Chapters

Everyone comes to Rusty's

by

Big Daddy

Chapter 16: The Morning After

 

 L.A. CA. NOV. 1960 DAY FIVE 1100

One of Winona Ryder's many hidden talents was her command of the telephone. Both the FBI and the diplomatic corps lost valuable assets when she turned to acting. Put her on one end of a phone and a suspect on the other, and she would probably have been able to talk him into throwing over his own Mom. Her agreements could sound so tentative as to make the other party think she really didn't want what she had been after all along, and her disagreements were so FRIENDLY that they almost always sounded like a "Yes".

This morning it was her turn to do a little detecting.

Her first call was to Sam Arkoff over at American International. American made the neatest (and therefore the most profitable) drive-in flicks around. They had titles like "The Brain Eaters" and "Machine Gun Kelly" and their posters were nearly works of art in the medium.

"Winona, a pleasure ALWAYS to talk to you . . . "

"Sam, I remembered you last night . . . in bed . . . "

"You do an old man's heart good . . . and his ego . . . "

"I remembered you told the same joke at that party we were both at last summer that my Dad does . . . "fat man sitting on well" . . . "

"In MY version, he wasn't fat . . . "

"Yes, but my Dad told it to me FIRST . . . but before that you were talking about film pirates."

"I think I know where this is going . . . you have "Maturity" opening up in the South Pacific market, right?"

"There is no getting around you, Sam . . . "

"Well, for a box of good cigars, then . . . "

"Done."

"Okay, have as many markets closed off before you hit there. One week after, you are going to have prints turning up ANYWHERE. And it only takes them one. They get a dupe neg if they are lucky, I don't have to tell YOU that those make perfect copies . . . or if they are thugs they just use a normal print and dupe it . . . sure, the color is off and the sound is not as sharp, but these are THIEVES . . . They want the profit they can get from flooding a market with 50 or so prints and shutting you out . . . "
"So, get South America out of the way . . . "

"Oh, Gawd, don't get me started on South America . . . all the old trade routes from the Southern Pacific to South and Central America and to America for that matter didn't just dry up because the Americans took it all from the Spanish . . . No . .  And WATCH the corridor between Argentina and Brazil . . . right there on the map, sticks into its backside like a proctology appointment.

"Buenos Aires is where a lot of the stuff comes right off the planes . . . and they can ship it to Brazil and it is harder to find there . . . "

"Why?"

"There are only two places on earth where Portuguese is spoken. One is Brazil, the other is Portugal. And you can drive across the border in about an afternoon if you are lucky . . . '

And inside Winona's head a click went off . . . Steve or Buster or Spence telling her:" . . . and it wasn't Spanish either . . . "

"Honey, forgive me for saying this, but don't your lawyers handle this?"

"Sam, Sam, Sam . . . didn't YOU tell ME how you and Jim were in Israel and Jim was so proud that his movies were lining them UP there? And you scowled and said you didn't have a deal with them? I mean, if Arkoff can get fooled . . . or stolen from . . . "

"Yeah, yeah, good point . . . listen . . . guy over at Universal you should call. He'd spill his guts for you for the price of a hotdog. When you phone him up, ask for 'Pedro Fumar' it's our password, he can brief you on Cuba and Mexico they're the biggest holes in our bucket.

A second click went off in Winona's head. A snatch of conversation from Wolf talking about Danni Hastings being back in town over the Cubans and smuggling . . .
"And darling . . . "

Good old Sam . . . he would go to his grave talking like Clark Gable.

"Keep away from them yourself. Like all smugglers, after awhile, they get protective of what they see as THEIRS. And the reality that they are thieves and taking bread from a lot of people’s mouths can make them nasty. Leave the FBI to this."

"Sam, remember why I didn't make that movie for you?"

"Yes, you said it would be like you paying me to work for me."

"And the violence Sam. Call me old fashioned, but there is too much of it out there. Look, what people watch is up to them, I hate censorship as much as you do . . . but don't ask me to SUPPORT it . . . What ever happened to good old fashioned sex?"
Sam, realizing he had been set up for a joke, laughed heartily.

L.A. CA. NOV. 1960 DAY FIVE 0830

"Hey, Steinmetz, come 'ere . . . "

The cleaner walked amiably over to the counter at the diner and put his broom against the upright bar seat. It fell. He reached to pick it up.

"He is SLOW, Don, but he is a GOOD boy . . . and he LOVES Winona Ryder . . . he is gonna get such a KICK out of this . . . "

"Hello, Mr. Duck . . . that's a funny name. Hanke tells me you got to MEET Winona Ryder . . . "

"Sure did, Stienmetz, I was at her house the other night, and almost got a sandwich delivered down to me . . . "

Stienmetz wrapped his arms around his head and turned back and forth in excitement.

"I just HAVE to meet her soon . . . "

"Hey, be a good guy and I will TAKE you around sometime . . . "

"You are a police officer . . . "

"Yes, that's right, Steinmetz."

"Let me ask you, are you a religious man? Do you pray? Do you go to church?"

Officer Duck dismissed the change of topic as just more evidence of Stienmetz' affliction.

"Yes. I go to Temple every Sabbath . . . "

"Temple . . . "

"Yes, Steinmetz, I'm Jewish . . . take the family, crazy kids, they watched "Arsenic and Old Lace" the other night, right? And the little one runs up and down the steps and yells" Charge!" all the time . . . "

"Oh, oh! I was IN "Arsenic and Old Lace" . . . or was supposed to be . . . " his face darkened at the memory. The entire diner seemed to pause. Then it lightened after he remembered his accomplishment" I remembered the WHOLE play so I could be a cop in it, isn't that GOOD?"

"Stienmetz, that is WONDERFUL, I will personally tell Hanke and maybe he can give you a couple of jobs that can keep that memory going for you . . . "

"So you pray and like Arsenic and Old Lace and Winona Ryder and you're a cop and . . . you wear glasses . . . "

"Oh, these? Yeah, just put them on . . . they help me read."

"Thank you for talking to me. I must get back to work. That is a good story about Winona. I bet she is nice. Too bad she didn't give you the sandwich."

"Yeah, but did we have fun with some hot shot from the FBI . .  tried to butt into the place . . . set HIM straight . . . "

Steinmetz became very quiet:” I love the FBI and J. Edgar Hoover with all my heart and NO agent should 'let down the sacred trust of the Bureau and cause problems and friction between the Bureau and his brother law enforcement officers to impede the progress all law enforcement agencies share towards working for a more just tomorrow.'"

Steinmetz delivered the lines in an Oral Roberts flourish of the true believer. The whole diner has stopped in its tracks. Nobody knew what to say.

"I read that from a speech Mr. Hoover gave at Annapolis one Sunday morning . . . I . . . I . .  have trouble reading, but once I get it . . . "

"You REMEMBER it . .  Stienmetz, that was wonderful . . . WHAT a memory . .  that Powell throwing his weight around the other night, should take a lesson from your book . . . You could teach HIM the meaning of loyalty . . . "

"Powell?"

" . . . oh, yeah . . . the agent that was being a pain . . . "

" . . . yes, he should learn that everybody should work together, and he should not try and BOTHER Miss Ryder when she wants to be alone. She wanted to give you a sandwich . . . "

"That's right, Steinmetz, a sandwich . . . here, want to finish mine? My partner and I have to go . .  you’re a good guy . . . "

"Thank you Mr. Duck . .  that’s a funny name . . . "

L.A. CA. NOV. 1960 DAY FIVE 1130

Charles still had to see John Coltrane, but first he had to wake up The Rabbi.

"The Rabbi" was an old bomb man. Worked in diamonds, pawnshops and antiques now, which is how he came into Charles' world . . . it was one of Steve's contacts . . .

The shop was totally dark except for the light that stopped about nine feet inside the glass door. The whole place was as cool as a coke freezer.

The Rabbi worked under a single pool table lamp he had at the back of the store. He got his nickname from the fact that he would draw his moral lessons from just about anything and go on for as long as he jolly well pleased.

For this reason, Charles did not apologize for being a little late, or ask him to hurry. Either could cause an admonition for greater speed and efficiency in our daily life, or a 15th century folk tale about how the pursuit of knowledge should not be hurried but enjoyed . . . for without knowledge is not a man without everything? And without anything, what is a man?

The Rabbi however, was absorbed in the problem already. And pleased with himself.
"Russian" he said "The bomb was either made by a Russian or taught by a Russian. This I know.

"Here. We got this from the law enforcement authorities the other night . . . you owe me a pastrami on rye and $50.Now look down the photo . . . see that residue? Now, this and this are switches . . . the bomb had two of them before it went up . .  those are what are left . . .

"You see, Charles . .  bomb makers above a certain level of cunning always stay in the same artistic format. It is the way you can tell Al Martino from Frank Sinatra, or more to your point Jerry Lee Lewis from Elvis . .  what are the chances that Elvis will run over to a piano one night and set it on fire to upstage Chuck Berry?

"None.

"And what are the chances you are going to change everything you ever learned about making bombs just to try and fool me? None.

"The 1ST was Russian . . . the 2ND I am working on . . . "

"2^ND??"

"Yes, yes, there was at least one more . . . in fact, maybe other one on top of that one . . . get the pastrami next door and I will tell you more . . . "

Charles gave The Rabbi a bill and he snapped it in his hands.

"Nice and new and from Boston no doubt . .  gotta LOVE that Boston lettuce . . . "

FBI HEADQUARTERS. L.A. CA. NOV. 1960 DAY FIVE 1300

Charles was sitting in a visiting dignitaries area, drinking a coffee. He was not under arrest.

This point had been made clear to him. He was free to go at any time. The agents who approached him told him so outside of the rabbis. They even allowed him to drive down in his own car.

Ron Cartwright came in to talk. Cartwright was career FBI who was about as friendly as you got with them. If Dean Martin had become an agent, Cartwright was pretty close to the result you would have achieved.

"Thank you for coming in, Charles . . . "

"How could I refuse?"

"Well, in point of fact, you probably couldn't have, they were to keep it friendly, and I think you know we wanted to talk . . . "

"I was actually thinking about stopping by and seeing you guys anyway, so the visit was not a surprise . . . "

"Charles, know what a colostomy is?"

Charles actually DID, but decided to keep his mouth shut. Cartwright had a look on his face that told Charles he wanted to tell him.

"A colostomy is where they move the anus around from between your butt cheeks to right here on your gut, by the miracle of surgery. They actually make a new one for you. Then when you have to take a dump, you do it right down the front, into a plastic bag that has to be changed A LOT.

"And if you don't change it, it stinks. The bag surrounds the colostomy with glue that goes directly on the skin.

Willy will have to get one of these Charles. His bowel was cut in two by the gunshots and the doctors have worked all night to save his life, let alone his bowel.
"He nearly bleeds to death.

"I know you were in the Army. I don't have to tell you this stuff. You saw what happens when people get careless with guns. I just wish everybody else who thinks its cool to run out and buy a gun and fire it at anyone that moves could see a colostomy for a day. Maybe change one.

"Know what I hate? 'The Untouchables'. Week after week, you see Ness chop down the baddies and they always fall over as neat as beer cans. You never see them having to eat eggs for the rest of their life, and you never hear about colostomies . . . He DEFILED our agent, Charles . . . "

"Willy . . . will he come back? . . . "

"Doubt it. Not field work. And the boys back east are not fond of keeping the wounded around . . . "

"Ron, that's exactly WHY Willy should come back . .  Look, assuming he can still be alert and have 100%, why not? I mean, who was the guy in Miami that ran that mob down there from HIS wheelchair? And face it, Willy is the kind of guy who would SUE to get his job back, and do you NEED that kind of thing? "Wounded FBI Agent Brings Jury to Tears"? Let him come back with dignity and show people he still has a place and some pride."

Cartwright looked at Charles. Really looked at him. For perhaps the first time since they started to talk.

"You might be right. It's one of the things that's bugging me. Charles, this is a bad one. We've had agents slug other agents. Agents get drunk. Agents cheat on agents wives and sometimes with the females on board . . . there have even been a couple of spies . . . I did NOT just say that, by the way . .  but nobody in the bureau has EVER fired in anger on another agent . . . "

Charles wondered about the phrase "in anger" and was curious how many had been nailed in honest error, but decided to let it pass.

"We have a window of opportunity here. Hoover is leaving this one alone. It's like that when the heavy stuff goes down. He is either on the first plane out, or ignores it for a LITTLE while to see if it  . .  goes away . . . If we can RESOLVE this, he won't come east, and we can keep our jobs. But we don't have a lot of time."

"What's this 'we'? And by RESOLVE I assume somebody is gonna be taken downstairs into the morgue feet first?"

"That is exactly what RESOLVE means. Powell is to be taken in dead. Never brought to trial. Never to see a newspaper man. No loose ends.

"And you, my friend, have become 'we' in this, because Willy was working on your case.

"We were in Powell's place 15 minutes after the shooting. He was an extremist . .  right wing . .  and he was putting dirt in the dish. Willy was on to it before he told anybody.

"Remember when he told you that we weren't really after Big Daddy? Stone truth. We didn't care. But Powell DID. He was doctoring field reports and making B.D. a much bigger pain then he really was. The bugs on your phone were Powell’s idea. And illegal. The plane ride with you was when he first heard about it.

"Now, Powell was a neat, precise man. Kept notes on everybody. And he saw Winona Ryder as his ticket back home after he screwed up back east.

"His evaluation would come up in the spring like every other agents . . . his list of informers was way down . . . and that's the biggest thing you are judged on back east. I think he wanted Winona and Daddy as informers. And if they weren't going to be informers, they were going to be dead . . . . . . or in jail.

"He just seemed really undecided if they should die in a shoot out or not . . .

"Charles, find our boy for us. We know you are working for Vandome. Fine. Take a second pay cheque from us. He messed up a good man. And we would like him brought back to us with his head on a silver platter."

Chapter 17: " . . . .if you could read my mind . . . ."

 

Few people understood the prep that went into an average interview for a magazine spread. The whole deal was as choreographed as the Bolshoi Ballet.

Charles had his guitar to let him think. Sherlock Holmes had his violin. Jen would strip an engine.

Winona Ryder would put things together in an interview. Today it was "Ladies Home Journal". The rules of engagement were: they were to met at neutral territory, this time a coffee shop that would be booked for the day. Winona would wear a pretty neutral outfit, not too flashy but not too drab either . . . the readers liked the idea that she dressed up a BIT for them.

For a change, all topics would be on the table. She would talk about anything. But of course, this was not the CBS News crew she was spilling her guts to. Probing questions would be at a minimum . .  and heck, what WAS there to probe about?

She had 2 projects to plug in the works. She wanted to keep an amiable profile with the reading public. And if she got a whack at pushing a coupe of causes, fair was fair.

What the public failed to realize was, there are only so many questions you can ask, because there is only so much people KNOW to ask. As a result, you could figure out what to say usually by the first phrase that came out of the interviewers mouth. You cue to talk was when her lips stopped moving.

After a year or so, you didn't really hear the questions anymore. After a few more years on the press junkets, and you could sometimes be excused if you did not even hear yourself.

This Winona steadfastly refused to do. She paid attention to what she said, but her mind would be on other things as well. Growing up poor had taught her to do two, three, maybe four things at once.

Collecting her thoughts from her meeting with Pedor Fumar while playing some familiar cards for "Home Journal" would be a snap . . . and it loosened things up for her to think.

 "This is one of my favorite places to catch a coffee in the afternoon after I finish for the day. Try the cheese cake. Entirely guilt free."

(She had met Pedro and was still excited. Not by him, but by what she had figured out from his info. She had a restless, happy affect about her, like Chao on the way to a really good noodle house.)

"Yes, life is very good right now. I love the fall and I'll be getting ready for Christmas soon. THIS year, I promise to shop early, but I know I won't . . . .I ALWAYS say I will start after Labor Day, but never do. I want to murder my brother . . . .the son of a gun starts in August, the fink and finds the perfect gift for everybody by Thanksgiving. Fink. HE relaxes . . . I sweat . . . .where is the fairness in THAT?"

(Pedro had first told her about Larry Gray, the point man for all movies imported into Mexico. Larry had been in Hollywood and was an ex-star. He married a national and moved to Mexico City. He was able to make deals with all the studios, big and small, to book all their movies in Mexico. Nothing moved south without Larry.)

"'Maturity' was first a short, well, medium length story by Ted Sturgeon. Came out in 1948. This genius has a glandular problem that keeps him emotionally at about a 10 year old or 12 year old level. There was a physical stunting too.

These two doctors- one a woman, find him and cure him. They also love one another. Problem arises when he drops out of the cure and won't let them stop his death. I was supposed to play the female doctor in the first draft. Then we switched the sex of the genius and a couple of details and I played the genius instead."

(Pedro didn't think there was much chance of corruption with Gray, and Winona didn't either, at least no more then usual with any large group of people, some of whom might decide to make a few bucks under the table. She was sure that for the most part, he was up and up. Her gate receipts for 'Maturity' in Mexico were no worse off the mark then anywhere else . . . .)
 

"I bet you asked everybody the same question, didn't you? My Dad, brothers, Mom, THEY all found 'Maturity', right? "Don't listen to WINONA, she doesn't KNOW . . .

"I remember crying SO much after I finished it. But it was a good cry, I felt GOOD. It is such an optimistic read. So we went after it. Got the rights from Ted Sturgeon and he was with us all the way.

"It was an emotional run. The night of the Oscars, we are going head-to-head with Ben-Hur and TAKING a few, and Ted comes up to me, I was smoking in the lobby and he whispers:" You made Robin LIVE for me. Thank you so-o-o-o-o much lovely lady".

I break down. The rest of the night was like that. Ted cried at his Oscar, and I kept it together . . . .barely."

(Pedro then told her that Spanish film was pretty much a no man's land below the border. The Americans barely paid attention to foreign films at the best of times, and usually bought just Luis Bunel, a Spanish guy who just MADE films in Mexico. Cuba in fact, even had a Spanish version of Dracula that was floating around until a couple of years ago. Universal didn't even give a darn about it . . . .heck, they barely cared about the English Dracula . . . .stupid jerks had leased it out to a Rel-Art that put it on a double bill with Frankenstein and cleaned up in American theatres . . .  . . . duh . . . .)

"I think 'Maturity' worked for so many people because it made them think what THEY could do if they just tried to unleash some of their OWN potential. We also had a great makeup crew. I aged TREMENDOUSLY in that flick, and it was all so seamless . . . "

(The Spanish Dracula was shot on the same sets as the American one, but with Spanish actors and the sets made to look a bit spookier. The ladies showed a bit more boob. It was common practice in the early talkies to do this, especially after the silent days, when all you had to do was change the title cards.)

"It's a new decade. New President. We're up for some change. I think people are willing to try and find about inner space, what makes them do the things they do, as exciting as outer space. There is a tremendous need for happiness and meaning out there . . . for belonging . . . "

(Fumar concluded things by telling her to keep tabs on receipts sales once they hit the Pacific markets and to have some one she could trust check daily on rentals . . . but even that wasn't a cinch in Hong Kong . . . blink and you miss a theatre . . . .)

"I gave Kennedy money. He was the first president to say that -and I think this is a quote -;"The state of our Native Americans is a national disgrace". I'm not a card carrying Democrat. Dad voted for Wilkie, I think. Jackie is really nice. Much funnier then you would expect. Great voice. Very soothing . . . "

(What Fumar did not know was that Larry Gray was LAWRENCE GRAY. Same guy. Lawrence Gray had been a silent movie actor . . . and here was where it got good . . . he worked with Gloria Swanson.

Gloria Swanson had worked with Eric von Stroheim on a movie called Queen Kelly. The two didn't get along and the flick was only shown in Europe. Just finding Queen Kelly would be a feat.

But Eric von Stroheim had also made "Greed". And that little film was shaping up to be her personal Moby Dick)

"I loved working with Orson in 'The Man Who Came to Dinner'. It was my first Broadway play, and I could walk when the weather was good to the theatre. Even after weeks and weeks, you would still want to gasp, or slap him, or just laugh because of the stuff he SAYS and gets AWAY with in the play . . . .it's very different from the Davis movie. And Orson Welles knows every good restaurant in town . . . .believe me . . . "

("Greed". The Maltese Falcon of silent movies. von Stroheim had filmed a book called 'McTeague'. Really just FILMED the book. Dentist and his wife and her ex-lover. They win the lottery and she goes nuts and becomes a miser, and he kills her, and the boyfriend is the law now and hunts him down to Death Valley and the one beats the other to death. But he is still handcuffed to the other guy. He can't move. He will die out there. His money is worse then useless. The end.)

"Orson is coming back this spring. It will be his first work in America since his television of 'King Lear'. He will direct some of us in an adaptation of 'More then Human'.

(The film is great. Some call it an epic of the sewers, but it is one of the great silent films. It is also 42 reels. SEVEN HOURS. So they give it to Rex Ingram who got screwed out of making Ben Hur (the silent version) and he cuts it down to 18 reels. Then they give it to June Mathis. And June Mathis is a PROJECT.)

"We plan to make a movie that runs out over a five night span. Every night a different chapter, and picking up where last night's left off, like the old Republic serials. It will be a series, but it will not go past the five nights. We'll re-run it sometimes."

(June Mathis is an Oscar waiting to happen. This was a chick who went head to head with the boys in the suits and won. d**n. She INVENTED Rudolph Valentino. Found the turkey and equipped him with all the sexual baggage to blow every woman's fuse in America. Wrote the scripts for his flicks . . . .Then she edits 'Greed' down to 10 reels, or 2 hours and 20 minutes. Took her a year. )

'More Then Human is Ted Sturgeon again. I think it's better then 'Stranger in a Strange Land'. In it, five people, social misfits, learn to mesh together and become an functioning whole. They discover belonging. They discover love. It also helps they have POWERS."

 

(Then Mathis makes Ben Hur work. The movie d**n near KILLED the studio. She goes and makes it run like a Rolls. Overhauled the script. Was on the set. The disaster stories of the shoot are legend. Would make a great film, showing the stupid mistakes that went down . . . Then she DIES at 35??! What was THAT? I mean, if Susan Hayward can get nominated for Lillian Roth in "I'll Cry Tomorrow", June Mathis should be a cinch.
But even if nobody wants to see the June Mathis story, you just HAVE to take a stab at finding those 42 reels of film. Winona had gotten MGM to screen the 2 hour 20 minute version. It was beautiful and worthy of all the praise it got . . . but what the WHOLE thing like?)

"Marlon Brando is a very gentle person. A beautiful human being. Very intense. Hates injustice. Has all the time in the world for children. Loves to dance. He is very hard on himself, and I don't THINK he knows he is the best actor we have right now.
"I wish it could have worked."

(Brando had also said she loved finding out new things more then anything else. As long as Winona could find out anything new, nobody even had to be in the room with her. He left when she was watching 'Greed' and she never even noticed. Well, barely noticed . . . .hey, it was "Greed" . . . .)

"The other thing I am really excited about is a special to celebrate 'Gone with the Wind'. We are working hard with the Slater Institute and have tracked down most of the original costumes. He has the best museum of movie artifacts on the west coast.
Everybody loves the movie, but nobody KNOWS anything about it . . . .and it would be nice to give some of the people credit for it in the spotlight . . .

"We also got access to all the screen tests . . . .everyone was tried out to be Scarlett. And I wanted to get the cast together for a look back after 20 years . . . it should be fun. We'll do it live from Rusty's Casino in Vegas. The whole evening will be filmed."

(Whoa Nelly. Pedro also mentioned Cuba was a giant clearing house for film. And not just for dirty flicks. Now what would have happened if somebody in Cuba decided to get back into the business again after Castro had shut it down?

Castro/Cuba/Dirty films/Silent films getting changed/vonStroheim making silent films/ - -oh yeah-- 0h YEAH!!)

"I guess I AM excited. It will be good to see Gable and Leigh on the same stage again, wouldn't it??"

(It was then, that Winona Ryder knew she had cracked the case. Or at least part of it.
von Stroheim had also made a flick - again silent- called "Merry Widow'. SET IN THE HAPSBURG VIENNA. Hungary. Hungary was in the Hapsburg Empire. The Hungarian.
'The Merry Widow' was supposed to be full of sadism, perversion, and debauchery.

Just his dish. He would be looking for stuff like that . . . .and he probably found a copy in Havana. The Chinese would LOVE the idea of him taking bread from the Russians mouths.

The math was right. Falconetti who stared in "Passion" died in 1946 or there abouts. Whaddya want to make a bet that she took a print with her when she MOVED TO BUENOS AIRES fleeing France just before WWII???

She dies. Print get smuggled into Brazil . . . .The Cubans find the thing but by that time it is reprinted in Portuguese. Wait. The title cards were still in English. They just made a copy. A Portuguese copy. Nice.

Vandome hears about a copy of "Greed" running around. Maybe The Hungarian noses around looking for long green then. Maybe he wanted the 'Merry Widow' to begin with. He could have found out all about "Passion" from the Eastman Kodak boys as easily as she had found out stuff from Pedro . . . .

But she was willing to bet the farm he had the original negative or print on him now . . . His nose for profit was unfailing . . . )

Holy Cow . . . .

She had stopped listening to herself . . . Deadly. Joan Fontaine did it once during an interview in front of her and wound up saying something like 'I always fry mine in lard'.

She took a drink. Watched the lady . . . nothing. Nothing.

"Great coffee? More? Some last of the cheese cake?" You're sure?

"Now, what was I saying? Silly me, I get scattered . . . .I guess I still have that first crush of mine of Clark Gable . . . Oh, do you REMEMBER him taking Leigh up those STAIRS?"
 

Chapter 18: "Doing that Crazy Hand Jive"
 

Doc Slater rubbed his eyes with his palms and leaned his elbows on the table.
He had come over to the coffee shop right after he got the call from Winona saying she had cracked the case, and he had listened patiently to her.

"Winona, I don't THINK as fast as you . . . .you're going so fast, I cannot keep up. We already KNEW that The Hungarian had the movie from Rusty . . . do it in slow moe for me . . . ."

Winona put three unused mugs upside down on the table and produced a handful of pennies. One penny was under one mug. She moved them around with expert ease.
"Remember the year I ran away from home? Joined the carnies? This was my stunt, the three card monte. I started to think about this when I was telling the 'Home Journal' about walking to the play every night. There was a guy always trying to talk me into it on the walk over . . . .the memory made me focus my thinking.

"WE have been the victim of the oldest con in the book."

She pulled up the mugs one after another. No pennies under any.

"I'll go in slow motion, sure. Step by step. You need to see the ART of this one."

She again pulled up the mugs one by one. Pennies under all of them. Steve tried not to look too impressed.

She moved a mug once.

"Okay, Falconetti moves to Buenos Aires right before the War. Dies there 1946. I figure she brings a print with her. Print is sold off. Somebody takes it to Brazil?'

"Why??"

"Argentina has a weird copyright law. They had a convention there in the 20's. Buster was telling me he STILL can't get a copy of one of his movies out, it's like once it lands there, THEY claim it.

"If you're gonna sell it, Brazil is the place to dupe it and get it out . . . "

"Why?"

"The language thing for one. High illiteracy rates in Brazil pushed the silent movies out faster then anywhere else in the hemisphere . . . .more people listen then read, Doc. A silent movie would gather dust there and not be noticed . . . plus the Portuguese language barrier. Drive one day and you are in another culture. Great place to hide a masterpiece you want to fool with."

She moved a mug again.

"Now, we KNOW the film was duped there, because it had Portuguese writing on the film stock . . . From there, to Cuba, the clearing house for all films in the Spanish hemisphere . . . .and from there, you can pick either Mexico or America . . . ."

"Why NOT Mexico? I mean, jet set millionaires can go there as well as anyplace else?"

"True, but Mexico is Gray territory . . . he not only runs the movies coming in, but he would know about "Passion" from his silent days and cause a stink."

"Why wouldn't our boy WANT a stink? Better money . . . "

"Because he would have spotted the dupe right away, and the deal would have been scorched . . . .Steve, he didn't WANT the film to get to auction . . . he was doing an insurance fraud like you think . . . .the film goes up, and he collects the money for an original . . . .or, outside chance, he backs down and says 'So sorry, I didn't REALIZE it was just a dupe' and settles for the money on that. The company pays off the lesser sum, and thinks it is getting a deal . . . BUT THAT WASN'T THE BIG PICTURE."

She moved another mug into the centre of the table.

"It was this one. The one we were NOT looking at . . . .THIS was what he was REALLY after . . . "

"And that IS?"

"Steve, what does The Hungarian do for money?"

"Smuggles. Usually drugs or money. "

"What does he do for fun?"

"Tortures people. Watches cock fights. Collects . . . .dirty movies . . . ."

"And where is dirty movie central . . . .until at least last January??"

"Bastista Cuba . . . .CASTRO THREW THE DIRTY MOVIE BOYS OUT WITH THE CASINOS . . . .HOLY COW . . . ."

"Yeah . . . our boy was running guns to them for years, probably. Taking some of the profit back to China. But keeping the most. And he sees the films heading out of town the same as the slot machines . . . ."

"And decides he might as well cut himself into the action . . . it sounds like something he'd TRY but what is the PROOF?"

"Like you say, we KNOW he has the movie now . . . .and where did he get it from? Check out he auction house, bet there was a numbered lot that went up. And I bet it was film too . . . ."

"It would explain the huge blast . . . ."

"I bet he torched the competition so he can leave town with no trace . . . ."

She pulled up the mugs . . . .pennies under them all again.

Steve thought of something else.

"But why "The Passion of Joan of Arc"? Why not ANY other film?"

Winona put a penny on top of each mug. She started them moving again.

"Because he was looking for ANOTHER silent film all along . . . .'The Merry Widow'".

The mugs stopped. No pennies on top any. Two pennies underneath each when she turned them up.

"Why?"

"The movie was made by that von Stroheim guy I always go on about . . . .but this one was also cut. Not hours and hours like "Greed', but a few minutes.

"And one of the things they cut was a sequence that happens in a 'house of delights' . . . .the cast kept LOOKING through these little windows at a peep show that is going on in the next room. Over the years persistent rumors say they actually filmed the goings on in that peep show and it was something to see . . . .but of course, they had to cut it out."

Three pennies under every mug when they were turned up one after another. None on top. Winona started to move the mugs again.

"Now one of the mistakes people make is that they always assume that YOU are interested in the same thing THEY are . . . .Our boy hears or even SEES Vandome's guys from Eastman Kodak come to Brazil, looking for 'von Strophe film' . . . and probably thinks they're after "Merry Widow" . . . .he looks around, can't find it, but finds "Passion" . . .  remember, he's communist and English is a second language to him, maybe a third or fourth . . . he would have thought that it was not Biblical Passion, but erotic passion they were talking about."

She stopped the mugs again. One penny underneath all mugs. One penny on top.
"So he grabs the film, and to his surprise, finds out it's not erotic, but very rare anyway . . . .the con is born."

She spun the mugs. No pennies anywhere this time.

"And here is the clincher. 'The Merry Widow' takes place in Hapsburg Vienna . . . and Hungary would have been part of that old empire . . . .he would NOT have been able to resist THAT combination of factors . . . .

"Which mug?"

"I wasn't looking . . . "

"I know . . . ."

She tipped up the mugs. One penny under the first mug she place it under.

"He KNOWS that Vandome is always out to win my approval. He KNOWS that you and Rusty are tight. So he has this film that would look great as a centre piece in my collection of great females in cinema. He makes a print. Then he sends it up here to be auctioned off at Rusty's . . . .

"He figures he'll torch the print, but not before getting himself an artifact or two from your place . . . return it to the insurance company for a ransom, and in the meantime, his load of dirty flicks is on it's way to God knows where for him to peddle.

"Here, have some cheese cake. There is one piece left and you really look a little pale . . . .eat, you must EAT!!!"

CANNON CITY COL. NOV. 1960. DAY FIVE. 1200

Harv Price was watching the FBI men doing their work at the crime scene from the diner window. He started up talking to them when they came over a couple of days ago in the middle of the Steinmetz investigation and bought their meals there.

Harv had known Steinmetz slightly. They had worked at the same factory together. They had been laid off at the same time. Stienmetz for his boozing, Harv for lack of work. It Harv's case it meant a severance package.

Harv was married to Gussie, his wife of 20 years. She had been crippled in a car wreck, and had to stay in a wheelchair now. For a day, Harv was worried. Then his natural sense of optimism came back.

Harv had always found time to talk and joke and listen to people. He maintained THAT was the important part of life, all the little piddly conversations you can get into every day. He believed if you rushed, you would miss the best part of life by avoiding all the little things.

Something would turn up.

A day later, Sam at the diner offered Harv a job as the counter guy. It would keep him going until pension kicked in, and Harv drew people in to talk, then to eat . . . by the end of the second day, Harv had a raise.

Harv did not know it, but his habits had also paid off in ways he would not know about until a few days later.

Once, some time ago, a minor fender bender happened in front of the barber shop. Harv got a couple of cups of coffee for both parties and smoothed things over. A man Harv did not see who was passing through town watched this and took down the details.

Two weeks later, Harv received a special edition of a Readers Digest 'personality test' for him to complete for no obligation or cost to him whatsoever. Harv, who loved to enter contests and fill out questionnaires, spend a rewarding evening at it.

Gussie and he laughed out loud at some of the questions but he answered them all honestly and completely.

A week after that, he received an answer telling him he was a friendly, kind person, mentioned some other personality traits, and informed him that he was entered in a contest for a vacation to Las Vegas for filling out the forms and returning them in record time.

Harv had no way of knowing this test was not from Reader's Digest, but WAS testing his personality.

His introduction to The Committee had begun.

OFFICE OF SHERIFF DON MCGILL, NEVADA. NOV. 1960. DAY FIVE. 1340

"Boss, that chicken inspector has called again. He says they are killing people over at Chicken Springs ranch. Says they are putting the people into some sort of hole for the night, sort of tenderizing them, and when the coyotes finish, there aren't even BONES left . . . ."

Sheriff McGill almost wept.

"Tim, I told you before. He is ill. Be nice to him. Tell him we have sent word to Washington, but they aren't coming out yet. Tell him we are all stocked up, but will get to him sooner or later. Tell him anything, but just get rid of him."

"But sheriff . . . ."

"Tim . . . .think about it. Special PITS to TENDERIZE the BONES? Last month, it was communists coming from Korea. In gliders.

The month before that it was Chinese people stealing the secrets of the Chicken for Tomorrow. I think the month before that, it was Russian dogfighters.

I love him like a brother . . . .but he is ill . . . .and I won't let him be humiliated anymore by the town . . . .just leave him out there . . . .tell him to collect as much data as he can, and that the government boys will come . . . "

The sheriff's voice started to break.

"They were just kids and not even trained, Tim. He was supposed to be an MP in Japan . . . instead he got dumped in front of the first wave of the Korean War . . . .he's a hero, and I won't forget that . . . .no matter how hard he tries to turn himself into a town fool."
He unashamedly wiped his eyes and blew his nose.

Chapter 19: "I'm a Roadrunner, honey . . . ."

L.A. CA. NOV. 1960 DAY FIVE 1100

Jen pulled into the garage and killed the engine. Her Mom and Bro were out the house and hugging her.

"Sis! It's over! They're making a peace this morning and the whole thing should be on paper by close of day today!"

"How long was the war this time?"

"The longest EVER . . . two days . . . "

She gave her Mom a kiss and hug and showed her a sweat shirt that used to belong to "Aunt Stinky". Everyone was very happy for her.

"But THAT is not the best part . . . .'her mother interjected." . . . .remember that nasty old turkey Mr. Gates? Well we think he was behind this latest war, because after HE died, everything just fell into place . . . "

"Ricky!!! You DIDN'T?!?!?"

"No, no I didn't kill him or anything OUTRIGHT . . . ."

" . . . .then what . . . ."

"Well, you know 'bout Diane, right? We LOVE each other . . . .and she finally told the old goat and he hit her in the mouth and was getting a gun and his son Juan tried to stop him, then he just sort of made mouth motions like a FISH and fell over . . .  . . . "

"Yes, dear. The doctors said it was a stroke. All that nasty bacon. You know, THE LAW is there for a REASON, I say . . .  . . . do goys LISTEN? No. They keep on eating those nasty sandwiches that GLISTEN with fat and smoking those cigarettes and . . . .bang-o! One morning the pipe breaks and you are shoveling coal with Martin Boreman . . . ."

"Listen, Jen, you wanna get out of town for a couple of days? The treaty is still sort of in the fragile stages, and we might get things nailed down faster if . . . ."

Jen tried not to look like this was the one thing she wanted.

"Yeah, yeah. I SHOULD study for the exam next month, but that can wait . . . .how about I head out to Vegas with one of the Jen cabs? Rusty has a room on tap for me . . . You have the number and it would be safer there, I mean the place has armed GUARDS, for heavens' sake . . . And you KNOW he will let me get away with absolutely NOTHING . . . ."

"Mom?"

"Yeah, yeah, perfect place for you. I was thinking your sisters place in 'Frisco, but it is getting chilly now, and the desert air would be good for your health . . . ."

"Kid, take the number 3, we have a new fuel injection on it that I want to test on long hauls anyway . . . .but I want RECEIPTS for the gas!!!"

***************************

"Good morning doctor."

"Good morning, Phil. We got the blood tests back. Your levels are fine. I think your mood will probably continue to level out for the next week or so . . . .Any side effects?"
"Cotton mouth. I drink a lot more water now, and because I WANT to . . . .Not as nervous . . . ."

"Tell me your words."

"First word . . . .Coney Island . . . ."

"And what does THAT mean?"

"Coney Island stands for a roller coaster. That is what my moods really look like if you charted them out. They go up and down like a Coney Island roller coaster. I used to think the problem was like the Grand Canyon. That would be where the mood only goes down.

"But it was going up really high too, and I was just enjoying that because it would do my timing good and get real laughs . . . .The trick is to notice when the moods go up OR down too quickly . . . ."

"And the other word?"

"Grimaldi"

"And what does THAT mean?"

"100 years ago in England a doctor gets a patient that is totally a Sad Sack. The doctor says it is really quite simple. He should go down and see a new comedian in town called Grimaldi, that he would take his mind off his problems . . . .

"Then the Sad Sack says;' You don't understand. I"M Grimaldi'"

"And what does THAT mean?"

"That I should take care of myself first, and put my needs and the needs of my family ahead of making others happy. And I should watch for signs that I am over extended and not worry about the next gig or the next laugh . . . ."

"Very good. Now, here's something for you. Bilkco has been cancelled, yes? Would you like to do a final send off? I might have the means to let you make one. I've been talking to the owner of Rusty's Casino, and he would like to let you and the cast have a farewell show taped live in his place . . . "

"Dr. Johnson, that would be great. I really miss those guys and we never got to do a last episode, and it would be a great way of getting . . . .closure . . . .I think you call it . . . .Yeah, sure . . . .if you can swing it . . . .That would be great . . . .I can get the writers to come out next week . . . "

"Rusty is thinking of a 2 hour special. We could market it overseas as a feature film, and a half hour special before it airs that shows the send off . . . ."

Phil Silvers gave his fave smile at Dr. Robert Johnson and let out a soft chuckle . . . 

Winona Ryder made two phones calls once she figured out in her own mind what The Hungarians main objective was . . .

The first was to Rusty . . .

Rusty received her phone call and thought to himself for a period of five minutes . . .
He then phoned a lawyer in Las Vegas who worked for a certain casino . . . 

'Daniel Webster' WAS a casino lawyer . . . He also represented people in Miami who kept very good books . . .

"Daniel, I may have a track on some articles of yours that went missing last January . . "

It was not necessary to refer to the overthrow of the Batista regime in Havana more specifically then that . . .

Daniel replied he was all ears . . .

"I think certain FILMS went missing then . . . Well, they may surface here soon . . . If so, would you like them back?"

"It would be a kindness" the lawyer replied quietly . . . "We've been looking for them off and on all year . . . Tell me, was it our friends in Chicago?"

"No, not them . . . If my info is right, it was an outside job . . . Just happened to be in the right place at the right time . . . But I must know  . . . what EXACTLY is in the load? The truth, please . . . "

The lawyer sighed, and decided to not pursue a course of inquiry into exactly what truth was . . . Fine . . .

"Rusty, there were some 90 titles that were stolen . . . More or less, you can divide them into thirds . . . One were the usual nudie affairs Mr. . . . Hefner is putting out of businesses . . . Another were graphic sexual acts, but nothing degrading or painfull or to innocent bystanders . . . These were European imports . . . The final were the usual dog and pony shows, if you pardon the pun, that Havana has made since Washington was cutting his teeth . . .

"Many are legal in some parts of the States now . . . Some are legal or at least tolerated in most . . . Nothing would now stand up to a vigorous charge against pornography . . . If you like, I can send over a legal opinion on this . . . "

"Yes, please . . . I don't need to be caught in the middle of a smut war here . . . Gambling is legal in this county, but to keep the God-fearing church crowds coming, and JUST losing their shirts to good old fashioned games of chance, many of the blue laws are still in effect . . . 

"May I ask who it really belongs to?"

"The Miami crowd takes a slice as respect for moving it through Florida . . . The New Orleans people do the same if it heads through there . . . Like prostitution, it is not regarded highly by the old style Cosa Nostra . . . The nerve centre seems to shift from Arkansas to Kansas to Tennessee . . . As George Weiss used to say:" Those southerners LOVE that twisted stuff . . . "

"May I ask when my clients might expect it back?"

"I'll let you know if I find out  . . . nothing is in town yet, but if it comes and I can arrange a delivery, I would expect some consideration for my brokerage . . . "

"Such as?"

"You sent two dealers into my casino last year to try and pull a skim . . . Stop it . . . An no more trying to infiltrate my unions over here . . . If I have labor troubles, I want it to be with THEM and not with YOU . . . "

"Rusty, you run an honest ship . . . My clients respect that . . . They really do . . . But you cannot blame a guy for trying . . . Alright . . . We will let things play as they should . . . If you catch a man trying a skim, you may be sure it is not OUR idea to put him up to it  . . . You have always been fair to my clients and a good civic leader  . . . We appreciate the peace . . . "

"I also heard that if trouble comes to town I can depend on help up to force . . . I might need it, and that is help to keep this town an open and quiet city and should not be a debt that I owe anyone anything for  . . . "

"Rusty . . . WE would owe you . . . "

"A pleasure as always, 'Mr. Webster' . . .

Winona Ryder's second phone call was to Danni Hastings . . .

"Danni, who do you know that I could talk to in the Communist Party of America that is safe?"

" . . . huh?"

"Listen, last thing I need is for somebody on the other end of this phone line to get the wrong idea . . . I need reliable information to stop a killer without frying my career again . . . So I need to talk to somebody who is safe . . . Who have you got?"

"Wolf"

"You're shitting me!"

"Seriously . . . We even keep his membership paid up . . . The guy is also a member for the Catholic Cubans for Democracy, The Federalist League, The National Hot Rod Association, The Egg Farmers of America, he just fits IN  . . . we have to keep the lists on a computer now . . . "

"So what's the party line on porno these days?"

"Moscow sees it as an exploitation of the working classes and Peking is convinced it is a running dog capitalist roader plot to cheapen the socialist bond between working family units . . .

"In sort, they need a huge cut or own it before they will turn a blind eye . . . sort of like the church states . . . "

"Listen, find out who the minder for The Hungarian would be . . . and let him know his man is making hay on the side  . . . "

"I know where you're going, but we just are not that good . . . We know he has a minder and a handler from Moscow and Peking . . . We don't know who . . . All we can do is spread the word and HOPE it goes to the right people . . .  . . . but we have to use real soft brush strokes . . . To heavy a touch and they may see us coming . . . "

"But it's worth a shot . . . "

" . . . oh yeah . . . thanks for the tip and idea . . . you going to be in town much longer if I need you?"

"No, I'm getting a flight to Vegas as soon as I can . . . it looks like everybody is gonna have to head out there . . . "

"Maw-mee! WHY can't I sing at Rusty's Casino? I am TIRED of being in a STEAKHOUSE night after night after night . . . "

"Sweetheart, we have TRIED . . . But it IS Rusty's place . . . We will try again in a little while . . . We must not annoy the man . . . He could be our friend . . . Now, practice our poise . . . "

The tall blonde lady headed across the dining area and stopped in front of a man eating a lunch special . . .

"Hello, Leonard . . . "

Lenny Bruce sat up, startled . . .

"Barb . . . Hi . . . Sorry to hear about Matty . . . I loved him . . . Cried when I heard . . . Straight up . . . "

"Mr. . . . Schneider, WHAT are you doing here?"

"Luncheon special . . . Love pit beef . . . It just might kill me . . . But why so formal? MR . . . SCHNEIDER?? Even the judges call me Lenny Bruce  . . . "

". . . Lenny . . . what are you doing here?"

"Just eating . . . honest . . . the guy who was WITH me the other night was the one laughing . . . "

"I thought it was you . . . "

"No, I was invited to see him . . . we're old friends, and he picked this place . . . HE thought your daughter was laugh aloud funny . . . that was too sick for me . . . too cruel, man . . . "

In his mind, Lenny marveled at Wolf's ability to mix right in with the wall paper AGAIN . . . That guy was beginning to become very creepy . . . 

"I don't remember you with anybody else . . . well, maybe . . . a sort of insurance agent . . . maybe . . . "

Holy cow . . . It suddenly made horrible sense . . . Who would you pick to be an agent, somebody like that James Bond guy they wrote about, or somebody who nobody even saw? Holy cow  . . .

"I just don't want her turning up in any ROUTINES, Leonard . . . Understood?"

"Barb . . . I loved Manny . . . He was a nice guy who made it and never hurt anyone . . . He did handshake deals and that handshake was all you needed . . . In the bad old days he would let me come out on the boat . . . I loved it out there . . . We were just a couple of Jewish comedians with a bit of money and a boat . . . He was funnier then me and he never did a blue bit in his life . . . No, I wasn't gonna use his kid in a bit . . . that would be . . . "

"Too painful? Yes . . . I believe you Leonard . . . Your funniest bit is the comedian who bombs in England and throws up in the dressing room  . . . has to be smuggled out in drag . . . I think it is so funny because it is so personal . . . I don't think you could be cruel enough to use that kind of hurt on somebody else . . . "

Lenny admired her insight . . .

"Thank you Barb . . . "

"By the way, Manny loved you too . . . Your records were some of the few things that could make him laugh in those last bad days  . . . you, Laurel and Hardy, and a couple of others . . . His favorite bit was "Hitler and MCA" . . . "

"Thank you  . . . "

"By the way, what does that other man DO? The one who found my daughter SO funny?"

Lenny knew the worst thing he could tell Barb at this point was the truth . . .

"Comedy writer . . . Probably heading out to Vegas soon . . . I think he's between jobs . . . "

Perfect . . . She would run around in circles for weeks after that one . . .

But the damage was done . . . Barb would spend the next few hours doing her best to recall the laughing man . . . And when she had, she would get the next flight to Sin City . . .

L.A. CA. NOV. 1960 DAY FIVE 1300

It was past noon, and Chris needed a bite.

The cab dropped him off at a diner on the edge of Greektown in L.A. Wolf had given him the lowdown on to the place. Great marinated lamb.

The dark eyed bartender/waitress behind the counter looked at him with mock pity in her eyes.

"Chris you look like a human wreck. Here, a dark beer? Lamb on a bun?"
"Uh-huh.."

"Cabot is looking for you..and she is not happy.."

Susan Cabot made movies for American International. Chris had gotten a charge out of one, 'Sorority Girl', where she was in a tight dress and paddled a sister who was stretched out on a bed. She had the same gleam in her eye when she made love.

Cabot reminded him of what would have happened if Winona had a convict sister who had done five years for auto theft.

Chao sighed and took a drag from the dark beer.

"Helen, you cannot make ALL the women happy ALL the time.."

"You should concentrate on not making CERTAIN women UNHAPPY at ANY time.."

"So what's her beef?"

"Well, you make made passionate love to her for a week when she is in town, then she finds out about you and Jayne...is THAT enough?"

"Is there MORE?"

"Have a pickled egg..you'll need it...No, as a matter of fact, there is...the lady is passionate, like a GREEK woman, Chris, and we ALL hate to be double crossed. Get out of town, she is making the rounds, and I don't need blood on the floor. I might get my liquor liscense back next week if I don't have another shoot out.."

Too late.

Cabot was through the door and staring at Chao.

"...you..."

Chris was on his feet and dancing like Fred without Ginger. He made it to the door before she even had the gun aimed.

"Not HERE, honey!" yelled Helen" OUTSIDE! Shoot him in cold blood, but OUTSIDE!"
Cabot took this as encouragement and ran after him.

She managed to get off a couple of shots, but he was weaving. d**n 38's were only as accurate as far as you could throw them anyway..

Chao ran around a corner and tried for a cab. No use.

An open door. Nope.

An open car. No good.

He looked behind. She had gained...and picked up a 2 by 4.

Her first swing went wide and peeled paint from the brick wall. Her second connected to his shoulder and knocked him to the dirt in the alley.

Enough. He pulled out his own gun and pointed it right at her beautiful upturned nose.

Dead silence as she heard him cock it.

"Baby, you pack a kick, I give you that..."

She was breathing hard and crying.

The board was tossed away and she threw herself on top of him..

"Why do you spend time with that zeppelin woman when I want you SO MUCH??"

They started to kiss. He tried to get up, but she was pinning him.

He laid a good one on her and noticed she was beginning to relax....

Then, of course, Wolf drove up in his new Chev..

"What the heck??"

"What's HE doing here? Oh, I get it!!! I GET IT!!! Stalling until the troops arrive?

Keeping the motor running until he shows?"

This was not going well.

Chao dived into the rear and Wolf threw it into reverse and thought that with all the people diving into his car lately perhaps he should install a mattress..

Cabot had picked up the board again, and hammered the hood of the Chev.
"Ready to go to Vegas??"

"No, I thought I should go back in a get the sandwich...really...that's good money WASTED if I just leave it...hey, no, turn AROUND..."

"My man, let's just get some chicken at the Colonel's"

"Where's the FUN in that??"
 

Rusty expected to get a call back after talking to the Mob mouthpiece. He did not expect Vinny "Greazy Thumb' Amato to pay call.

Heavy stuff indeed.

They ordered lunch in the Chuck Wagon Room and exchanged cigars after. As Rusty leaned back in his chair, he recalled briefly the other times they had met.

Once had been a kidnapping. Once had been a murder. Once had been a turf war.
And this time?

Amato looked at him mildly.

"Am I to believe that you think the communists are moving in on the pornography market? That every time somebody sticks a nickel into a peepshow, he is funding Castro?"

"No. I think the communists in Moscow and Peking were caught with their pants around their ankles the same way you were when Castro came in. As I recall, everybody hit the road when the rebels took Havana and they didn't get a chance to take much.

"Now, follow along. Suppose one of the gun runners was in Havana when the mustard hit the fan. Sees a LOT of dirty movies hanging around. Suppose he doesn't give a care about the party line. He wants loot. So he ships it over to the States. In the days right after the revolution, it would have been an easy matter for someone they trusted."

"Go on."

"Now, he wants the stuff for himself, but..."

"He knows if he tries to take it, or make copies he will certainly be found out...."

"Correct. So he takes a month or two and spreads it all over Robin Hood's barn...a couple here, a couple there, makes the copies as he wishes...then after one year, he says to you:' I have found most of your dirty movies. I will return them to you in the safest city there is...Vegas...the open mob city in America...I ask only for a small...."

"FINDERS FEE...I will kill him..." When Rusty saw the fire in the old man's eyes, he knew Ryder had scored a bulls eye.

"But a week or so before the auction, the movies are fried in a fire, he even has proof..."

"....and the copies he made in the year off, he also has, of course, I WILL KILL HIM..."

"Who?"

"We know him as Omar...he is in fact situated here in Nevada waiting for the auction and the insurance money now. He came to us just as you said. Of course, leaving town now would look very bad. And we would have an interest in finding him...Do you know for sure that this has happened?"

"I received a call from Doc Slater a half hour ago. He and the insurance investigator found the remains of a lot of film cans that would correspond to what I'm telling you..The cans were listed on manifests with titles like "Pittsburgh, City of Steel" or "Cardinal Spellmen Discusses Morality for the Teenage Set"

"It COULD be a series of unrelated short films that were to be sold off to the highest bidder..."

"Yes, it could."

"It could also be our boy covering his tracks so we would not go after him and allow him to sell it to whoever he wants...even us again..."

"I thought your lawyer said you had no direct interest in..."

"We do not. We have a direct interest in the CUT. And with no more movies making it over from Havana, we have no more cut from there...we receive a small cut from our European enterprises, but it is, as you can guess, hardly the same...Now what do you propose?"

"Simple. My people keep looking. If the movies that went up in smoke were really about bass fishing and helping Chevrolet salesmen close a deal, we will let you know. But you and I are both unsure.

"If on the other hand, the films were your property, then you will want accounts squared. If he has copies, we find them and let you know. And I think I have a way for you to get this."

"I am listening..."

"We are both fans of the world of self defense. Boxing, wrestling. Judo. Karate. Yes?"

"Yes, of course...our establishments have co-operated in bringing many fights to town.."

"Yes, yes.....and I think we can work out something for our gun runner, Mr. Omar. Remember one of the central principals of wrestling and judo? Turning the opponents strengths against themselves? So that a man coming at you with a knife who weighs 200 pounds is forced to loose control of his weight and height and goes flying through the air?"

"So by making his height and weight disadvantages..."

"Very good, Senor Amato. Nobody wants blood on the Strip. I think I have a way to make our Mr. Omar turn against himself....and without OVERT force."

"Why did you tell me these things, Mr. Rusty?"

" I want to assure you I am working on this. I want no sudden moves. If I am right, he will call you soon and tell you the movies in the cans were in fact your product that was fried. Neither of us needs one of your torpedoes going off before he should and..."

"Either warning of the trap, or preventing it from working."

"Yes. I felt that knowing this would help you stay the hands of some of your men who might get over anxious."

"It could happen. By the way, your demands will be met. I will leave your casino alone. It was getting too hot anyway. The Nevada Gaming Commission really appears to MEAN it this time when they said they wanted your place to remain square...we have already given up on the Hughes Hotels as well..he is such a..."

"...unique and difficult man..."

Amato laughed.

"He is as crazy as a gin mill rat..Did he really build a bra for Jane Russell?"

"He built it, but she refused to wear it. Says it hurt too much. He has stuck to his story so long he believes it now."

"How sad.."

"...yes it is..."
 

Chapter 20: Playing Chicken

L.A. CA. NOV. 1960 DAY FIVE 1500

The suspect sat in the detention area and sweated. There was a single overhead light above him. It did not give off much heat. In fact, a casual visitor to the room would think it cold.

The red head walked in while the suspect kept standing at the large window in front of him.

"No, Manuel. Look at me. I am the main attraction here. Not them. They are LOCAL. I am FEDERALE. You are MINE now. "

He still did not get it. Stupid male dominated macho culture. She took his chin into her gloved hand and pulled it over so his eyes met with hers.

He sucked in his breath involuntarily. In front of him was a green eyed straight haired strawberry blonde who was so beautiful. Pale skin. But she gave off a sullen air that she was not to be fooled with. All the years of respecting female school teachers started to kick in and he sat up a little straighter.

"My name is Miss Hastings. I am your only hope. You have information we need. Give it to us. You think we do not know what you did. This is false. We have talked to the man who sold you the bomb. He tossed you over like a cow tosses off a fly from her back.

"If you do not give us the info, you will be put back on the street. You will die. There are two groups that want to kill you before suppertime tonight. Talk to me, and you will live. You have 15 minutes.

"LOOK AT ME. Into the eyes. I do NOT bluff. I don't have the time. If you want to live, if you want to cut a deal, and I have a good one for you, you have....14 minutes, 45 seconds. Your mothers' name is Maria. She cannot afford to bury you. She will soon be destitute because you will not be able to send her money to help her live. You will be buried in unconsecrated ground like a dog. You will be buried next to the street people and the street walkers and the dope fiends who have no soul. Or they will burn you and put you into a box. The box will be placed into another box and left in a warehouse with a number on the front.

"Your mother will never find you and probably die from shame if she did..

"You have 13 minutes and 58 seconds."

Hastings got up to get a Pepsi. Manuel licked his lips and started to speak.

"Why to you give me grief? We are on the same side. I did you and everyone a favor..."

"I'm listening..."

"I destroyed sin the other night, you hear? Sin. For years our country was known as the sewer of America, where you came to fornicate and gamble and treat our females like cattle. I destroyed sin."

"Where did you get the idea from, Manuel?"

"Why could I not find this idea myself?"

Another tack.

"Of course, you could think of this yourself. But you do not build bombs. Not like this one. Where did THAT come from?"

"One of the anti-Castro groups in town. We talk. And I told them that the Catholic church is now the only REAL opposition to Castro now. And we discussed how destroying sin like the sin shown in those movies would not be wrong. Not as long as no one died."

Hastings smiled like Satan.

She laid down a series of photos in front of the suspect, just like solitaire cards.
"These are pictures of Greek meat merchants. Portuguese martial arts instructors. Mexican air craft engineers. South African cowhands. And the man who we think might have sold you the bomb. Point him out."

Manuel found him in an instant.

"There he is...we would go to mass together...he found the bomb maker for me..."
She snapped the trap shut.

"His name is Alexi. He is a communist. Russian and Chinese. Double agent. Smuggler. He is about as Christian as the Beast and 666 is. You have been taken. He played on your faith like you were a school boy. Thanks to your simple black and white view of the world you did great evil. He wanted those movies destroyed so that they would be out of the way...his boss made copies of them for himself..he will probably make twice the money he could have before because of your stupid complicity."

The man reacted as if he had been slapped. He stared in disbelief. Looking into her eyes he saw with certainty it was all true. he began to crumble.

"What do you need to know? What is the deal?"

"We are going to save your life. First of all, you will be put in a federal prison. You will not go to Bay of Pigs.

That mission is doomed. The men who go there will end up in a Cuban jail. Or dead.
"You will serve time for arson. You will get time off for good behavior. Your mother will be taken care of in the meantime. When you come out, you will work for Mr. Lobo. He knows you. You do not know him. "

The man nodded slowly .

She walked out and got her Pepsi
 

"Did you ever consider the notion that you are obsessed with breasts?" said Wolf, watching Chris Chao demolish the fried chicken in front of him.

"...thmusk thu.." said Chao through a bite of Kentucky Fried Chicken.

"No, no..really, you should think about this. That's your 4th piece, and a BREAST I might add. What did you eat out of the bucket? Only white meat..what kind of girls do you date here in America? Big boobed ones.

"Think about it. I would imagine Big Daddy would give you a discount.."

Chris washed down the white meat with a Fresca.

"First of all, you forget how much BETTER Kentucky Fried Chicken IS over here. I cannot account for it, but there is something about eating it here in America that makes it...addictive to me...The Colonel is correct...it makes me want to lick my fingers off.."

"What?"

"Its' how the slogan 'finger licking good' got translated in some countries...rather vivid picture..no?

"Secondly, breasts are an American obsession too. Look at the bumpers of your cars. Your life jackets you named after Mae West. And hey, when in Rome..."

"Speaking of chickens, what did you find?"

"In Greektown? Two leads into Nevada. I was luckier then you. You've been checking those boys out for months trying to find someone who is buying fighting birds, and it just paid off for me. One is called the Chicken Springs ranch. The other is the Flying Rooster. I figure we go out and check with the locals...there would be agricultural or food boys out there after that sort of thing, correct?"

"Yeah. Department of Agriculture. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Humane Society. Maybe even the sheriff if someone has complained. Here. Let's figure out what county the two joints are in and we can stop off and see the sheriff's office."

***********************

Hastings went next door to the deli to decompress. In a way she did not blame the guy at all. He was just stupid. Headstrong and stupid and running off half cocked like too many other jerks she had seen used.

She brushed her hair back and opened the bottle off the counter opener in a fluid motion.

She saw him sitting at the middle of the counter in his uniform. The shirt was pressed and he smiled at her. L.A. cop. Big. Strong. Well defined muscles. Nice.

He walked over and sat down.

She smiled back.

He guessed she was FBI. Well, almost, she told him. She was sent from department to department when the need arose. Right now she was on some Cuban smuggling. How was the sub today?

He told her it wasn't bad, that the whole wheat bun always held up better then the white. Asked if the dust up from the other night was going okay.

She asked what he had heard and he told her that an agent had been shot and was in poor condition now.

She told him the man was doing better, but he'd be wounded for life. He asked if that was the one that had happened at Winona Ryder's house. She told him it was at Jayne Mansfields' but Winona saw it.

She was saying something about violence and wanted to make a point but touched him on the shoulder.

He shivered. Like a young colt or a dog touched unexpectedly. She withdrew her hand.
"Are you a Christian?" he asked.

"Yes. Yes, I am" she replied. Danni didn't know why she was telling him this. It was usually only after the second date or so she would get into belief systems..but something about this guy got to her...she could almost detect a charcoal smell of a soul that had been scorched by life.

" Well Officer Duck, I see you are wearing a medallion under your shirt...the chain is showing...who is it?"

"The blessed Joan of Arc...my favorite saint.."

"Are you married?"

"..No..." more shivers.

"Did they hurt you badly?"

"WHO?"

"Hey, easy, big boy...easy...the people who made you so...worried...you had it bad, didn't you?"

"Yes. They would make fun of me. Of my faith...Has this also happened to you?"
"A lot...tell folks you're Christian and they automatically think you're a gullible rube or some sort of intolerant bigot who handles snakes or a zealot out to destroy all their fun."

"...yes..."

"In a way, we only have ourselves to blame. We got too big and powerful. And the religion that was founded for and by the under-dog became the cheerleader to the status quo. Like a spiritual chamber of commerce. We forgot what we are here for..."
He turned and gave her his full attention. His gaze froze her. The force of it rooted her to the stool.

"Why do you think we are here? I used to think I knew..I used to think it was to be a good American and do the word of the Lord..."

"But then you had to kill people..."

He barely whispered now.

"How did you KNOW? It is like I have known you forever. How did you KNOW?"
"Because it happens to me. We want to love our fellow man and then we have to blow him away with a .45 that leaves a hole the size of a salad plate in his spine. It affects you..."

"Yes. Yes. Killing is an AWFUL thing."

"So what are you up to?"

"I have to go and see Winona Ryder soon."

Danni thought this was still about the shooting from the other night.

"Save your breath to cool your burrito. She is leaving for Vegas. Won't be back for a week, maybe more. Take her statement then. And get in line. I think the feds have first crack."

"Can I see you ...again?"

She paused and really considered this.

"Yes. I would like that. I would like to see you when you are relaxed...I don't think I have met a man who has so little pretension or guile to him...you seem so NATURAL."
"What about...what about tonight?"

"Yeah...yeah okay...I get off at five. Meet me here.."

"I have a date."

"Yes, Don Duck...you do...Gawd, what an awful name.."

"My mother gave it to me...just before the first Donald Duck cartoon came out...still it could have been worse..she... could have ...called me...Dafffy..."

He gave her the shyest smile in the world and Danni Hastings was smitten.



L.A. CA NOV. 1960 DAY FIVE 1530

"'nother spoonfull..." Big Daddy had jello and was trying to get Willie to take more.
"So tell me what happened next."

"She breaks the guy into little parts. He confesses. She and 'Mr. Lobo' now have a new informant. He'll penetrate the Castro or anti-Castro people, depending on what they need that day.

"'nother spoonfull.."

"This stuff tastes like crap."

"Impossible. They took the crap flavored jello out of here years ago. Just not popular."

"Where is everybody?"

"Charles is off to play guitar with John Coltrane. I think Winona is having a sauna or something before she splits town. Jen is gone. Wolf and Chao are going. Franciso is going to Vegas on MGM's dollar, they want her to get some background for another Elvis flick."

"mmmfhhffnmm..."

"No...she does rewrites for Elvis' scripts. Usually when he says something that is halfway funny, it's her. Strange. She comes up with the joke. It comes out of his mouth..he can't get over it either."

"fffddmnmnrdrtdd?"

"Yeah. He tried to play there in Vegas once. Bombed at a hotel called the 'New Frontier'.."

He paused and would not take the next mouthfull.

"..'nother spoonful..."

Willy placed his hand on Big Daddy's wrist...

"My life is fried now..."

"Nonsense..you will get your job back. Five will get you fifty."

"No, the bureau won't take me back..at least not in the field..."

"A parable for you...ever hear of a guy called Ed Ulmer?"

"No."

"Oh, don't be that way. This is not one of my LONG stories and even you will like it...Ed made movies for the cheapest studio in town. PRC. He would take whatever he could find and use it to his advantage.

"In one of his flicks, 'The Man from Planet X', he used sets left over from Ingrid Bergman's 'Joan of Arc'. They were free, so the action is moved to the Highlands. In another, he had use of a swimming pool. So the hero was a swimming champ in high school. My fave is something called 'Detour'. Made it in 4 days with I think 5 sets. Uses this to create tension through claustrophobia.

"See where I am going with this?"

"No."

"...'nother mouthfull. You have a colostomy now. We use this. Most people don't know that they have changed. In the bad old days you had to walk around like you had a metal cup glued to your gut. You'll have motor...the ability to move around...we use you in a key role to catch The Hungarian, the FBI sees the error in it's sort sighted policy of leaving people who have been wounded at the curb. You become a hero and get your face in Schick shaving ads.

"I disappear into the background where I like it. 'nother mouthfull."

"How did it go for you?"

"They came around to see me after my morning appointments. We talked. They're sending me to work things out with the guy I shot at way back when. Sort of like what happens when one FBI agent accidentally shoots another one...Charles was right...it HAS happened before...and you both get to show the other guy you really didn't MEAN it and that you won't do it again..."

"id they have ALL your aliases?"

"They had Charley Patton, Robert Lockwood Jr., Bob Brian King, Loman Pauling, Norman Zenos, F.E. Zommer, Charles Foster Kane...if that movie ever becomes popular it'll have to go, that's a good one.."

"Very funny...so what happens now?"

"Rest up. You'll be sent home soon, then I'll send you out a ticket...oh, to me? Well, if this works out, I get a get out of jail free card. I'm not charged with anything now, but they DO want to know where I'll be..."

"How come Powell wanted you so bad? Why is your file right next to The Hungarians' in his things?"

"We think the same way. We like being on the outside and letting people know if they are smart enough to get our clues. Remember The Hungarians alias- Mishima? The writer? I predicted that. He wants to leave clues. Same with me. Most of the aliases are blues dudes. Johnny Otis could have solved this in 10 minutes..

"We both have ego. We both dropped out. He responded only to terror or threats of terror. So he became a terrorist. A thug. Society and it's rules mean nothing to him. I lost the things I ever loved or feared. So I just quit the rat race. It helped that both of us probably stopped caring what people think at about the age of 10.

"Powell wanted me to use my thinking to catch him."

"Who is Miranda? Where are you from?"

"...'nother mouthfull..."

Charles came into the club and shook hands with John Coltrane. He never got over how unassuming the man was. How gentle.

The two settled into a theme and a groove that they would work on that night.
Coltrane blew long and slow and complicated, like a storm building from the inside out and covering the prairie. Charles alternated between individual notes and three and four note chords to respond and push the clouds...the way a child might hold up a balloon with his finger and keep it off the floor. But the attention must always be directed towards the balloon. All action was to move it forward.

Art Taylor, the drummer, drove them on with a beat that was a responsive as a Porsche. Slow. Fast. Seashore sounds with the brush...\

Take off time.

Miles Davis always wondered why it took Coltrane so LONG to get where he was going with his solos. Coltrane replied it took all that time for him to get what he was doing right.

Tonight the clouds were covering everything now. The horn was picking up steam and what some listeners called his 'angry music' was coming out. Charles started to involuntarily play with his mouth open..His notes became louder to hold, match, contrast the storm. His guitar was almost all chords now, and getting louder.

'Trane was pouring it on, fast and intense, like heavy rain on a corrugated metal roof. Taylor almost seemed to be ignoring him, but his beat was looping around and setting up the theme and counter theme and would suddenly make sense with a big bow tied around it.

And then it was over and the three turned to each other and realized they had been at this for 45 minutes.

Charles was sweating and loose.

Coltrane looked not UNHAPPY with the results.

Taylor gave Osborne a glance as if to say; "Hey, he's his own worst critic...be happy with what you get there..."

They played with the theme again and were ready for the first set.

Ralph Gleason once said that Coltrane's art, making it up on the spot every night in a smokey night club, was like a poet composing in the middle of grand central station.
Osborne almost felt liking bowing to him.

Instead, he offered him a Canada Dry. Cold . Coltrane was off the hooch and looking better for it.

Charles hoped he had quit soon enough..the jazz world was littered with the men who hadn't ...and Coltrane's art form...the intense blowing on the horn.. was severe enough to shorten his life if he was not in top shape. Like Mario Lanza. Tenor. One night he just blew a head pipe getting ready for his show in Vegas.

Never came back.

Sad thing was, Charles knew most of America would never know the difference.
 

L.A. CA NOV. 1960 DAY FIVE 1800

Powell knew hospitals. They never really slept. All you had to do was know when and where to come in.

Sam Arkoff had been right, even though Powell had not heard him. Steal often enough, and long enough, and a thief starts to think he has a RIGHT to what he has taken.

And Powell had taken a lot from all sorts. He had originally put it all into accounts to fight communism.

Then he regarded his theft as an anti-communism TAX. And who better to administer the tax, then him, a loyal American?

He started to move the money to South America, where you could get steak the size of a record LP and an inch thick for practically nothing..South America was also not into being cool and hip and those banks in his mind would withstand the communist forces when they came..And they were coming, they WERE coming..

Now, once he had finished off Willy, he would go to his money.

There was a knife strapped to his leg. He had a gun in his shoulder holster. The arsenic was in gel cabs in his breast pocket protector inside a ballpoint pen shell.
He moved towards the ward.

*******************

Big Daddy was only partially right. Winona was relaxing before she split town, but not just at a sauna.

It was one of her most closely guarded secrets. Some friends and her had bought out a turkish bath/sauna/whirlpool/steam room a couple of years ago and used it only for themselves. It gave the actresses a place where they could go and let their hair down and have a good old fashioned hen party.

Today, the 'Stevens Sisters' Stella and Connie, were on the top rafters of the sauna. Jayne was getting a massage. Winona was laying on the wooden bench and laughing her head off. Susan Cabot was beside her, bumming a Camel and telling her story.
Marilyn Monroe listened while she had her hip rubbed by Levi, her physio wizard.
"So...so...he did not KNOW you only had BLANKS in the gun??" Winona was laughing so hard her breath could not keep up.

"NO! And neither did Helen! I NEEDED her to go ape when I pulled in there...oh, you should have SEEN him DIVE into Wolf's car...he could have made the track pole vault team or diving team EASY..very nice FORM.."

"Yeah, but I still don't like being called a 'zeppelin girl' even if it is in jest" pouted Jayne
"Oh Jayne..."said Connie dreamily "They ARE zeppelins. Beautiful big zeppelins that defy gravity and keep men awake at night. It's TRUE.."

Everybody laughed and Jayne had to agree.

"But I just about froze when he pulled out HIS gun..Only thing I could THINK of doing was throwing myself at him...it doesn't take much to get that guy to switch gears.."

Marilyn groaned as Levi put her through his paces. He had the intense concentration of the specialist that made him lose track of the ladies in the room. For him, there was hip movement and range of motion. The ladies might as well have been fat business men closing a stock deal..

"They use us and they cast us away, ladies" announced Monroe." I chopped that piece off my one high heel to put more spring in my step and what do I get for it? A better picture and a bad hip..And the studios do not care.."

"When I did the Hitchcock it was like that..."Winona replied."..he would get the sets right, then say 'Okay, bring in the cattle' and the actors and actresses would be brought in..at least he was honest about it."

*****************

Powell made it into the room where they had Willy.

He crossed the floor, taking his time to be very quiet.

Nobody. Nothing.

He paused and picked up a pillow from the other bed and turned to the sleeping form of Willy. He could hear the regular, steady breathing.

Powell leaned over and stuffed the pillow as hard as he could against Willy's face.

He felt the point of a knife in his back.

"Do you know what the lamp post theory is? Says a guy will always circle back to the place where he started from when he is lost...All we had to do was wait..."

Powell had trained long and hard in martial arts for the day when he would have to do hand to hand combat with the filthy reds. His right hand swung down and had the knife off his ankle in a fluid motion, while his left side turned away from Big Daddy and the blade came down in the other man's hand.

He heard Big Daddy suck in his breath through his teeth in pain and anger.

"Know what? A very large part of me WANTED you to do that..."

*******************

Connie Stevens poured some more water on the rocks and adjusted her towel for comfort.

"Ladies, we will ALL be sold for used parts the day after we do NOT bring in enough money for the producer and studio...our only hope is to come here and keep the parts working..." She raised a glass of carrot juice in a toast to Winona.

"Thanks to Levi here, I'll make it through that rodeo movie with Gable.."Marilyn chimed in."Does it ever just AMAZE anybody else? I mean, we get to work with directors like Hitchcock and Huston, and be on the screen with guys like Gable..."

"Especially after seeing them as little girls in the neighborhood movie house" added Hepburn, who had just come out of the whirl pool. "No, I never get over it..

"Neither do I," replied Winona "But at the same time, I always think that if you weren't happy before you made the movie, you won't be happy after...A lot of us just let the studios eat us up and never figure out what the rest of our lives mean.."

"Speaking of meaning..PLEASE TELL ME why, Marilyn, you INHALE so deeply on those cigs of yours.." asked Cabot

"The sauna get really really hot in here, then I take a drag on the cig. Suddenly my lungs are just as hot as the outside of my body...and I feel like I have disappeared..for a moment, it is bliss..."

Winona and Audrey exchanged sad worried looks to each other.

Hepburn butted out. Winona had thought about lighting up another, but decided to put it off for now..

L.A. CA. NOV. 1960 DAY FIVE 1900

Wolf sat down across from the suspect.

"Do you know me?"

"Aren't you the cartoon host in Florida? Cowboy Larry-o? The guy who comes on everyday at lunch and introduces Bugs Bunny and Koko? "

"Yes...yes, I am..I am also Senor Lobo...I will be your new boss.."

"Who is he?"

"The man behind me? Manuel, this is Dr. Johnson. We have to do a little, well, a sort of surgery on you..."

Manuel was NOT in the market for this.

"WHAT kind of surgery?"

"Manuel, we have to give you a cover. We want to charge you with attempting to murder an FBI agent...now, now..hear me out...Here is the sworn papers from the FBI...we want to give you a cut, right here, like I have under my thumb...see? I got this tonight, when I saved the life of the FBI agent...he is still alive...we have the real man who did this to me.

But to balance the books, we need to give you a similar cut. That's what I'm here for. This is freezing, Manuel. I will freeze the thumb area, and cut you with this sterile scalpel and give you a cut not as deep, but one that will heal with a scar...this will be your ticket into the terrorist underground..."

**************************

Powell was a study in cool quiet.

Hastings had to admire that, but at the same time, expected nothing less. He knew most of her rules of engagement, and with his lawyer sitting there, probably thought he had all the aces.

She started in. Tossing the folder on the table was always good. She even waited for them to look at them a NICE long time.

"See, Powell, you were good. You posed as Alexi. You cultivated the Cuban and then sold him the bomb. "

"Your proof for the bomb sale accusation, agent?'

"Statement from the maker. Here.

See, I checked in with Powell in the afternoon on my way to another agent. Standard government policy. Right, Powell? You can see where I even signed in and out..Your bomb boy also planted the old New Deal bug in my room...THAT was stupid...I found it FEEDBACKING on the phone...VERY insulting...but you never liked ladies in the field...

***************************

"Is that why you got into the 'females in movies' thing, Winona? Because you don't want our work to disappear?" Jill St. John had walked in from the pool, wafting a chlorine smell as she strolled up to the upper rafters of the sauna.

"That was what the idea boiled down to." she replied. "It started with the Hitchcock flick. While I was making it, Ida Lupino came out with that thriller of hers. I watched the thing and was just AMAZED. If Hitchcock had made THAT, he would have been re-hailed as a genius. No question.

"What happens instead? It does okay business. Now I know there are a lot of reasons why ANY flick flops, but I had to know...so one night I got a copy of "The Hitch hiker' and had the credits redone so it showed 'Hitch's name. Showed it to the critics who missed it the first time around.."

"...and they thought it was a glorious return of an old master..." chimed in Stella Stevens.

"Yeah, they did.." replied Winona. "And what I figured was true. It was a hell of a lot harder for a gal to get a hit or even be a director in this town. I'm NOT slamming the guys. I love Hitchcock's stuff.

"But shouldn't a little girl want to be Mike Todd besides wanting to be Liz Taylor?"

*************************

"Your bomb maker was paid by you to sell the bomb to Manuel...who has I.D'ed you, by the way...then turned you BOTH in to us...Osborne found him this afternoon, after he saw one of his sources...the source found the Russian bomb, but he also came up with a second bomb that is from, like, page one of "How to Spot and Disable Most Spy Bombs" from one of the old field guides left over from the O.S.S. days....you remember, they changed their name to the CIA?"

"Now, MAYBE, somebody from the O.S.S. just decided to dig out his old 'how-to-books' for kicks, and just did the instructions in REVERSE. But we thought, HEY, let's check out the more REASONABLE suspect..and that was Junior Vincent..."

Powell just sat there.

"Remember Vincent? Really really mad when his Dad was bounced from THE INSIDE without a pension? Dad was advising the Anti-Japanese forces in China, which turned out to be the communists? Couldn't tell Mao from Cho en Lai, but got fired for sympathies? Tried to commit suicide?

"Remember the son..Junior Vincent? You should, because you tried to extort him in one of your first plays. Here's your old files on it...

Didn't work. He became the Mad Bomber of San Francisco. So good we actually had to pay him off and let him go away.

"See, our peace treaty with him was still in force. Then you go in an' tell him that his old man is gonna be bounced from the payroll unless he makes you ONE more really really good bomb...

"It helped you were his contact. It also helped when we showed him proof you were blowing smoke and father was still making what we agreed to pay him. It REALLY helped when we got the old guy on the phone and they talked for about half the afternoon on the government dime.."

"Don't say anything..." advised Powell's lawyer. Powell wasn't going to.

"Now, all of this would have been perfect. You posed as Alexi for the Cuban. Junior Vincent you simply muscled. But what you did not count on was that the REAL Alexi came out of the ground at the same time you were impersonating him..

"I mean, d**n! WHAT are the chances, huh? Guy you had been looking for, off and on, for what? A decade, more? Some say he didn't even EXIST.. and you imitate him because he's a safe bet not to show that night...I MEAN, WHO WANTS TO BLOW UP AN AUCTION HOUSE, RIGHT?"

"I think we will listen to your offer..."

"YOU WILL SHUT UP..." howled Powell to his lawyer.

The lawyer turned and snapped at his client with enough cold in his voice to freeze meat.

"No, Mr. Powell. You will be quiet. Or you can phone up a new lawyer...which will it be, sir?"

Powel swallowed hard and looked into the eyes of Danni Hastings.

"Okay. I am listening."

"Actually, you get the best deal ever made. You disappear. You will be charged with extortion, and graft and attempted murder, on two counts. There are all sorts of little charges on the way, like holding and firing a weapon at a federal agent, and fleeing arrest, the usual stuff.

"Our boys behind the glass added it up. It comes to a hundred years give or take. You will be behind bars for the rest of your life. Period. We put a lot of money in your training, and the idea of you just wasting in jail DOES bother us on a purely economic level. I know you were figuring that when you came in here. Also that we would pull our punches about this whole thing because of the bad publicity.

"But you see, you pretended to be Alexi, and we have somebody who says you ARE. And a blown up warehouse to prove it..not to mention an agent you tried to murder in cold blood. Twice.

"I know, I know, Bill Wine was just business. The first time was political. He wasn't as far right as you.

"But as Alexi, we have no problem lining you up against a wall and 'pop goes the weasel"

"What do you want?"

"Mishima."

The lawyer and the client looked at each other.

"Is this word a form of slang? I don't understand..."

And Hastings honestly didn't think he did.

"What about Omar?"

"Never heard of him.."

"Okay...here is the deal. We send you to a prison we have for federal foul ups. Don't worry, you'll never get out. We built it for captured war criminals...where it is, you don't know.

"You will work for us now and again. We will send you stuff we want you to look at. You will go through a handler. Nothing you say will be repeated directly. Nothing you touch will ever come back out from the Black Hole.

"We want all the money back from South America. We want all your lists.

"Take your time. You probably want to hear from your lawyer that we can really do all of this.

"He is going to tell you we can. Also don't hold back info."
 

************************

"Things really picked up that summer in Italy. I went and saw Chuck Heston making Ben Hur and ran into some of the drivers from the first flick who were there to kick over the old times.

"The silent version had gone through a LOT of horses, and the guys were full of stories about how June Mathis had saved the flick from going up in smoke and taking MGM with it.

"Well this BULB just goes off in my head and I remember she was the one who got stuck with cutting "Greed" and got kicked in the teeth for her trouble"

"Then she finds out about pre-code silent flicks" laughed Marilyn as she stubbed out her filter." No CENSORS back then. There is a guy with GREAT buns in the galley boat scene that is BUCK naked chained against the rear of the boat..Honest, he's there...Winona showed him to me one afternoon at the MoMA and I just about died."

Jayne got up from the sauna and stretched.

"Then she found out about the females that not only directed but actually ran studios back then. And she found out about "Passion" and my backyard has not been the same since.'

***********************

Manuel was almost ready.

"Okay, I think I understand. The man who tried to kill an FBI agent tonight, he was also the same guy who set me up with the bomb?"

"Correct' responded Wolf " He was using you. Found out about you and how you hated the dirty movies and then gradually fed you the idea of blowing up the place.

"After you were a criminal, he would have something on you, and you would be in his power forever."

"He was not the REAL Alexi?"

"No...the real one, weirdly enough, was also trying to burn the joint down. After the same stuff actually. He wanted to drive up the price of what was left for his boss. Supply and demand. Supply and demand.

"We take the fake guy who set you up and put him in jail. We still are not 100 per cent sure he is telling the truth. We put him away and keep stuff quiet. We only say that somebody tried to stab an FBI agent and was wounded tonight in the attempt.

"That's where you come in. You take the rap, and everybody believes you.

"Okay?"

"Just one more question. How come Dr. Johnson has SO much freezing in his bag?"

Dr. Johnson chuckled softly as he applied the swab to the skin.

"My man, sometime, let me tell you about the night there just WASN'T enough to go around. You can't hear it right now, but somebody behind that glass is laughing his head off over THAT memory. Trust me. I always have enough freezing.

"Didn't feel a thing, did you? Bleeds a little . Okay."

L.A. CA NOV. 1960 DAY FIVE 2200

The second set with Coltrane was starting, and this one promised to be slow.
Charles wound his notes tight around Taylors' beat and the two intertwined to create a steady musical margin to better define the notebook that was the music of John Coltrane.

Amateurs sometimes think the slow songs are easier to get away with in the jazz setting. Nonsense.

With a just a trio, and with the time slowed down the interplay becomes only slightly less important then the guitarists fingers.

Coltrane expanded his chords and started to wrap them around the edges of the border the two created...this was the music he made the critics called the sheets of sound....Heavier then iron, lighter then rain...it cast a spell on the nightclub, and even Rebecca at a side table, and watching Charles, fell under it' later she would tell him what she thought and felt during the music. Later.

It lasted for a day. It lasted for a year. In linear time the set lasted for just under 57 minutes.

Charles was sweating when he was done, but felt about 9 pounds lighter..he mind was filled with the slow beauty of the things he had helped create in just under that hour.
"You were brilliant." Rebecca cooed

"No, I just played with somebody who was, but thanks. I like to think I was the table the fresh fruit was served on tonight."

***********************

Doc Slater picked up Buster Keaton and headed to the Inter State with him. It was Keaton's idea to drive. The man thought it would be 'nice' to see the desert in the moonlight.

"No Spence tonight?"

"No. His wife was very very angry. He slipped out of the house for his visit with me. He was out late, and she says he has to be home. Looking after my driver is a full time job, sometimes.

"Don't let it bother you. He'll be back with us in a couple of days...it's a big house...he'll slip out when she isn't looking..I'll leave word at the front desk."

********************

Hastings ran over to the diner when she remembered her date.

Officer Duck was sitting there.

"You got my message? You're not angry?"

Then Officer Duck turned around and Danni Hastings wanted to throw up.

"Do I know you?"

"Who are you?"

"Officer Donald Duck..but you already seemed to know me.."

"Somebody has been leading me along, officer." her sharp professionalism clamped down hard now. "Any reports on impersonations of police officers in the city?"

"We had a report of a guy impersonating cops in the next state a couple of days ago.."
She heard nothing after that.

Danni did not cry or make a face. She ordered her usual diet Pepsi. She made appropriate eye contact with the real Donald Duck and nodded her head at the right time.

She left the diner and drove out to her hotel room.

At the room she took off her gun and placed it on the nightstand. She left the lights out and stared at the contents of her pocket.

Some days it seemed the stuff she was left with at the end of the day belonged to another person. She could understand then the feelings of strangeness the people who said they had been abducted by UFO's always claimed to feel.

Her emotions remained in a dark closet at the back of her head. She would pull them out in a day, a week, a month. When they didn't knock anymore. When she knew they weren't alive.

Until then, she would only gingerly think about the fact she had started to love a killer, and that the man of her dreams was only a rebroadcast of old police reruns.

With the lights out, she stared out into the L.A. night until she feel asleep.
 

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