The Black Dahlia Page #7

I knew this guy that Bobby

made me be with once.

He was a hophead

who let it slip

that he sometimes snitched

to the cops for dope money.

And that's how you met Lee?

I told him what Bobby was doing to me,

how he cut me and pimped me to his friends

and I told him about the bank job

and where Bobby was hiding the money.

And then last year,

the guy...

The hophead?

Yeah.

Lee had given him $1,000

for introducing us.

He found out

that Bobby was getting out,

and he threatened to tell him

that we stole from him.

He wanted money that

we didn't have, Dwight.

He wanted $10,000.

What were we going to do?

Promise me, promise me

you'll forgive him for DeWitt.

Forgive him for the bank.

Please. It doesn't matter to us.

What was the guy's name?

It doesn't matter.

Kay, tell me the guy's name.

It was Baxter Fitch.

Baxter Fitch, and then DeWitt.

Lee killed them both

and took the bank money,

making me witness, stooge,

weak point

in a fairy tale triangle.

You're so good at some things.

Dwight, he loved you. He loved

both of us, Dwight, so much.

This had nothing to do with us,

Dwight! Nothing! Don't run out on us!

The basic rule of homicide applied:

Nothing stays buried forever.

Corpses. Ghosts.

Nothing stays buried forever.

Nothing.

Family's in Laguna.

But you know that.

You've been watching.

Lee and Kay had lived in sin,

not because their shack job

was against department regs

but because the ghosts of their past had

forced them to choose love over passion.

The veneer of a fairy tale,

only a band-aid

to cover a fractured life.

I didn't believe

in fairy tales.

It was a reunion

of avowed tramps,

old rutters who knew they'd never

have it as good with anybody else.

Have you met

Balto in the hallway?

An old friend stuffed him.

We were in the Scots Regiment

together. Georgie Tilden.

He wanted to work

in the flickers.

What?

Nothing.

You miss them?

Mother's insults?

Martha's pornography?

I just never imagined

Georgie so...

The way your father

described him.

Different.

They were young.

He died last year. Angina.

Daddy paid to have him buried

at the family plot in Scotland.

That's very nice of him.

I don't get modern art.

I doubt modern art

gets you, either.

But I do.

Kay, what the hell

are you doing here?

What am I doing here?

How could you?

How could you?

You follow me here,

after what you've done?

What have I done? Nothing!

You lied to me!

I lied for you!

I lied for us!

What could I do but lie,

Dwight?

You could have

told me the truth.

She looks like

that dead girl!

How sick are you?

You're going to end up

like Lee. You will.

But I will not.

She looks like that

dead girl! How sick are you?

You're going to end up

like Lee.

The set was enough to

tie Linscott to the porno movie,

but not to the murder.

For that, I needed to stop

worrying about who killed the Dahlia

and focus on where.

Georgie

introduced me to Mack Sennett.

I helped him build that housing

project he was putting up

underneath

that god-awful sign.

Hollywoodland.

Lorna Mertz said

it was shot out of town.

People lie.

Oh, a puncture

wound in the palm of the hand.

I say then he drained the blood

from the body and washed it clean.

I don't want to go to Europe.

One of my foremen said

the goddamn pipes are spewing gas.

There'll be hell to pay.

It's about time I showed the

three of you good old Scotland.

I don't want to go

to Europe, Daddy.

You're always talking about how

dreadful and provincial it is.

Yeah, but it's got

what you need, lassie.

What is that, Emmett?

Saps like me?

Or is that what you needed?

Oh, laddie.

You killed Elizabeth Short,

and the two of you

covered it up.

You made that stag film

with Lorna and Betty.

I've seen the set.

I found it all.

Put that gun down, laddie.

You're not the shooting type

and I'm not the dying type.

You might be half right.

Jesus Christ, Bleichert.

That's a Ming.

Great. Let's talk art.

Let's talk The Man Who Laughs.

I've seen the movie.

I've got you.

So you don't

like my taste in art.

I don't think

that's a crime.

Stop! Georgie did it!

Oh, that's rich.

Blame it on the poor,

dead gardener.

No, Bucky. It's true.

Believe him.

Georgie was always sneaking

around Daddy's properties.

He saw them make the movie

and he got crazy about Betty.

More.

There are so many

pretty things here, Emmett.

All right.

Betty called,

short of cash, as usual.

I put Daddy on and he offered her

money to date a nice man he knew.

You must've known

he was a sick f*** then.

Well, he was passive. I mean,

he liked to touch dead things.

I mean,

his father was a surgeon.

Did you know that?

Famous in Scotland.

We didn't know

he'd go crazy like that.

Liar!

Liar!

You did him enough damage,

Emmett. Now you let him go!

I would appreciate it if you just

stopped shooting things, Officer, though.

The rich don't own art

just for themselves.

We safe keep it

for future generations.

How did Emmett damage Georgie?

What did he do

to make him go so crazy?

Who made what made who crazy?

It was Madeleine.

She was 11 years old,

and she looked

just like Georgie.

Ramona!

Shut up, Emmett!

That's right, Officer.

George and me.

Not that Emmett cared

about that.

But he was her father.

And for that,

he ruined George's face.

When he got out of hospital,

I gave him the Hugo book

as a present.

He had worked construction

on that movie with Emmett.

It was always

one of his favorites.

That's right. My book.

My picture. My Gwynplaine.

What about Betty Short?

Well, that was

the cruelest joke of all.

He was obsessed with her,

you know, that filthy film!

And your husband

bought her for Georgie.

He's a shy wee lad,

but I...

It'd make him very happy, I think,

if you'd take him out on a wee date.

What did you do, Ramona?

I was

waiting up in Hollywoodland.

Oh, gosh.

It was the second swing,

woke her up.

She looked so like my Maddy.

It was

the cruelest joke of all.

We'll ruin you in court.

You know that.

Over what? Some little slut?

It was neat enough for the

papers, but that didn't make it clean.

The rich lived differently. I guess

they get to die differently, too.

Hello, Officer Bleichert.

Did you come to pay your

respects or f*** my sister?

I came to talk to you

about Lee Blanchard.

He came here, didn't he? Asking

about your sister and the Dahlia?

Tell me.

Adios yourself back to the

Halls of Tripoli, shitbird.

I've got business

with the lady.

Bucky.

Lee knew everything about you

and Elizabeth Short.

He knew everything,

didn't he?

I don't know

what you're saying.

I went by your house today. I

talked to your sister, Martha.

She told me that a policeman named

Lee Blanchard came by the house

asking questions about

you and Elizabeth Short.

She told him that

the two of you were close.

Martha was always

jealous of me.

He was blackmailing

your father.

No. I beat up a wall.

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