The Glitter Dome by Joseph Wambaugh Page B

finding a skinny junkie with a fat Buddha this time, partner.”
    Martin Welborn seemed more or less back to normal after reading the crime and follow-up reports while Al Mackey drove through the morning smog. “What was a man like St. Claire doing at a bowling alley at that time of night?”
    â€œI say we start by assuming the body was dumped here,” Al Mackey said.
    â€œThe pathologist was doubtful on that score. The posting indicates he was killed here.”
    It always amazed Al Mackey how quickly Marty could read and digest a police report, especially something as convoluted as a Schultz-Simon report, which drove district attorneys mad but seldom resulted in complaint to Captain Woofer. There was something about their combined bulk of 560 pounds which discouraged complaints from anyone . Even the doctors at the police physicals failed to send their “fat-man notices” to the department. Schultz and Simon were overweight the way grizzlies are overweight during hibernation: too heavy for their own good but everyone decided not to tell them about it.
    â€œLet’s start at his place of business,” Al Mackey said. “Might see some movie stars!”

4
    The Baby Mogul
    It was nearly noon. The windy speech from Deputy Chief Francis had cost them time in addition to money. And then there were Captain Woofer’s theories as to what Nigel St. Claire was doing in a bowling alley parking lot when his car was found three miles away on the Sunset Strip. Al Mackey had taken semi-elaborate notes during the theorizing and the notes were now in his coat pocket. The notes said:
    1. Call Emmy about alimony payment. Ask for another ten days. Grovel if necessary.
    2. Call Emmy’s lawyer if Emmy says to fuck off.
    3. Tell Emmy’s lawyer that putting an ex-husband in jail for not paying spousal support never solved anything. Money, not vengeance, is the name of the game.
    4. Call Thelma (or Thelma’s lawyer) and tell her that it’s very hard paying spousal support to two women. Plead for understanding since Thelma always had more heart than that other bitch.
    5. Call Johnny and Petey when they get home from school and say that we’ll go to a Dodger game next weekend for sure. Tell them that they might mention to their mom that their ex-stepfather could take them more places if he wasn’t so broke all the time.
    6. When Emmy calls to scream about using her kids as an economic weapon, tell her that the crybaby baseball players and greedy team owners have forced the price of seats right through the roof. And has she tried buying hot dogs and peanuts at Dodger Stadium these days for two teenagers with appetites like timber wolves?
    Al Mackey momentarily put aside his alimony dilemma when he pulled up to the gate of the famous studio. While he flashed his badge and signed in with the gate guards, Martin Welborn studied the photographs in the case envelope. He instantly disagreed with the supposition of Schultz and Simon that Nigel St. Claire was shot first in the temple and then in the forehead.
    â€œLook at the caboose on that one, Marty,” Al Mackey said as they passed a harried extra in the mock-buckskin garb of an Indian squaw. She was scurrying toward a gigantic sound stage marked Stage 2, and Al Mackey was disappointed to see her turn left at the next street when he had to make a right turn to find the surprisingly modest three-story building that housed the Truly Successful moguls. Al Mackey had expected something like a Playboy Mansion-on-the-back-lot.
    â€œI think he was shot in the forehead first,” Martin Welborn said when Al Mackey stopped for a parade of extras dressed like Keystone cops.
    â€œReinforcements,” Al Mackey observed, but Martin Welborn never glanced up.
    â€œLook at this, my lad,” Martin Welborn said. He could still find some electric current somewhere. It had been a long time since a police investigation had given Al Mackey a