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DEATH BY PARKING – Episode V: The Shakedown ‘Death Valley Scotty?’ BY JVH


theHartisons’ living roomandHartison thought Paulwas the guywhowas cheatingwith hiswife. Paul takes up the dialogue:Wow, for a rich powerful guy, he really didn’t know much about what was going on.A door opened and my client,Mary Hartison (neeWilliams), walked out. She was wearing a revealing negligee. “That’s him, that’s the SOB who tried to take advantage ofme,” she said. “Thank heavens you got himfirst.”Ah, yes, this was the woman who first hired me to keep her husband, who turned out not to be her husband, out of trouble. I then found her 45 minutes later standing over that poor schnook’s body, just outside his office in a parking garage.Within an hour, I had found thatMary worked in the building and was having an affair with the building owner, Larry Levinson. I then spoke to her not two hours ago in a huge cabin at Big Bear Lake, where she introduced me to her “son,” who was notMoncriefHartison’s, and toldme shewas being blackmailed, due to the aforementioned affair, andwas try- ing to keep it quiet because shewas in themiddle of a verymessy divorce.The personMarywas supposedly divorc- ingwas nowstanding next to herwith a protective armon her shoulder.Within a short period of time she had turned into a seductress who seemed very comfortable with theman she said she was trying to divorce. Before I could say anything, I was gagged, hadmy hands tied behindmy back, and was frog-marched out the door and toward a truck. “Stop!” It wasMary. “I want a last word with this creep,” she said. She came over and leaned close to me. “How does it feel, having me close and knowing you can’t do anything about it, Larry?”Mary put her arms around me and gave me a tender kiss on the lips. Then, laughing, she sashayed back to Hartison’s side. I had to move quickly before I was shoved into the truck. I needed to hide the knife she had put inmy hands.


T After two hours, the truck came to a stop. Two gunsels


pulled me out of the back and none too gently tossed me on the ground. Thank the Lord they didn’t frisk me.Mary’s knife was inmy back pocket. “No one has ever walked out of the desert from here, cer-


tainly not without water and certainly not with their hands tied,” one of themsaid. “The betting pool back at the house says you’ll be dead by noon.”They got back in the truck and drove off. It took twominutes to cut the rope frommy hands and I was


free. But so what – I was in the desert, no map, no direction, no water, no nothing. But I did have a knife.And one other thing: I had taken “California Science” from HarriettWeaver in the sev- enth grade. I knew which snakes were poisonous, which cactus had


water, and thatmoss grewon the north side of a tree (well,maybe not in the desert, but you get the idea). It had been a while, but I had about five hours before the sun came up to planmy trip back to civilization. If we had driven for about two hours, my guess was that I was in for a long walk. I won’t bore you with the details, but by sunrise, I was ready


tomove. I figured it was best to head the way the truck had driv- en off. I’m sureMissWeaver would have been proud. There was a dry riverbed about 100 yards away, and we were taught that if trees were around, chances were there also was water just below the surface. Sure enough, about a foot down I foundwater. Itwas muddy, but I drank some before I started off. I wanted to get as far as I could before the sun got too hot. I


was in theMojave, one of the world’s great deserts, and it got hot early. I kept my eye out for shade, and as it got hotter, I headed


14 SEPTEMBER 2010 • PARKING TODAY • www.parkingtoday.com


for an outcropping about 20 yards to the south. I checked for snakes, found none, and settled in. Iwas dozingwhen somethingMissWeaver had told us about


survival in the desert came tomind.You are probably better off to stay in one place, she had said, because, particularly if you are near a road, someonemay just come by and find you. I thinkwhat brought it tomind was the sound of an engine. Sure enough – the most beautiful wreck of a car I have ever


seen was driving up the road I had just been on. I was saved. The car stopped, and the man behind the wheel looked like


he had just stepped out of Central Casting. He was old, dirty, grizzled and wore torn Levis, work boots, and a hat that proba- bly had been worn by Custer and he had got after the Battle of Little Bighorn. “Come on, get in,” my new best friend said. “Can’t leave


anyone out here in the heat of the day.” That was that. I had been lost, dying and all the rest, for a grand total of six hours. An hour later, we arrived at an oasis. There was a cool


spring, tall trees and a cabin. It was on a slight rise, and off to the west was a castle.Yes, a castle. Old-timer. Desert. Castle. It came together in a rush. I had


been saved by “DeathValley Scotty.”There was oneminor prob- lem– he had died 10 years before. So who was this character? “I knowwhat your questions are,” he said, “so Iwill give you


the answers first, save time. My name is James Nelson. I’m a PhD in geology from UCLA and love the desert. I had some issues a few years ago and decided tomove out here.” “Yes, that’sDeathValley Scotty’s castle, and yes, this is Scot- ty’s cabin. I live here at the behest of theNational Park Service to


HE BOSS OF CRACKERJACK PI PAUL MANNING’S GIRLFRIEND was in jail for the murder of a parking garage manager. Paul was trying to help and discovered that the boss was having an affair withMary Hartison, wife of the very jealous gangsterMoncrief Hartison.Mary had confessed the affair to Paul just before he had been hit over the head and ended up in


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