This is a work of fiction, using characters from the film, “LA Confidential". No insult or invasion of privacy or infringement of copyright is intended. The story is for readers over the age of 18 only, and contains adult language. The writer is not responsible for any "discomfort" caused to the reader by this language and these situations.
Shadows
©2007 by: C4C
CHAPTER TEN
Bud White stirred and rose from his bed. Leaving Lynn sleeping peacefully, he walked quietly into the kitchen, poured himself a double shot of scotch and padded out to the back porch to pace.
Despite the calm weekend, Bud couldn't shake the feeling of foreboding that was nagging him with increasing frequency. Even spending the afternoon, fiercely attacking the lawn with the mower while Lynn was out looking at baby furniture, hadn't helped. There were so many conflicting thoughts fighting for attention in his head that he couldn't think straight. He'd had bouts of insomnia since he was a child and when he was stressed, they came back with a vengeance.
But, why, he wondered, why was he stressed? He should be thanking his lucky stars to be married to Lynn and now having a kid. Yeah, there was the case, but he was a cop, he thought, he should be used to it.
But the truth was, he never got used to it and he knew he never would.
Between sips of his drink, he inhaled the cool air and looked out into the yard that was illuminated by the brilliant moon, to concentrate on the night's beauty. But he couldn't help shake the feeling: it was like a coil tightening in his gut. 'Ah, fuck it,' he thought, walking back into the house. Maybe two more fingers would get him some sleep.
That was when the phone rang. He dived for it, hoping it wouldn't wake Lynn. "Yeah," he said, his voice grumpy.
"Bud. It's Ed. I need you at the hospital, asap."
"The hospital?'' Bud was confused. "What do you mean, I thought you were on a date--"
"I got interrupted," said Exley, and Bud could tell he was none too happy about it, either.
"There's a situation there that we both need to handle. There's a woman, an older woman who was brought in with some bad injuries. They found some information on her. Information that traces back to you, Bud. You have to get down there."
Wanda, he thought, shit! "I'll be right down," he told Ed. He hurried into the bedroom to find Lynn wide awake and looking at him.
"What's wrong?"
Bud was furious. "It's Wanda. I have to get to the hospital--"
"--I'm going with you." She started to get out of bed.
"No," he said, roughly, "I want you to stay here."
"You're going to need me there."
"No! That's no place for you at a time like this!"
"I'm pregnant," Lynn declared, "I'm not made of china! I can handle this!"
"I said no," Bud said, flatly, and was out the door before she could confront him again.
She stayed in bed for a long moment, feeling frustrated. Deciding that sleep was an impossibility, she got up and wandered over to Bud's study which had once been her "bedroom". There was no trace of her old life there, she had seen to that a long time ago when she’d fallen in love with Bud.
Her eyes fell on a picture of the two of them.
It was hanging in the exact same spot where the photo of Veronica Lake, long-trashed, had once been. Lynn remembered the surge of happy satisfaction she had felt when she first put it there, as if putting a final cover on the past.
It had been a beautiful spring day in Echo Park. They had packed a picnic lunch of fried chicken, hard-boiled eggs, pickles, plus a couple of bottles of beer. They were standing in front of a tree with the lake in the background. Bud had on a white t-shirt with casual pants and Lynn, a pale blue sundress. She was standing in front of him; he had his bare arms around her. She was smiling and he had that soft, yet intense expression she loved so much.
After lunch, they'd rented a boat and Bud rowed them out to the middle of the lake. There, they dropped anchor and Lynn had spread a soft woolen blanket on the bottom of the boat.
Later, the two had laughed, wondering how many people had wondered why a presumably empty boat was rocking madly in the water.
Lynn smiled at the memory. They had been married maybe three months by then and she was still getting used to her name, Mrs. Bud White.
Then, she frowned. That's who she was, damn it, she was his wife and she knew where she was supposed to be right now.
Ed hurried back to the table where Joy was waiting for him. He felt like shit and Joy could see it.
"I'm sorry," he said, hurriedly, "but something's come up." He looked in the direction of where the officers were waiting. "I'll have one of them drive you home."
"But I don't understand, Ed." She looked as disappointed as he was. ''I thought you were off duty this evening--"
"I was. I was, but--this is something I have to handle, personally. I have to get to the hospital, it has to do with one of my--officers," he finished lamely.
"One of your officers? Surely you don't deal with every--"
"All right, it's Bud," he interrupted tersely. "Somebody's been brought in that might be connected to him and I need to be there."
"Somebody?"
"Yeah--they said it was an older woman--sixtyish--she won't talk to anybody else."
Joy's brow furrowed.
"Hmm--I wonder if--if it's the same lady. From the other day?"
From the blank look on his face she could see that he had forgotten that incident; now he remembered it.
"Could be. I better get going. Rain check," he said, anxiously.
"Nope," Joy declared.. "No rain check. Our date's not over, yet."
"What?"
"Remember my telling you how much I wanted to do police work? Take me with you. You may need my help."
Ed took a hurried glance at his watch. ''You're not going to make this easy, are you?"
"Nope. Lead the way."
Bud arrived at the hospital and, with great effort, erased the emotion from his face and put on his policeman's mask. He strode in to where the doctor was waiting for him.
"How is she?" he asked, tersely.
"Pretty worked over," the doctor replied. "We just finished with x-rays and she has a couple of broken ribs. We gave her some pain medication. Don't be long."
It was worse than he thought.
Besides the broken ribs, she had the beginnings of a hell of a shiner with a split lip growing bigger by the minute. She was barely conscious. No matter what his feelings towards her were, it sickened him to see her like this; it reminded him so of his mother and all the abuse she had endured. She opened her eyes.
"Hello, Wendell," she whispered, "thank you for coming."
"It's Bud," he said, coldly, "and I'm here on police business. What happened?"
"I'll tell you, but first--you have to listen--you have to know why I came here."
"So talk," he said, impatiently.
"I--I don't know where to begin, Wendell."
"I told you. It's Bud. Now what happened? Who did this?"
"I don't know why it's so important what I call you," she said. "I only see the little boy who I first saw at the police station--all those years ago--so scared and alone. I loved you, right then and there."
Bud's feelings of sympathy evaporated.
"Really," he said, leaning towards her, his voice low and bitter, "were you loving me when you knew he killed my mother, right in front of me--and you covered for him?"
"I was never sure that happened," she murmured, "he lied to me. He kept both of you on the move, all the time--I never even met Penelope."
"I don't believe you. You could have helped us."
"I want to help you, now." She took a painful breath. "What if I told you the answer to the question you asked me the other day is 'yes'?" Your father is very much alive, Wendell."
Out in the corridor, Ed and Joy had arrived and Ed was questioning the nurse. Joy hung back in the waiting area: she was the first to see Lynn emerge from the elevator. Lynn saw her and the two women hurried to each other.
"Lynn--what are you doing here?"
"I could ask you the same thing--have you seen Bud?"
"Well, I didn't see him--but he's in that cubicle over there," she said nodding in the direction where Bud had disappeared. "Ed's trying to find out what happened."
Lynn nodded.
"So, what's going on? Why did Bud bring you along?"
"He didn't," Lynn sighed. "And he's going to be pretty sore when he sees me."
"Sore? Why?"
Lynn hesitated. "It's--it's not for me to say. It's up to Bud."
"Did you ever wonder," Wanda was saying, "why he didn't kill you, on the spot, along with Penelope? He was too smart. He knew he had to have leverage with me. And he got it. That was the deal we made. I'd keep my mouth shut, he'd leave you alone. But now--he's broken that promise."
"What do you mean?"
"He's after you. He knew I came to L.A. to warn you and he hurt me, just enough, so I'd be strong enough to tell you. He's after you, and you have to be careful."
"I'm not afraid of that fuck," Bud growled. "I'm a man now, and believe me, he'll be sorry if he comes anywhere near me."
"Wendell, honey--listen to me." Something in her voice made him look straight at her. "You know that's not how he operates. He's too much of a coward."
A sick feeling hit him in the gut. Lynn! She was right, he should have known! Sheer terror spurted through him and, without another word, he turned on his heel and burst back into the corridor.
When he saw Lynn, standing with Joy and Ed, contrasting feelings of anger and relief coursed through his heart. It took physical effort not to grab her and run.
"What are you doing here," he said, his voice carefully constrained.” I told you to stay home."
"And I told you," she replied, evenly, "I'm not made of china. I'm your wife and I want to know what's happening."
"You might as well tell her," said Ed. "She deserves to know."
Bud glared at Ed. "You stay out of this."
"I'm already in it, Bud. Up to my eyeballs. Now, we need to talk--just for a minute."
After a moment, Bud nodded. He looked at Joy.
"Will you stay with her?"
"Sure," said Joy. Lynn rolled her eyes.
As the men stepped away to confer, she muttered, "He's driving me crazy."
"He's just being protective," Joy offered.
"Yes, but why? Never mind. I'll find out, I always do.''
"I don't doubt that," Joy declared. The two of them giggled, somewhat nervously. Lynn suddenly took a step back.
"You look nice."
"What? Oh--thanks."
"Bet you didn't think your date would end up here, though. I'm sorry."
"Well, there's nothing for you to be sorry about, Lynn. It's not your fault. Besides--I made Ed bring me here."
"You did?"
"Yes. I'm no shrinking violet, I'm not going to pretend to be one."
"I can see that!"
"Let's go," Bud said, gruffly. He took Lynn's arm and started for the elevator.
"Remember, Bud," Ed called. "Tomorrow morning. First thing."
"I'll be there," Bud said, impatiently. "And you'll take care of--"
"Already done."
As they walked into the house, Bud immediately peeled off his jacket and flung it angrily at the couch. Lynn stood against the door, arms tightly folded across her chest.
"Bud. I was just trying to help you."
"Oh, yeah," he muttered, "you helped, all right. Don't you know, Lynn, it makes me crazy to think of you in any kind of danger?"
"I don't understand, you aren't making any sense--"
"That's the trouble," he yelled, "you don't understand. Not a damn thing--"
"Okay," she said, trying to keep her own voice calm, "explain it to me, then!"
He drew a shuddering breath. She was right, she had to know and she had to understand.
"All right. Sit down."
"I will. Will you sit with me?"
He forced himself do so.
"It was her fuck of a brother. It was her fuck of a brother who hurt her."
At first the words made no sense to her. "What?"
"You heard me."
"Her broth--you mean, your father?"
"Don't call him that," he snarled, "he's not my father, he was never a father to me."
"Okay, okay,'' she tried to sooth him with her voice. "Go on."
He couldn't look at her: he stood up and began to pace. "He did it. He beat the shit out of Wanda to teach her a lesson so that she'd send me a message. And I got it. Believe me, God, I got it. He's 'after' me, she says. I'm supposed to be scared."
"After you? Why?"
"How should I know? He always hated me and I don't know the answer to that, either."
Lynn stood up and grabbed him. "Bud--you have to be careful! If anything happened to you--"
"You don't understand. Christ, Lynn. He picks on women. He knows you're the best way to get to me. Do you hear me, now? Do you understand, now?"
He saw, finally, fear in her eyes. Fear was good. Fear would keep her alive.
"Now, look, I want you to promise me to do everything I say from now on. I want you with me in the mornings before when I go to work. No staying home by yourself. And no more late days at the shop. When the girls go home, you call me. If I'm gonna be late, you come to the station until I can take you home. You can't be alone, Lynn, not for a second. Promise me!"
"I promise," she said quickly. "I promise I won't endanger our baby and I won't make things harder for you than they are already."
He saw that she meant it; he reached out and held her and they stayed that way for a long time.
"What now?" she finally asked.
"We'll meet Ed tomorrow, first thing. He has to know all of it. Then we'll come up with a plan." He put his hand under her chin. "You go to bed, now. We'll have to get going pretty damn early."
Still in somewhat of a state of shock, Lynn turned and went into the bedroom.
But, Bud knew, there would be little rest for either of them tonight.
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