White Jazz

Dues time/time running out — RUN.

Herrick 187 PC — six IA men and Sid Riegle co-opted. Forty-eight hours in:

No eyewitnesses, no vehicle pegged. No prints, no Richie-to-Mom letters found. Confirmed: the dogs sucked stelfactiznide chloride.

Background check:

Laura and Christine Herrick — nice girls. Good students, square boyfriends — almost Hancock Park wives.

Joan Renfrew Herrick — secret boozer. Suicide attempts, suicide. A neighbor doctor told me:

Joanie burned herself, and begged morphine. Demerol prescribed; self-inflicted burns kept it coming. Zombie matron — all-day jazz on cloud nine.

“She drank Drano, Lieutenant. Her ultimate suicide was inevitable, and a merciful relief for the people who cared about her.”

Richie Herrick — shy boy, chump musician. One friend — “This hood Tommy,” “Oil and water, him and Tommy — I think Richie had a crush on Tommy’s sister.” Neighborhood shock expressed: shy Richie the dope peddler. The Bakersfield PD queried: Richie was bagged dead to rights, open-and-shut. No co-defendants, no Tommy involved — three-to-four Chino.

Richie’s prison file — missing. Misplaced? Misfiled? Stolen? — possible suspect Dan Wilhite — just a hunch.

Warden’s aides searching for it: I wanted to nail Richie’s Chino KAs.

Escape reports 9/57 — adios, Richie — no details, no leads.

Mike Breuning — no call from him yet — my B&E lead was tapped out.

Phillip Herrick:

No record, no Vice Squad sheets City/County.

Chemist.

Chemical manufacturer.

PH Solvents, Inc. — dry-cleaning supplies.

Stelfactiznide chloride — made in-house.

Distributed statewide — to dry-cleaning shops and industrial plants.

NOT a customer: E-Z Kleen/J.C. Kafesjian.

PH employees alibi-checked — clean straight across.

Cross-family background check:

Phillip Herrick — DOB 5/14/06 — Scranton, Pennsylvania.

John Charles Kafesjian — DOB 1/15/03 — Scranton, Pennsylvania.

No Pennsylvania criminal records/State Police employment check:

1930–32 — Balustrol Chemicals; Scranton. Phillip Herrick: solvent analyst; J.C. Kafesjian: laborer/mixer.

California DMV check:

6/32 — both men glom driver’s permits.

Birth record check:

1932–37: Tommy/Lucille, Richie/Laura/Christine born.

Time ticking — RUN — custody looming.

Running separate — Exley and Noonan — chasing bank writs.

Noonan moving east — furtive — petitioning Fed jurists. Exley sticking west — slower, no connections.

Name it ALL: the Kafesjian/Herrick case.

Breaking now — CRAAAZY volition.

Crazy fake press leaks — my idea.

We announced a fake APB, then fake withdrew it. One fake suspect fed to the press: an unnamed psycho. Bait: to calm Richie down and lure Tommy to him.

A help: Richie’s mug shot on page one — a bum likeness, peeper sketch imperfect.

A hindrance: Feds dogging THEM.

Exley, page-one tweaks:

“Dave Klein is a very savvy detective.”

“He has worked on a burglary case that may be tangentially connected.”

Bait: push THEM toward Richie/push THEM toward me.

One glitch: Fed lockstep surveillance on the Kafesjians.

RUN—

Junior’s funeral — mandatory Bureau attendance. Exley there for PR, Dudley Smith somber. Stemmons, Sr., still distraught, sedative bombed.

Father-son farewell: Sad-ass Bible readings. Thirty years since First Dutch Lutheran, catch the gist: mercy for the sick and insane.

RUN — Sheriff’s Homicide chasers — “routine” questions, two sessions’ worth:

Were you hired to tail Glenda Bledsoe?

Did you become intimate with her?

Did she steal from Howard Hughes’ guest homes?

Yes, yes, no — one cop smirking.

Did you argue with Harold John Miciak?

Yes — this cop-hater shitbird. Instant empathy, a smirky punch line: don’t you think Mr. Hughes might try to fuck you for taking his money and his girlfriend?

Running with me — Sid Riegle/six IA men: background checks/interviews/shitwork. Meg working on a title search — 4980 Spindrift/“Why meet there?” My own sister: searching records, tracing money — Phillip Herrick’s fortune, find me filth—

Kafesjian/Herrick — Mom to Richie: “Long history of insanity, both our families.”

Killer Richie — no.

Killer Tommy — doubtful.

Leaning toward: Mr. Third Party insane.

Narco men running scared — persistent Bureau rumors. Mass cop divestment: Kafesjian gratuities dumped. Rumors had Dan Wilhite begging Exley: say something, do something.

Exley noncommittal; Fed rumors: nineteen subpoenas headed Narco’s way.

My subpoenas on hold — via Fed custody extortion. Key witness Dave Klein, compromisable: if that movie showed up on Noonan’s desk. Call “if” wishful thinking — I kept waiting the delivery out — time ticking slow.

Running, thinking:

THEY made the film — Chick Vecchio their point man. Make him snitch: THEY coerced my starring role.

Conspiracy indictments potentially pending — “maybe” one tainted witness skates.

Maybe wishful thinking.

Running, watching:

THEIR house — night surveillance, parked three doors down. SRO: Feds in front, Feds out back. Family tantrums inside — my nostalgia soundtrack—

The Two Tonys — pomade spatter off point-blank head shots. “No, my children” — a clip victim weeping. Rape-o double-header — buckshot tore this nigger faceless.

Silk dresses for Meg — penance gifts. Meg with Jack Woods now — her own killer. Meg holding ten grand — Jack stiffed, Junior otherwise dead. A stray thought: Abe Voldrich snuffed, a car spotted. Jack’s car: that make, that model.

Music to watch by: car-radio bop night one. Night two — straight Champ Dineen.

Soft: Richie and Lucille, maybe lovers. Soft: Glenda turning my way off a skid, all this courage.

Champ Dineen — my car radio on low. Echoed out Lucille’s window — the same station.

Lucille in her window — no makeup, new hair — Richie’s bedroom pictures life-size.

A nightgown on — almost prim.

Feds on the street — family close.

Johnny begging — constant refrains — unshakable.

Two days down, two days left before custody. Two late nights with Glenda.

She said, “We might not walk.”

I said, “You will.”

She said, “You’re tired.”

She said, “You want to confess.”