Title:L.A. Confidential
Author(s): James Ellroy
Publisher(s): Arrow Books Ltd
Pages: 496
Year: 1998
Format: PDF
Language: English
**************************************************************************************
Download
The random article:
Jack killed time—thinking about Karen. Ten days since the party; life was mostly aces. He had to apologize to Spade Cooley; Welton Morrow was pissed over him and Karen—but the lukewarm Joanie/Ellis Loew deal almost made it up for him. Hotel shacks were a strain—Karen lived at home, his place was a dive, he$prime;d been neglecting his payments to the Scoggins kids to make the freight at the Ambassador. Karen loved the illicit romance; he loved her loving it. Aces. But Sid Hudgens hadn$prime;t called arid L.A. was heroin dry—no Narco jollies. A year at Ad Vice loomed like the gas chamber.
He felt like a fighter ready to dive. The Christmas geeks kept staring; the punk he$prime;d thumped had on a nose splint—probably a phony some Jew lawyer told him to wear. The grand jury room door stood ajar; Jack walked over, looked in.
Six jurors at a table facing the witness stand; Ellis Loew hurling questions—Ed Exley in the box.
He didn$prime;t play with his glasses; he didn$prime;t hem and haw. His voice went an octave lower than normal—and stayed even. Skinny, not a cop type, he still had authority—and his timing was perfect. Loew pitched perfect outside sliders; Exley knew they were coming, but acted surprised. Whoever coached him did a fucking-A bang-up job.
Jack picked out details, sensed Exley reaching, a war hero-not a weak sister in a cellblock full of rowdies. Loew glossed over that; Exley$prime;s answers hit smart: he was outnumbered, his keys were snatched, he was locked in a storeroom—and that was that. He was a man who knew who he was, knew the futility of cheap heroics.
Exley spieled: rat-offs on Brownell, Hufl Doherty. He called Dick Stensland the worst of the worst, didn$prime;t blink snitching Bud White. Jack smiled when it hit him: everything is skewed toward our side. Krugman, Pratt, Tucker, pension safe—were set up— for his testimony. Stensland and White—heading for indictment city. What a fucking performance.
Loew called for a summation. Exley obliged: pap about justice. Loew excused him; the jurors almost swooned. Exley left the box limping—he$prime;d probably jammed his legs asleep.
Jack met him outside. «You were good. Parker would$prime;ve loved it.» Exley stretched his legs. «You think he$prime;ll read the transcript?» «He$prime;ll have it inside ten minutes, and Bud White$prime;ll fuck you for this if it takes the rest of his life. He was called in to Thad Green after the show-up, and you can bet Green suspended him. You had better pray he cops a deal and stays on the Department, because that is one civilian you do not want on your case.»