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."You mean it made the Santa Barbara papers?""Yes, sir.You're a big hero._Is_ that what it means?""I'm not at liberty to discuss it," I said, leaving the clerk alone in the yellow foyer contemplating semantics.I trotted down to State Street and found a newsstand, where I bought copies of the L.A._Times_ and the Santa Barbara _Clarion_.It was on the front page of both papers, big headlines complete with photos.I started with the _Times_:GAMBLER CONFESSES TO KILLING OF HOLLYWOOD WOMAN!Linked to at Least Six Other Murders!LOS ANGELES SEPT.7: Police today arrested a Suspect in the August 12 strangulation murder of Margaret Cadwallader, 36, of 2311 Harold Way, Hollywood.The suspect was named as Edward Engels, 32, of Horn Drive, West Hollywood.Shortly after his arrest, Engels, a gambler with no visible means of support, confessed to L.A.P.D.detectives Dudley Smith, Michael Breuning, and Frederick Underhill, saying, "I killed Maggie! She treated me like dirt, so I returned her to the dirt."Miss Cadwallader, who worked as a bookkeeper at the Small World Import-Export Company in Los Angeles, was believed to have been killed by a burglar she interrupted in the early morning hours of August 12.Police had been carrying their investigation along those lines, questioning burglars known to use violence and getting no results, until the intervention of Detective Underhill, who was then assigned to patrol duties.In a formally signed statement to the press, Detective Underhill, 27, said: "When I was working Wilshire Patrol earlier this year, my partner and I discovered the body of a young woman.She had been strangled.When the Cadwallader case made the papers, I noted similarities between the two deaths.I began an investigation of my own, and brought my evidence, which at this time I cannot discuss, to Lieutenant Dudley Smith.Lieutenant Smith headed the investigation, which led to the arrest of Edward Engels."Lieutenant Smith praised Underhill for his "grand, splendid police work" and went on to say, "We got Engels through dogged police work; long stakeouts at the many bars where he went looking for lonely women.His arrest is a victory for justice and a moral America."Links to More Victims SoughtIn his rich brogue, the Irish-born L.A.P.D.lieutenant, 46, with 23 years on the force, continued: "I believe the tragic Miss Cadwallader is just the tip of the iceberg.Engels is a known degenerate who has frequented bars catering to his kind in the Hollywood area for many years.We know for a fact that he picks up women in cocktail lounges and pays them to be beaten.I strongly believe Engels to be responsible for at least half a dozen strangulation killings of women over the past five years throughout Southern California.I hope to persuade the district attorney to launch a massive investigation along these lines."I couldn't think for my sudden anger.Hurriedly, I read through the front pages of the Santa Barbara paper.There was nothing new, they copied the _Times_ almost verbatim.Dudley Smith, the fat-mouthed glory-monger, was pulling out all the stops in his monomania.I was covered, but he was out to hang fresh victims on the head of a one-time murderer.I ran back to the hotel, bursting through the foyer and taking the stairs three at a time.The door to our room was open, and Lorna was sitting in an armchair, smoking contentedly and reading a Santa Barbara tourist brochure.I flung the newspapers at her lap."Read these, Lorna," I said.She did, after giving me a long, concerned look.I watched her read.When she finished, she said, "It's nothing I didn't expect.""What do you mean?""I knew Smith would milk it for all it was worth.""You don't know him, Lor.Not like I do.He'll try to pin everything from the Johnstown flood to World War II on Engels.He's out of his goddamned mind!" -Lorna smiled and took my hands."Freddy, did Eddie Engels kill Margaret Cadwallader?""Yes, but--""Be still.Then he's in custody where he belongs.And you put him there, not Dudley Smith [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]