Free L.A. Confidential by James Ellroy Page B

and stays on the Department, because that is one civilian you do not want on your case."
      "Is that why you didn't tell Loew he brought most of the liquor?"
      A clerk called, "John Vincennes, five minutes."
      Jack got up some nerve. "I'm snitching three old-timers who'll be fishing in Oregon next week. Next to you, I'm clean. And smart."
      "We're both doing the right thing. Only you hate yourself for it, and that's not smart."
      Jack saw Ellis Loew and Karen down the hall. Loew walked up. "I told Joan you were testifying today, and she told Karen. I'm sorry, and I told Joan in confidence. _Jack, I'm sorry_. I told Karen she couldn't watch in chambers, that she'll have to listen over the speaker in my office. _Jack, I'm sorry_."
      "Jewboy, you sure know how to guarantee a witness."

    CHAPTER THIRTEEN

      Bud nursed a highball.
      Jukebox noise pounded him; he had the worst seat in the bar--a sofa back by the pay phones. His old football wounds throbbed--like his hard-on for Exley. No badge, no gun, indictments shooting his way--the fortyish redhead looked like the best thing he'd ever seen. He carried his drink over.
      She smiled at him. The red looked fake--but she had a kind face. Bud smiled. "That an old-fashioned you're drinking?"
      "Yes, and my name's Angela."
      "My name's Bud."
      "Nobody was born with the name 'Bud."'
      "They stick you with a name like 'Wendell,' you look for an alias."
      Angela laughed. "What do you do, _Bud?_"
      "I'm sorta between jobs right now."
      "Oh? Well, what _did_ you do?"
      SUSPENDED! YOU DUMB FUCK LOOKING. A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH! "I wouldn't play ball with my boss. Angela, what do you say--"
      "You mean like a union dispute or something? I'm in the United Federation of Teachers, and my ex-husband was a shop steward with the Teamsters. Is that what you--"
      Bud felt a hand on his shoulder. "Lad, might I have a word with you?"
      Dudley Smith. CALL IT I.A. RUNNING TAILS.
      "This business, Lieutenant?"
      "It is indeed. Say good night to your new friend and join me by those back tables. I've told the bartender to turn the music down so we can talk."
      A jump tune went soft; Smith walked off. A sailor had his hooks into Angela. Bud eased over to the lounges.
      Cozy: Smith, two chairs, a table--a newspaper covering the top, a little mound underneath. Bud sat down. "Is I.A. tailing me?"
      "Yes, and other likely indictees. It was your chum Exley's idea. The lad has a piece of Chief Parker's ear, and he told him that you and Stensland might be driven to commit rash acts. Exley vilified you and many other fine men on the witness stand, lad. I've read the transcript. His testimony was high treason and a despicable affront to all honorable policemen."
      Stens--holed up on a bender. "Don't that paper say we been indicted?"
      "Don't be precipitous, lad. I've used my piece of the chief's ear to have your tail called off, so you're with a friend."
      "Lieutenant, what do you want?"
      Smith said, "Call me Dudley."
      "_Dudley_, what do you want?"
      Ho, ho, ho--a beautiful tenor. "Lad, you impress me. I admire your refusal to testify and your loyalty to your partner, however unfounded. I admire you as a policeman, particularly your adherence to violence where needed as a necessary adjunct to the job, and I am most impressed by your punishment of woman beaters. Do you hate them, lad?"
      Big words--his head spun. "Yeah, I hate them."
      "And for good reason, judging from what I know of your background. Do you hate anything else quite so much?"
      Fists so tight his hands ached. "Exley. Fucking Exley. Trashcan Jack, he's gotta be up there, too. Dick Stens is giving himself cirrhosis 'cause those two squealed us off."
      Smith shook his head. "Not Vincennes, lad. He was the stalking horse for the Department, and we needed him to give the D.A.'S Office some bodies. He only snitched twenty-year men, and he took the blame for the liquor you brought to the