Ellroy, James - My Dark Places

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MY DARK PLACES

by James Ellroy

Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House,

Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited,

Toronto. Originally published in hardcover in the United States by Alfred A.

Knopf, Inc., in 1996.

FIRST VINTAGE BOOKS EDITION, AUGUST 1997

-----------

THE REDHEAD

-----------

_A cheap Saturday night took you down. You died stupidly and harshly and

without the means to hold your own life dear_.

_Your run to safety was a brief reprieve. You brought me into hiding as

your good-luck charm. I failed you as a talisman--so I stand now as your

witness_.

_Your death defines my life. I want to find the love we never had and

explicate it in your name_.

_I want to take your secrets public. I want to burn down the distance

between us_.

_I want to give you breath_.

Some kids found her.

They were Babe Ruth League players, out to hit a few shag balls. Three

adult coaches were walking behind them.

The boys saw a shape in the ivy strip just off the curb. The men saw

loose pearls on the pavement. A little telepathic jolt went around.

Clyde Warner and Dick Ginnold shooed the kids back a ways--to keep them

from looking too close. Kendall Nungesser ran across Tyler and spotted a pay

phone by the dairy stand.

He called the Temple City Sheriff's Office and told the desk sergeant

he'd discovered a body. It was right there on that road beside the playing field

at Arroyo High School. The sergeant said stay there and don't touch anything.

The radio call went out: 10:10 a.m., Sunday, 6/22/58. Dead body at

King's Row and Tyler Avenue, El Monte.

A Sheriff's prowl car made it in under five minutes. An El Monte PD unit

arrived a few seconds later.

Deputy Vic Cavallero huddled up the coaches and the kids. Officer Dave

Wire checked out the body.

It was a female Caucasian. She was fair-skinned and redheaded. She was

approximately 40 years of age. She was lying flat on her back--in an ivy patch a

few inches from the King's Row curb line.

Her right arm was bent upward. Her right hand was resting a few inches

above her head. Her left arm was bent at the elbow and draped across her

midriff. Her left hand was clenched. Her legs were outstretched.

She was wearing a scoop-front, sleeveless, light and dark blue dress. A

dark blue overcoat with a matching lining was spread over her lower body.

Her feet and ankles were visible. Her right foot was bare. A nylon

Side 1

Ellroy, James - My Dark Places

stocking was bunched up around her left ankle.

Her dress was disheveled. Insect bites covered her arms. Her face was

bruised and her tongue was protruding. Her brassiere was unfastened and hiked

above her breasts. A nylon stocking and a cotton cord were lashed around her

neck. Both ligatures were tightly knotted.

Dave Wire radioed the El Monte PD dispatcher. Vic Cayallero called the

Temple office. The body-dump alert went out:

Get the L.A. County Coroner. Get the Sheriff's Crime Lab and the photo

car. Call the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau and tell them to send a team out.

Cavallero stood by the body. Dave Wire ran over to the dairy and

commandeered a length of rope. Cavallero helped him string up a crime scene

perimeter.

They discussed the odd position of the body. It looked haphazard _and_

fastidious.

Spectators drifted by. Cavallero pushed them back to the Tyler Avenue

sidewalk. Wire noticed some pearls on the road and circled each and every one in

chalk.

Official cars pulled up to the cordon. Uniformed cops and

plainclothesmen ducked under the rope.

From El Monte PD: Chief Orval Davis, Captain Jim Bruton, Sergeant Virg

Ervin. Captain Dick Brooks, Lieutenant Don Mead and Sergeant Don Clapp from

Temple Sheriff's. Temple deputies called out to contain the civilians and plain

curious on- and off-duty cops.

Dave Wire measured the exact position of the body: 63 feet west of the

first locked gate on the school grounds/2 feet south of the King's Row curb. The

photo deputy arrived and snapped perspective shots of King's Row and the Arroyo

High playing field.

It was noon--and closing in on 90 degrees.

The photo deputy shot the body from straight-down and sideways angles.

Vic Cavallero assured him that the guys who found it did not touch it. Sergeants

Ward Hallinen and Jack Lawton arrived and went straight to Chief Davis.

Davis told them to take charge--per the contract mandating all El Monte

city murders to the L.A. Sheriff's Homicide Bureau.

Hallinen walked over to the body. Lawton diagrammed the area in his

notebook.

Tyler Avenue ran north--south. King's Row intersected it at the southern

edge of the school property. King's Row ran east about yards. It terminated at

Cedar Avenue--the eastern edge of the school property. It was nothing more than

a paved access road.

A gate closed off the Cedar Avenue end. An inner gate sealed some

bungalows near the main Arroyo High buildings. The only way to enter King's Row

was via Tyler Avenue.

King's Row was feet wide. The sports field ran along the northern edge.

A shrub-covered chain-link fence ran behind the southern curb line and a

3-foot-wide ivy thicket. The body was positioned 75 yards east of the

Tyler--King's Row intersection.

The victim's left foot was two inches from the curb. Her weight had

pressed down the ivy all around her.

Lawton and Hallinen stared at the body. Rigor mortis was setting in--the

victim's clenched hand had gone rigid.

Hallinen noted a fake-pearl ring on the third finger. Lawton said it

might help them ID her.

Her face had gone slightly purple. She looked like a classic late-night

body dump.

VIc Cavallero told the coaches and baseball kids to go home. Dave Wire

and Virg Ervin mingled with the civilians. Sergeant Harry Andre showed up--an

off-duty Sheriff's Homicide man hot to lend a hand.

The press showed up. Some Temple deputies cruised by to check out the

scene. Half the 26-man El Monte PD cruised by--dead white women were some kind

of draw.

The coroner's deputy showed up. The photo deputy told him he could

examine the victim.

Hallinen and Lawton pushed forward to watch. The coroner's deputy lifted

the coat off the victim's lower body.

She was not wearing a slip, a girdle or panties. Her dress was pushed up

above her hips. No panties and no shoes. That one stocking down around her left

ankle. Bruises and small lacerations on the insides of her thighs. An asphalt

drag mark on her left hip.

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Ellroy, James - My Dark Places

The coroner's deputy turned the body over. The photo deputy snapped some

shots of the victim's posterior. The victim's back was dew-wet and showed signs

of postmortem lividity.

The coroner's deputy said she was probably dead eight to twelve hours.

She was dumped before sunrise--the dew on her back was a plain indicator.

The photo deputy took some more pictures. The coroner's deputy and his

assistant picked up the body. It was limp--still shy of full rigor mortis. They

carried the victim to their van and placed her on a gurney.

Hallinen and Lawton searched the ivy thicket and the adjoining curbside.

They found a broken car antenna on the road. They found a broken string

of pearls in the flattened ivy near the dump position. They picked up the pearls

circled in chalk and strung them on the necklace. They saw that they had a

complete set.

The clasp was intact. The string was broken in the middle. They

evidence-bagged both pieces of the necklace.

They did not find the victim's panties, shoes or purse. They did not

spot tire marks in the gravel near the curb. There were no drag marks on any

surface along King's Row. The ivy surrounding the dump position did not look

trampled.

It was I:20 p.m. The temperature was up in the mid-9os.

The coroner's deputy cut off samples of the victim's head and pubic

hair. He trimmed the victim's fingernails and placed the cuttings in a small

envelope.

He had the body stripped and positioned face-up on his gurney.

There was a small amount of dried blood on the victim's right palm.

There was a small laceration near the center of the victim's forehead.

The victim's right nipple was missing. The surrounding areola was

creased with white scar tissue. It appeared to be an old surgical amputation.

Hallinen removed the victim's ring. The coroner's deputy measured the

body at 66 inches and guessed the weight at 135 pounds. Lawton left to call the

stats in to Headquarters Dispatch and the Sheriff's Missing Persons Squad.

The coroner's deputy took a scalpel and made a deep 6-inchlong incision

in the victim's abdomen. He parted the flaps with his fingers, jabbed a meat

thermometer into the liver and got a reading of 90 degrees. He called the time

of death as 3:00 to 5:00 a.m.

Hallinen examined the ligatures. The stocking and cotton cord were

separately lashed around the victim's neck. The cord resembled a clothesline or

venetian blind sash-pull.

The cord knot was tied at the back of the victim's neck. The killer tied

it so tight that one of the ends broke off--fraying and the odd lengths of the

knot ends proved that fact conclusively.

The stocking around the victim's neck was identical to the stocking

bunched around her left ankle.

The coroner's deputy locked up his van and drove the body to the L.A.

County Morgue.Jack Lawton put out a police band broadcast:

All San Gabriel Valley units be alert for suspicious males with fresh

cuts and scratches.

Ward Hallinen rounded up some radio reporters. He told them to put it on

the local air:

Dead white woman found. Forty/red hair/hazel eyes/5'6"/ 135. Direct

potential informants to the El Monte PD and Temple City Sheriff's Office--

Chief Davis and Captain Bruton drove to El Monte PD Headquarters. Three

ranking Sheriff's Homicide men joined them: Inspector R. J. Parsonson, Captain

Al Etzel, Lieutenant Charles McGowan.

They settled in for a skull session. Bruton called the Baldwin Park PD,

Pasadena PD, San Dimas Sheriff's Office, Covina and West Covina PDs. He ran

their victim's stats by them and got identical responses: She doesn't match any

of our shortterm missing females.

Uniformed deputies and El Monte cops grid-searched the Arroyo High

grounds. Hallinen, Lawton and Andre canvassed the immediate neighborhood.

They talked to people out walking and people sunning in their yards.

They talked to a long string of customers at the dairy stand. They described

their victim and got down-the-line responses: I don't know who you're talking

about.

The area was residential and semi-rural--small houses interspersed with

vacant lots and blocks of undeveloped ranchland. Hallinen, Lawton and Andre

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Ellroy, James - My Dark Places

wrote it off as futile canvassing turf.

They drove south to the main El Monte throughways: Ramona, Garvey,

Valley Boulevard. They swept a string of cafes and a few cocktail bars. They

talked up the redhead and got a run of negative responses.

The initial canvass was tapped out.

The grid search was tapped out.

No patrol units were reporting suspicious males with cuts and scratches.

A call came in to the El Monte PD. The caller said she just heard a

radio bulletin. That lady they found at the school sounded just like her tenant.

The switchboard operator radioed Virg Ervin: See the woman at 700 Bryant

Road.

The address was El Monte--about a mile southeast of Arroyo High School.

Ervin drove there and knocked on the door.

A woman opened up. She identified herself as Anna May Krycki and stated

that the dead woman sounded like her tenant, Jean Ellroy. Jean left her little

house on the Krycki property last night around 8:00. She stayed out all

night--and still hadn't returned.

Ervin described the victim's overcoat and dress. Anna May Krycki said

they sounded just like Jean's favorite outfit. Ervin described the scarring on

the victim's right nipple. Anna May Krycki said Jean showed her that scar.

Ervin went back to his car and radioed the information to the El Monte

switchboard. The dispatcher sent a patrol car out to find Jack Lawton and Ward

Hallinen.

The car found them inside of ten minutes. They drove straight to the

Krycki house.

Hallinen pulled out the victim's ring straight off. Anna May Krycki ID'd

it as Jean Eliroy's.

Lawton and Hallinen sat her down and questioned her. Anna May Krycki

said she was _Mrs_. Krycki. Her husband's name was George, and she had a

12-year-old son from a previous marriage named Gaylord. Jean Ellroy was

technically _Mrs_. Jean Ellroy, but she'd been divorced from her husband for

several years. Jean's full first name was Geneva. Her middle name was Odelia and

her maiden name was Hilliker. Jean was a registered nurse. She worked at an

aircraft-parts plant in downtown L.A. She and her 10-year-old son lived in the

little stone bungalow in the Kryckis' backyard. Jean drove a redand-white Buick.

Her son was spending the weekend with his father in L.A. and should be home in a

few hours.

Mrs. Krycki showed them a photograph of Jean Ellroy. The face matched

their victim's.

Mrs. Krycki said she saw Jean leave her bungalow last night around 8:00.

She was alone. She drove off in her car and did not return. Her car was not in

her driveway or her garage.

Mrs. Krycki stated that the victim and her son moved into the bungalow

four months ago. She stated that the boy spent weekdays with his mother and

weekends with his father. Jean was originally from a little town in Wisconsin.

She was a hardworking, quiet woman who kept to herself. She was 37 years old.

The boy's father picked him up in a taxicab yesterday morning. She saw

Jean doing yard work yesterday afternoon. They talked briefly--but Jean did not

discuss her Saturday-night plans.

Virg Ervin brought up the victim's car. Where did she get it serviced?

Mrs. Krycki told him to try the local Union 76 station. Ervin got the

number from Information, called the station and talked to the proprietor. The

man checked his records and came back on the line with a plate number:

California / KFE 778.

Ervin called the number in to the El Monte PD switchboard. The

switchboard shot it out to all Sheriff's and local PD units.

The interview continued. Hallinen and Lawton pressed one topic: the

victim and her relationships with men.

Mrs. Krycki said that Jean had a limited social life. She seemed to have

no boyfriends. She went out by herself sometimes--and usually came home early.

She was not much of a drinker. She often said she wanted to set a good example

for her son.

George Kiycki walked in. Hallinen and Lawton asked him about his

Saturday-night activities.

He told them Anna May went to a movie around 9:00. He stayed home and

watched a fight card on TV. He saw the victim drive off between 8:00 and 8:30

p.m. and did not see or hear her return home.

Ervin asked the Kryckis to accompany him to the L.A. County Morgue. They

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Ellroy, James - My Dark Places

had to log a positive ID on the body.

Hallinen called the Sheriff's Crime Lab and told them to roll a print

deputy out to 700 Bryant, El Monte--the small house behind the larger house.

Virg Ervin drove the Kryckis to the L.A. Hall of Justice--a twelve-mile

shot up the San Bernardino Freeway. The Coroner's Office and the morgue were in

the basement below the Sheriff's Homicide Bureau.

The victim was stored on a slab in a refrigerated vault. The Kryckis

viewed her separately. They both identified her as Jean Ellroy.

Ervin took a formal statement and drove the Kryckis back to El Monte.

The print deputy met Hallinen and Lawton outside the Ellroy bungalow. It

was 4:30 p.m. and still hot and humid.

The bungalow was small and built of maroon-colored wood and river rock.

It stood behind the Krycki house, at the far end of a shared backyard. The yard

featured shade palms and tall banana plants, with a rock-and-mortar pond as a

centerpiece. The two houses were situated at the southeast corner of Maple and

Bryant. The Ellroy place had a Maple Avenue address.

The front door faced the pond and the Kryckis' back door. It was

constructed of louvered glass affixed to wood framing. A pane near the keyhole

was missing. The door could not be locked from the inside or outside.

Hallinen, Lawton and the print deputy entered the house. The interior

was cramped: two tiny bedrooms off a narrow living room; a stand-up kitchen,

breakfast nook and bathroom.

The place was neat and orderly. Nothing looked disturbed. The victim's

bed and her son's bed had not been slept in.

They found a glass in the kitchen, partially filled with wine. They

checked the drawers in the victim's bedroom and found some personal papers. They

learned that the victim worked at Airtek Dynamics--2222 South Figueroa, L.A.

They learned that the victim's ex-husband was named Armand Ellroy. He

lived at 4980 Beverly Boulevard, L.A. His phone number was HOllywood 3-8 700.

They saw that the victim did not have a telephone herself.

The print deputy dusted the wineglass and several other print-sustaining

surfaces. He came up with no viable latent fingerprints.

Hallinen walked over to the Kryckis' house and called the ex-husband's

number. He let it ring a good long time and got no answer.

Virg Ervin walked in. He said, Dave Wire found the victim's car--parked

behind a bar on Valley Boulevard.

The bar was called the Desert Inn. It was located at 11721 Valley--two

miles from the dump site and a mile from the victim's house. It was a flat

one-story building with a red clay-shingle roof and front window awnings.

The rear lot extended back to a line of cheap stucco bungalows. A grass

strip covered with sycamore trees divided four parking space rows. Low

chain-links closed the lot in sideways.

A red-and-white Buick was parked by the west-side fence. Dave Wire was

standing beside it. Jim Bruton and Harry Andre were standing by a Sheriff's

prowl unit.

Al Etzel was there. Blackie McGowan was there.

Hallinen and Lawton pulled into the lot. Virg Ervin and the print deputy

pulled up in separate cars.

Dave Wire walked over and laid it all out.

He caught the license plate call and started checking side streets and

parking lots. He found the victim's car at 3:35 p.m. It was unlocked and

appeared to be unransacked. He checked the front and back seats and did not find

car keys or the victim's purse, undergarments and shoes. He _did_ find a

half-dozen empty beer cans. They were wrapped in brown paper and tied up with

string.

Hallinen and Lawton examined the car. It looked pristine inside and out.

The print deputy photographed the interior and exterior and dusted the doors and

dashboard. He came up with no viable latent fingerprints.

A Temple deputy arrived. He impounded the Buick and drove it to a nearby

Ford dealership for safekeeping.

Some civilians were lounging on the grass strip. Wire pointed out Roy

Dunn and Al Manganiello--two Desert Inn bartenders.

Andre and Hallinen talked to them. Dunn said he worked last night;

Manganiello said he only worked days. Hallinen showed them Mrs. Krycki's

snapshot of the victim. Both men said they'd never seen the woman before.

They never saw the red-and-white Buick before. Dunn was on duty last

Side 5

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Ellroy, James - My Dark PlacesMY DARK PLACES by James EllroyCopyright 1996 by James EllroyAll rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.Published in the United States by Vintage Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and simultaneously in Canada by Random...

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