Carr leaned against the wall with Kelly.
"We were sitting in my room having a drink and I get a phone call. I didn't know who it was. Man's voice. He says, 'This is a friend. Red Diamond and another guy are coming up to your room to rip you off. The guy with Red has a sawed-off in an attaché case.' Then he hangs up."
Kelly's jaw dropped. He turned toward Carr.
Higgins made notes on his clipboard. "So what did you do then?" he said.
"Me and my friend here go in the bedroom and wait. My friend's got a piece because I carry large amounts of cash now and then." He looked at the bodyguard. "L.A. is a high-crime area, right? I peek out the bedroom door and I see these two guys come in the front door. One guy is carrying a sawed-off piece. So my friend here opens the bedroom door and lets loose. I mean, what would you do? It was simple self-defense."
"That's what it sounds like," Higgins said. "I'll have to ask you to come down to the station to make a written report, but by the physical evidence, it looks like self-defense. The dead guys did have a shotgun. No charges will be filed."
Higgins stepped out into the hallway. Carr and Kelly followed.
"We had Diamond and Boyce under surveillance," Carr said. "That's how we happen to be here."
"That's all I need for my report," said the detective. He walked across the hall into the room with the bodies.
It was four hours before the case was wrapped up.
Delgado arrived and chewed Rolaids while Carr explained what had happened. Per standard operating procedure, Carr and Kelly wrote statements, which would serve as their report of investigation. The statements were concise and almost identical. "Occurrence during a Routine Surveillance" was the title block. Delgado headed back for the field office to send a teletype to Washington, D.C.
They checked the serial numbers of the money in Ronnie Boyce's wallet and found that the numbers on his six tens and two fives matched Rico's marked money.
Higgins unloaded the sawed-off shotgun and put it in a plastic evidence bag.
The bodies were removed to the L.A. county morgue.
After all the details were completed, Kelly suggested Ling's. Carr accepted.
The drive to Chinatown was pleasant. Little or no traffic, and the heat wave seemed to have given way to cooling, smogless sea air.
"The wife and I are thinking of having a little get-together at my place for you before you go," Kelly said. "You know, steaks and beer. I figured I'd ask five or six couples. Ling and his wife said they'd like to come. Couple of the narcs."
"That'll be real nice," Carr said. "I'll bring Sally, if she still wants to see me."
Kelly stopped for a red light at Hill and Alpine and looked both ways. He drove through before the light changed. Down the street he pulled into a curb parking space two doors from Ling's.
"Charlie," Kelly said.
"Yes?"
"How did you know that Boyce was…" He turned off the engine. "Oh, never mind."
They got out of the car.