Beverly Hills Dead (27 page)

"Was Alan James a hard-core Communist?"

"No. I'd call Al more of a social Communist. I think he joined mostly because people he knew were party members."

"Did you have occasion to see him shortly before his death?"

"Yes. We had dinner the evening before he died. He called and suggested we meet for dinner."

"What was the subject of your conversation that evening?"

"Alan had decided to become a friendly witness, but he was very conflicted about it."

"Was he considering not testifying in a friendly manner?"

"No. I think he was fully committed to testifying, but he felt badly about naming friends of his."

"Do you know if you were one of the friends he would have named?"

"Yes. He told me that. I think he felt he owed me an explanation before he named me."

"Did you part on good terms?"

"Al got very drunk at dinner, and I had to drive him home and put him to bed. He was in no condition to be on either good or bad terms. Apparently, he woke up the following morning and ended his life."

"Do you think he felt guilty about becoming a party member, or guilty about naming people he knew?"

"I think he was guilty about both."

"The committee would probably prefer it if you emphasized his guilt over party membership."

"I'm sorry, I can't do that."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't think he felt all
that
guilty about joining. I believe he took his own life because he didn't want to be thought of as an informer by his friends."

"Can you shade that a bit in your testimony?"

"I was told not to lie to you today; I haven't."

Roy made a note on a pad, then he leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. "Sid, was your wife, Alice, a party member?"

"No. She was not."

"Was she a sympathizer?"

"No. She attended one or two of the fund-raisers with me, but she never approved of the party. She tried very hard to get me to be a friendly witness before the committee. When I failed to do so, she filed for divorce."

Roy smiled. "That's pretty much what she told our investigators in New York."

Sid was stunned. "I had no idea your people had talked with her; we've been out of touch since we separated. All our conversations have been through lawyers since that time."

Roy smiled. "All right, Sid. I'm pleased to tell you that all of the answers you've given us today are consistent with the information we have from other sources. If you're willing to testify before the committee again, along the lines of what you've said here today, I and my colleagues are willing to submit your name to the committee as a friendly witness."

Hy spoke for the first time. "That's good news, Roy. Thank you all for your help."

After a round of handshakes and good-byes, Sid and Hy left the cottage.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"It could have been worse," Sid said.

49

Tom Terry walked into the restaurant and looked around. A man waved at him from a table, and he walked over and shook his hands. "Hello, Jake. I'm Tom Terry."

Jake Connor shook the hand. "Sit down, Tom." Connor was Tom's opposite number at RKO, their head of security. "Have a drink?" There was a glass of brown whiskey before him.

"Sure. I'll have a Wild Turkey and water."

Jake waved down a waiter, ordered the drink and asked for menus. "How are you enjoying life at Centurion? You've been there a while, haven't you?"

"I like it a lot," Tom replied. "I replaced Rick Barron when he left for the navy in '42."

"You didn't get caught in the draft?"

Tom shook his head. "I was a flatfoot who really had flat feet. How about you?"

"I joined the Marines, but I blew a knee in basic training and got a medical discharge. I guess we were both lucky, eh?"

"Well, we're both alive."

They ordered lunch.

"You've got a good reputation around town, Tom."

"So do you."

"So, we're both good at our jobs. I guess the blacklist is giving you problems, just like me."

"It hasn't been too bad; Centurion has fewer people under contract than most studios, so maybe that's helped."

"Yeah, I guess it would."

"Were you ever a cop, Jake?"

"Yeah, I was a detective with the Long Beach department, burglary and vice mostly. You were with Beverly Hills, weren't you?"

"Yeah, I was in a patrol car."

Lunch came, and they began to eat.

"What did you want to talk about, Tom?"

"First of all, this is off the record, under the table, whatever you want to call it. You can use what I tell you, but you can't tell
anybody
where it came from."

"I guess I can live with that. What's up?"

"One of your studio's employees is a murderer."

Connor's eyebrows went up. "Only one?"

"Only one, that I know of, who's both a murderer and a lesbo."

"Well, Tom, I guess you know that the picture business, in general, is pretty loose about who puts what, where, in the sack. Unless she wears a crew cut and carries a whip, or makes a major pass at a female star who doesn't share her inclination, her dykeness is likely to be overlooked."

"Is murder likely to be overlooked?"

"Is this about the Susan Stafford case?"

"Yes, it is."

"And Hank Harmon?"

"Yep."

"I don't really know the girl, but I've seen her around the lot. Ben Morrison at the LAPD made a courtesy call on me when he first questioned her, but it's my understanding that she has been eliminated as a suspect."

Tom shook his head. "Don't you believe it. I had lunch with Ben a couple of days ago, and she's still right at the top of the list. In fact, hers is the only name
on
the list."

"I thought she had an alibi."

"Not one that covers the time in question. Her story was that she went to the farmer's market, and that was confirmed by witnesses, but the case theory is that she returned to the apartment in time to catch Stafford there. Do you know the story of their relationship?"

"You mean that beautiful girl was in the sack with Hank?"

"Stafford lived with her for four or five months. I took a good look around Harmon's place, and there was only one bed. When Susan came to work on
Bitter Creek
, she took up with her leading man, and, by all accounts, they fell in love. She was moving her stuff out of Hank's apartment and into her costar's place when Hank came home and caught her leaving. She beat up Stafford, knocked her unconscious, then strangled her. Late that night she drove the body, in Stafford's car, way out Mulholland and dumped it on a trash pile, then she left the car at the leading man's house and walked home. She did a good job of cleaning up after herself, too."

"You've been following Morrison's investigation, then?"

"He's been following mine; I was the first person to talk to Hank. I made her as guilty in a ten-minute interview, and if she hadn't lawyered up so fast, Ben would have sweated it out of her."

"But there's no physical evidence to put her in Hank's apartment, is there?"

"We don't need that evidence; Hank
admits
the girl was there and left her a note, but says she was already gone when she got home."

"Have you seen the note?"

"Nah. She says she threw it away, but you can bet your ass it was a 'Dear Mary' letter. The fact that Susan was leaving her for a
man
pushed Hank over the edge."

"But Morrison doesn't have any hard evidence?"

"No witnesses, no blood on the floor, no prints in Susan's car. Let me ask you something, Jake: when you were working in Long Beach didn't you learn to read a suspect?"

"Yeah, I did, and I don't think I was ever wrong about one. Couldn't always prove it, but I knew."

"I knew right away that Harmon killed Susan Stafford, and so did Ben Morrison; we just haven't been able to prove it yet."

"What are you asking me to do about this, Tom?"

"I'm not asking you to do anything, Jake. I just want to give you something to think about."

Jake toyed with his food.

"Talk to Harmon yourself; see what
you
think."

Jake shook his head. "Nah. She's had plenty of time to get her story straight."

"Yes, she has. Look, I don't know what your management is like, but I can tell you that if
my
management knew that there was a homicidal dyke working on our lot, she wouldn't be there another minute, and she wouldn't walk away with a fulsome letter of recommendation."

"I don't think my management would like it much, either," Connor said.

"There's another factor."

"What?"

"If Harmon was out on the street and unemployable, she'd be pretty pissed off, wouldn't she?"

"Sure. I expect so."

"And in that frame of mind, with pressure on her, she'd be more likely to make a mistake, maybe cry on somebody's shoulder."

Connor nodded. "Probably so."

"Jake, my people at the studio are really hurting about this situation. The girl has parents back in Georgia, and she was the light of their life. She's gone from being a brand-new movie star to being dumped, dead, on a trash pile, and from her family's point of view, nobody's doing anything about it."

"Shit," Connor said, "if I were in your shoes I'd probably take her out somewhere and put a slug in her head."

"Believe me, that crossed my mind, and I haven't ruled it out yet, but I want to give the system a chance to work."

"I see your point."

"Well, Jake, it was good to meet you," Tom said, putting down his napkin "Let me get lunch."

"Nah. It's on me," Connor replied. They shook hands. "Let me see what I can do."

"It's probably better if we don't speak again for a while," Tom said, rising from the table. "But after some time has passed, I'll buy lunch."

"We should keep in touch, anyway," Connor said.

Tom walked back to his car, knowing he had planted a ticking bomb under Hank Harmon.

50

Rick was working on the budget for
Greenwich Village Girl
when Eddie Harris came through their connecting door, through their shared screening room, holding a newspaper in his hand.

"Have you seen this?" he asked.

"I read it at breakfast."

"Then you saw Hopper."

"Saw her column; didn't read it."

"It's written as a news story under Hopper's byline. Listen to this, Rick: 'A script supervisor at RKO, linked by police to the brutal murder of Susan Stafford, the beautiful young costar of Centurion's huge hit,
Bitter Creek
, has been unceremoniously fired by RKO. No one in management there would confirm the reason for the firing, but speculation has increased that the LAPD is closer to an arrest. Henrietta Harmon, known as "Hank," was escorted off the RKO lot by security officers at the close of business yesterday.

"'Harmon was the first person investigated by police after Susan Stafford disappeared, and after Stafford's body was found at a garbage dump, a search warrant was obtained and detectives searched Harmon's apartment. They found no evidence of the murder, but a source at the LAPD has told this reporter that the place had been thoroughly cleaned before their arrival. This reporter has also learned that Harmon disappeared after initially being questioned, and police believe that she did so in order to allow cuts and scratches that she would have received during the killing to heal. The coroner's report states that Stafford fought for her life.

"'When Harmon returned to Los Angeles she hired a criminal lawyer who refused to allow police to question her further. Knowledgeable sources tell me that new evidence is being developed that will further link Henrietta "Hank" Harmon to the killing of Susan Stafford, and that an arrest is imminent.'"

"You know anything about this, Rick?"

"First I've heard of it."

"Well, I didn't plant it, either, but I'm glad there's nothing about a lesbian affair. Did you get a call from Hopper, asking for confirmation?"

"No, but there isn't anything in that story that I could have confirmed, except that Susie is dead."

"This thing smells planted," Eddie said. "I asked Bart Crowther if he had anything to do with it, and he denied planting the story."

"It could very well have been planted by somebody at RKO or somebody at the LAPD."

"Well, I hope it's true."