better.
WJL: I apologize, Sir.
JEH: Don’t. I’m enjoying the conversation.
WJL: Yes, Sir.
JEH: Edited summaries, yes. With all contradictory elements deleted to conform to the thesis we first discussed in Dallas.
WJL: I’m happy to hear that.
JEH: Your clients should be, as well.
WJL: Yes, Sir.
JEH: We can’t send your plant in again. You’re certain?
WJL: Yes, Sir.
JEH: I mourn the missed opportunity. I would like to hear a private assessment of King Jack’s death.
WJL: I suspect we’ll never know, Sir.
JEH: Lyndon Johnson continues to share his thoughts with me, in his inimitably colorful manner. He has said, quote, It all came out of that pathetic little shithole, Cuba. Maybe it’s that cocksucker with the beard or those fucking lowlife exiles, unquote.
WJL: A lively and astute analysis.
JEH: Mr. Johnson has developed a distaste for all things Cuban.
The exile cause has succumbed to factionalism and has scattered to the wind, which pleases him no end.
WJL: I share his delight, Sir. I know many people who were seduced by the cause.
JEH: Yes. Gangsters and a French-Canadian chap with homicidal tendencies.
WJL: Yes, Sir.
JEH: Cuba appeals to hotheads and the morally impaired. It’s the cuisine and the sex. Plantains and women who have intercourse with donkeys.
WJL: I have no fondness for the place, Sir.
JEH: Mr. Johnson has developed a fondness for Vietnam. You should inform Mr. Hughes. Some military contracts may be coming his way.
WJL: He’ll be delighted to hear that.
JEH: You should inform him that I’ll keep you abreast of the Justice Department’s plans in Las Vegas.
WJL: I’m delighted to hear that.
JEH: On a need-to-know basis, Mr. Littell. As is the case with all our transactions.
WJL: I understand, Sir. And I neglected to thank you for your help in the Tedrow matter. Dwight Holly was determined to do the boy some harm.
JEH: You deserve an accolade. You bypassed Wayne Senior very effectively.
WJL: Thank you, Sir.
JEH: I understand that he has asked you to lunch.
WJL: Yes, Sir. We haven’t scheduled yet.
JEH: He thinks you’re weak. I told him that you are a bold and occasionally reckless man who has learned the value of restraint.
WJL: Thank you, Sir.
JEH: Dwight feels quite ambivalent. He got the job he wanted, but he’s developed quite a dislike for Wayne Junior. My sources in the U.S. Attorney’s Office tell me that he is determined to bypass Senior and do Junior some harm in the long run.
WJL: Despite his friendship with Senior?
JEH: Or because of it. You never know with Dwight. He’s quite the provocateur and the rogue, so I indulge him.
WJL: Yes, Sir.
JEH: The same way I indulge you.
WJL: I caught the implication, Sir.
JEH: You dislike Dwight and Wayne Senior, so I’ll give you added cause. Their fathers belonged to the same Klan Klavern in Indiana. That said, I should add that it was probably more genteel than the Klan groups currently marauding down south.
WJL: I’m sure they never lynched any Negroes.
JEH: Yes, although I’m certain they would have enjoyed it.
WJL: Yes, Sir.
JEH: Most people have entertained the notion. You must credit their restraint.
WJL: Yes, Sir.
JEH: You might discuss the Indiana Klan with Bayard Rustin. I want you to make another donation.
WJL: I’ll bring it up, Sir. I’m sure he’ll acknowledge it as a genteel institution.
JEH: You are assuredly frisky today.
WJL: I hope I haven’t offended you, Sir.
JEH: Anything but. And I hope I haven’t offended you with Junior.
WJL: Sir?
JEH: I had to throw Dwight Holly a bone. He wanted Junior expelled from the LVPD, so I arranged it.
WJL: I assumed that you had, Sir. The newspapers were kind, though. They said he resigned.
JEH: Did you befriend Junior to get at his files? For Mr. Hughes’ sake?
WJL: Yes, Sir.
JEH: I’m sure that Senior will enjoy Junior’s expulsion. They have an odd relationship.
WJL: Yes, Sir.
JEH: Good day, Mr. Littell. I’ve enjoyed this conversation.
WJL: Good day, Sir.
