LA Modern Noir: Chapter 4c Wilson

I wrote about a story where I had a first chapter written. I'm trying to push on and finish a first draft in 2024.

Chapters are likely to be longer, 2-3k words and unless they are hitting 4-5k I'm unlikely to split them up.

If you'd like to be tagged in for future chapters, let me know.

Thanks

Stuart

++++++++++

Chapter 4 continued - 2014 words

Howlin’ Rays was rammed and we ended up with tacos from a street truck. They were okay but I’d have preferred the fried chicken.

Back in North Figueroa I was escorted to the same office with Dan ahead of me, Rob behind. Maybe the trust built up in our morning session had dissipated over lunch. They left me to sit while they went to ‘Get things set up’. At least the room had A.C. It was already after one p.m. and from what I knew I.A. were nine-to-fivers. I’d still have a few hours of my shift left at five, but by the time I got back to (station house) I could do an hours worth of paperwork and count myself having had a lucky day. Well, apart from all the crap I’d catch for spending it with I.A. and the news that’s where I’d been will have got round. Of course, that’d leave latitude to start some counter-rumors of my own and that could be a whole other level of fun.

I still wasn’t sure what the purpose of the day was though. Dragging me out for a whole day to identify some of Albarn’s lieutenant’s felt either desperate or a waste of time and the nagging suspicion that there was more to things than being admitted continued to grow.

Maybe they suspected me of trying some off-the-books stuff, a little extra-curricular vigilantism. My guess is the Brass wouldn’t be keen on the Albarn related info I had in a storage locker. The wall with photos, the reams of notes on legal pads, the laptop without any internet connection where names, dates and occurrences get logged on sheets and put in files which are then saved to password protected thumb drives. I tried not to think about it too much, much the same way an alcoholic tries not to think about the shot of vodka in their Stanley as they leave the house.

‘Right,’ Dan said, ‘We’ll just set up the projector and we can get going.’

I hadn’t heard him come back in the room, my mind full of all my Albarn information. I wondered how much I’d add in this afternoon.

Rob closed the door and pointed a remote at the projector which hung from the ceiling on a short metal arm. It hummed to life and the light flickered against the blinds which lined the windows facing out into the office. For the first time I realized they weren’t you standard flimsy blinds, but designed for this purpose. The added advantage of course was anyone who entered while the screen was on couldn’t grab a sneaky look at what was being displayed. My admiration for whoever took charge of security at Internal Affairs rose a little more. They’d either matriculated from one of the alphabet agencies, or were destined to head one.

We started by looking at pictures of those thought to most resemble the detailed descriptions I’d given this morning. It was the fourth page before there was a definite hit.

‘Him,’ I said.

Dan was clicking through on the laptop and skipped back to the page I’d called on. ‘You sure?’ he said.

‘Yes, I’m sure. He’s the one who did the talking. Got stuck between wanting to take on the role of being the big man in the room and denying knowing who his boss was when I name dropped him. I’ve seen him before with Albarn, but don’t know his name or anything about where he comes in things.’

Dan read from the screen. ‘Frank Darmanella. Originally from Chicago, arrived in L.A. three or four years ago and immediately became part of Albarn’s crew. Suspected of being a link between Albarn and (mob boss) in Chicago, and those two have been looking for places to invest money so it’s clean.’

Rob chimed in, ‘He’s got a degree as an actuary, I think it’s some kind of accountancy thing. It’s no surprise he didn’t know how to assert himself.’

‘So, Frank,’ I said, adding the info to my mental file, logging it against what Rob said, and what Dan said, and what time it was, so that when I wrote it down later I had a good chance of remembering correctly. ‘Any chance we can get on? You guys finish at five and at this rate, we’ll barely get through the dude’s I saw at that party.’

‘Don’t worry, we’re on an over-time release.’ Dan said, ‘It’s not quite unlimited, bit we’re fine to get through today. You ready for the next one?’

I finished locking away the Frank Darmanella and (chicago mob boss) info away and said, ‘Sure, let’s hit it.’

In the next two hours we’d hit the rest of the guys I saw at the party, and I had more names tucked away. We took a break.

A coffee truck was down in the plaza and I paid for my own triple shot latte while leaving Rob and Dan to deal with their own. There were a few benches, but no tables. I sat on the end of a bench which left my A.I. brothers to stand around or one sit one stand, or both sit, but one have trouble hearing anything I said over the traffic and breeze.

I reckoned they’d stand and was right. It was a power thing and, whether they did it consciously or not, assuming a dominant stance in the presence of person deemed lesser, even if not a suspect, would be automatic. There was probably a module on it in the I.A. training manual. I sipped my coffee and stared at the traffic.

Rob said, ‘Good work with those faces. It’s always good to figure out where the links are going. Especially as they seem to be changing all the time.’

‘Sure,’ I said. ‘Hey, we did the guy who’s on the lease for that flat, Earl, but you didn’t have Allison in any of the pics.’

‘You think she’s involved? Rob asked.

‘I don’t know what there is to be involved in but whatever it is, she may be a good person to keep a tab on. I don’t reckon she’d know much of anything but there may come a time when she’s sick of Earl beating her and is willing to pony up info on his whereabouts for safe passage.’

‘You sure he hits her,’ Rob asked. ‘Your report says she said it was a fall.’

‘A fall against a cupboard door like she claimed would have left a line’ I said. ‘It wasn’t even a slap, she’d been punched, and no one in the room said anything. And, well, you put down what they say. But I’ve seen enough black eyes to know when it comes from a punch or something else. Both you guys know exactly what I mean, unless being in I.A. clears the memory of being a beat cop.’ They both nodded, I guess remembering calls they’d attended about partner abuse. I drained my coffee and said, ‘let’s get the rest done. Sooner we finish here, sooner I can go get caught up on paperwork.’

We were cycling through faces pretty quick and I thought I recognized a few, said when I did, but this time there was no telling me the name or sharing any info, just a question on where I knew them from, or when I’d seen them. Thing is, apart from vague recognition I didn’t have anything further. We’d done an hour or so when I recognized another one. Only this time I had a better idea where from.

‘Go back one,’ I said. ‘I know that one.’

‘You sure?’ Dan asked. ‘You’ve been vague on the others.’

‘Yeh, but I’m sure on this one. Got a friend, Carl, he works out of (a different station) and when we got new rookies to train we had a BBQ. That’s Carl’s rookie. Names Darren or something like that.’

‘Darren Resper,’ Dan said.

‘Sounds about right. Only met him that once, but it’s him.’ I turned and looked Rob and Dan in turn. ‘You telling me Albarn’s got folks being recruited in?’

‘We’re not telling you anything,’ Dan said. ‘And outside these walls you can’t tell anyone anything either, if you try it I.A. will be on you white on rye, you got that?’

‘If you mean white on rice, sure, I get the drift of not letting on anything I’ve seen or heard today. So with that being agreed, tell me, have I been sitting looking at rookies and academy entrants?’

They looked at each other. The silent communication of sympatico partners flew between them and Dan turned to me.

He said, ‘Between us three, and your dangerous obsession with Albarn, yes. We think he’s been getting people to join for a few years.’

I cursed in a low tone, then asked, ‘What about background checks?’

‘They’re being done,’ Rob said, ‘and we’ve scoured the checking team. Right now it looks like they’re coming in as clean skins, not a known associate of anyone or anything that would raise a flag.’

‘That’s a lot of time and effort,’ I said. ‘He must think the reward is worth it. D’you reckon he figures it’s cheaper than buying someone already on the roll?’

‘Are you saying you know cops he pays?’ Rob asked.

‘Do you still want my help or not?’ I asked.

‘Why don’t we carry on,’ Dan said. ‘If you’re happy to do until five, I’ll drop you at your station. It’s mostly on my way home.’

‘Sure,’ I said.

We went back to clicking through pictures and now I had an idea what to look for I was placing faces against any Rookies I remembered for the past few years. Thing is, unless their part of your training group you don’t really see them. With nine-thousand officers in L.A.P.D. even the most sociable schmoozer only gets to know a fraction of their fellow officers. Still, there were a few I recognized, or thought I did. Then Xavier was on screen.

‘Shit,’ Rob said. ‘You weren’t meant to see that pic. It was meant to have been left out.’

‘Is my rookie an Albarn plant?’ The tightness in my voice was about the same level of my grip on the plastic chair arms. On the display Xavier continued to stare at whatever had his attention when the picture was taken. Turning to look at Rob I again said, ‘Is he a plant?’ but this time the control was slipping and it was louder, a demanding shout instead of a terse request.

Dan put a hand on my arm and said, ‘Wilson, every new recruit for the past three years is a suspect. We hoped you’re famed encyclopedic knowledge of Albarn’s folk might shake loose one or two who’ve got in. We haven’t shown you anyone we know to be a plant. And we didn’t mean to make you suspect your own trainee. He shouldn’t be in the mix. Rob, I think we’re done for the day.’

I was still looking at Rob and his demeanor suggested he didn’t like the idea of stopping, but then nodded and said, ‘Sure.’

While Rob and Dan did whatever they needed to close out their shift I sat in the conference room and stared at the wall, processing what the day had been about. There was a disjointedness to it which didn’t make sense. There was still a nagging worry that I was secretly under scrutiny, but now there was a worm of suspicion about my own trainee, my friends trainee. At least it was my first year as a trainer, but that didn’t stop me thinking about every trainee in our station, and everyone which had passed through in the previous three years. Hundreds of officers and potential officers and all of them under suspicion. Or were they, were they just an excuse to, to. And that was the issue. What could the purpose be?

‘Hey, ready to go?’ Dan asked.

I snapped out my reverie and stood up. ‘Sure. Let’s get going.’

Chapter Break

Any readers who want to suggest names for characters where I currently have a filler eg - (Chicago mob boss) - feel free.

Link to collated chapters HERE

Link to the short story which is the seed for this is HERE

Reader List
@seki1

words by stuartcturnbull pic by igorelick on Pixabay