From inside the closet Ava sat with her little gun in her hand. She’d made a point of grabbing it before she obeyed Jerry and hid in the closet. She held it in both hands, flinching when she heard the first shot, then again when she heard two shots fired almost at the same time.
Then it was silent, and that was even scarier.
She held the gun tightly, waiting. She heard footsteps approaching the closet, and then the door swung open. She pointed the gun. .
. . Jerry saw Ava pointing the gun at him with both hands and said, ‘It’s OK, Miss Ava.’ He was shocked when she fired, her eyes wide with fright. He waited for the impact of the bullet, but none came, despite the fact that she pulled the trigger again and again.
The he turned, saw the man behind him and fired once. The man staggered back, the gun dangling from his hand. Finally, he dropped his gun to the floor, and then fell over on to it. Jerry went to the body and turned it over.
‘Did I. .’ Ava asked.
Jerry told her the truth.
‘You missed every shot,’ he said. ‘But you gave me time to put one hole in him, and that was enough. Thanks, Miss Ava.’
‘The bullets are small and didn’t do much damage to the walls.’
‘I saved your butt and you’re talking about the walls?’ Ava asked, coming back in with the coffee.
‘You did save my ass, Miss Ava,’ he said. ‘I don’t know how that guy got behind me.’
I knew, but I didn’t say it out loud. Jerry was so concerned about Ava that he’d made a mistake, and it had almost cost him.
I looked at Ava. Actually killing a man did not seem to have affected her as much as seeing Jerry kill the two in the parking lot. Maybe she was becoming hardened to this kind of life.
‘OK, hold on,’ I said. ‘What happened to the bodies?’
‘Oh,’ Jerry said, ‘they’re out back. I covered ’em up with some branches to keep animals away, but they’re gonna start to stink soon.’
‘When did all this happen?’
‘Yesterday evenin’,’ Jerry said. ‘I woulda taken Miss Ava away from here, but we didn’t have no car and it’s too far to walk.’
‘We can talk about that later,’ I said. ‘We’ve got to get Tony’s house fixed up, and those bodies taken care of. We can’t have him come back here and find a stack of dead, decaying Chicago hoods — they are from Chicago, aren’t they?’
‘Oh yeah,’ Jerry said. ‘Here.’ He walked to a small writing desk that Tony had against the wall and opened a drawer. He came back and handed me two wallets.
‘Daniel Pierce and Gino Capetti,’ I read off, ‘Chicago driver’s licenses. Even Chicago union cards. But Pierce isn’t Italian.’
‘Don’t matter,’ Jerry said. ‘I ain’t Italian and I work for the families.’
‘You’re right.’
‘So what do we do?’ Ava asked.
‘We can stay here another day or two. They won’t be lookin’ for these guys until then. Meanwhile, Jerry and I have to cart them off someplace and bury ’em.’
‘That’s gruesome work,’ she said.
‘Yes, it is. After that we’ll have to fix that window. I don’t know what we can do about the bullet holes in the outside wall.’
‘Maybe Mr LaBella will think they lend the place some character,’ she offered.
‘You know?’ I said. ‘He just might, at that.’
‘I can heat the leftover roast up and make sandwiches for lunch,’ she said. ‘I mean, if you can be hungry after burying three men.’
‘I can,’ Jerry said.
‘Yeah,’ I agreed, ‘I’m afraid to say I’ll probably be hungry too.’
SIXTY-EIGHT
There was no other way to do it. Jerry carried two of the bodies — one over his shoulder and one under his arm — and I carried the other, smallest one. We walked as far as we could into the forest and then dug one big hole to bury them in. Tony had a couple of shovels in a shed behind the house, so we used them to go down at least three feet.
But before I shoved my guy into the mass grave I noticed something.
‘Jerry, this guy’s got the same ring.’
‘With the snake?’
I nodded, leaned over and took it off him.
‘This must be somethin’ Napolitano’s guys get from him,’ I said. It was the only explanation I could think of. ‘They don’t all have it,’ Jerry said, ‘but maybe you gotta make your bones first.’ He shook his head. ‘Tacky.’
I rolled my guy into the grave.
We covered them up.
We couldn’t call the police, even though Jerry had killed them in self defense, Hargrove would have used the incident to try to put him away — and probably me, too. There was no way we’d get an even break from the cops. Not when almost everybody involved was a wise guy.
When we got back we were, indeed, hungry. We washed up and sat and had a kind of grim lunch with Ava, who surprised herself by having an appetite as well.
‘Man, this roast was great, Jerry,’ I said. ‘I’m sorry I missed the whole meal last night.’
‘Maybe you shouldn’t be,’ Ava said. ‘If you were here you might’ve got shot.’
‘Yeah, well. .’
‘You gotta tell us how Chicago went, Mr G.,’ Jerry said.
So I did. .
‘Napolitano,’ Jerry said. ‘That’s the name I got.’
‘When?’
‘Yesterday,’ the big guy said. ‘I didn’t have a chance to tell you.’
‘What did you hear?’
‘Just that the two guys I wasted worked for Napolitano.’
‘And what do you know about Mr Napolitano?’
‘That he ain’t as big as he thinks he is, and won’t ever be,’ Jerry said. ‘Eventually, Mr Giancana’s gonna have him taken care of.’
‘Well,’ I said, ‘now may be the time.’ I looked at Ava. ‘What do you know about Vito Napolitano?’
‘I’ve been trying to remember ever since you said the name,’ she said. ‘I remember a handsome young man — but I remember a lot of handsome young men. Oh, I can’t believe this!’ She held her head in her hands.
‘Take it easy, Ava,’ I said. ‘I don’t think you killed him.’
‘That’s not what I mean,’ she said. ‘I spent so much of the time I was married to Frank trying to get him away from those men. I can’t believe that I did something to get myself involved with them.’
‘Don’t be hard on yourself,’ I said. ‘If you were so drunk you lost forty hours, you can’t be held responsible-’
‘Oh, but I do hold myself responsible,’ she said. ‘After all, I’m the one who apparently went on a goddamned bender. Sex, booze and, who knows, maybe drugs, and I get involved in the murder of some would-be Mafioso’s son? What the fuck is wrong with me?’
I looked at Jerry, who seemed about to speak, and shook my head. Then I jerked my head to indicate I wanted him to walk outside with me.
‘Jerry and I are just gonna have a look outside, Ava,’ I said.
‘I’ll do these dishes,’ she said. ‘Might as well make myself useful.’
Jerry and I went out on to the deck.
‘What are we gonna do?’ he asked.
‘We can spend the night here,’ I said. ‘If Napolitano doesn’t hear from his men by tomorrow night he might send more. We should be safe tonight.’
‘What about the window?’
‘I’ll have Jack Entratter send someone out here to replace it. Maybe even dig out these bullets and fill the holes. But I’ll tell Tony what happened, anyway. He has a right to know.’
‘About the bodies we buried?’
‘No,’ I said, ‘I don’t want anybody to know about that. That’s between you and me.’
‘I agree.’
We were both raking the landscape with our eyes while we were out there.
‘Just to be sure,’ I said, ‘maybe one of us should stay awake tonight. We can go four hours on, four off.’
‘Suit
s me, but where are we gonna take Miss Ava tomorrow?’ he asked.
‘I hate to do it,’ I said, ‘but maybe the Sands will be the safest place. According to Jack Entratter, we just have to wait for Momo to take care of things for us.’
‘What’s that mean?’ Ava asked. We hadn’t seen her come to the door.
I looked at her. ‘Apparently, Giancana is gonna take care of Napolitano.’
She came out on to the deck.
‘But that wouldn’t help me,’ she said. ‘I want to know if I killed that man.’
‘Ava-’ I said.
‘I know you don’t think I did, Eddie,’ she said, ‘but that doesn’t mean I didn’t.’ She put her hands on my chest. ‘I still need to know what happened!’
I put my hands on her upper arms and rubbed them.
‘OK, Ava,’ I said. ‘We’ll find out for you.’
SIXTY-NINE
I took the first watch, sitting on the sofa with Jerry’s.45 either in my lap, or on the cushion next to me.
It seemed to me I hadn’t done all that much for Ava, except run her around L.A. and Las Vegas. If wise guys from Chicago stopped coming after her it would be because Sam Giancana put an end to Tony Napolitano. But if I could find out for her who actually killed Vito Napolitano, and prove to her that she didn’t do it, then I would have done something real for her.
Of course, if Giancana killed Vito to get at Tony, and then later killed Tony, he wasn’t about to admit any of that to me. But then I didn’t really have to prove who did kill Vito. I just had to convince Ava that, during a drunken black out, she hadn’t.
I picked up Jerry’s.45 and walked to the front window — the one without Jerry’s cardboard patch. I didn’t think the two goons Jerry had killed had help out there, but if they did we had to be aware and ready. There was plenty of moonlight and I could see the front of the house clearly. Then I walked to the kitchen door and looked out. The lock had been shattered by a kick. Jerry had found some tools the same place we found the shovels, and nailed it shut.
Satisfied, I got some water from the tap, carried the glass back to the living room with me and sat down on the sofa with the gun on the cushion next to me. We were taking a chance that I was right, that the two dead men were working alone, and that no one would come looking for them for at least a day. I was ready, though, in case someone kicked in the front door.
My four hours were about up and I was in mid yawn when Jerry came walking in, looking refreshed. I knew from past experience that he could operate on remarkably little sleep.
‘Hey, Mr G,’ he said. ‘Why don’t you turn in?’
‘Jerry, there’s a chance Hargrove will be waitin’ to catch me at the Sands,’ I said.
‘So if he catches you, he catches me, is that what you’re gettin’ at?’ he asked.
‘Pretty much.’
‘I’m sure you can get us into the Sands without goin’ through the front, Mr G.,’ he said. ‘I got lots of faith in you.’
I stood up, and his.45 changed hands, as did Ava’s little gun. We decided not to let Ava hang on to it herself. Less chance she might shoot one of us.
‘I hope I can earn your faith, Jerry,’ I said.
He grinned and said, ‘Hey, Mr G., no worries. You already have.’
SEVENTY
We packed up the next day, locked down Tony’s house. I took his key with me so I could give it to Jack Entratter. I wanted Tony’s house back to normal before I returned the key to him.
As Jerry drove us back to Las Vegas with Ava once again riding shotgun, I told them I had come up with a better idea.
‘Better than the Sands?’ Jerry asked.
‘Hargrove may have the Sands bein’ watched front and back,’ I said.
‘Looking for you?’ Ava asked.
‘He knows how to find me,’ I said. ‘If he tracked Jerry from L.A. to here, he could be lookin’ for him there.’
Jerry looked at me in the rear view mirror.
‘How’s he gonna do that?’ he asked. ‘Track me, I mean?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said, ‘but just to be on the safe side I’m gonna call Danny when we get near town.’
‘The handsome private eye?’ Ava asked. ‘I’m going to stay with him?’
‘Not exactly,’ I said.
On the outskirts of town I had Jerry pull over at a pay phone. If this was going to keep up I was going to have to get a phone put into the Caddy. On Jack Entratter’s dime, of course.
I called Danny’s office and Penny put me through along with a little flirting.
‘I need a favor,’ I said.
‘Name it.’
‘I put Ava at a house in Lake Mead owned by Tony LaBella,’ I explained. ‘She was there with Jerry while I was in Chicago with you. Last night, they found them.’ I hadn’t even mentioned to Danny, when we were flying back from Chicago, where I had stashed her.
‘Uh-oh,’ he said, ‘does that mean what I think it means?’
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘it was a mess and now we’re on the road.’
‘Where are you going?’ he asked.
‘That’s the favor,’ I said. ‘I need someplace safe to stash Ava.’
‘Mine?’ he asked.
‘No, we’re too connected.’
‘You want me to find a place?’
‘I was thinking of Penny’s place,’ I said. ‘Do you think she’d mind rooming with Ava for a few days?’
‘I think she’d love it,’ he said. ‘But what about Jerry?’
‘I might need Jerry,’ I said, ‘so I’d be taking him with me.’
‘Well,’ he said, ‘Penny’s got a gun permit and knows how to use one, and she’s always buggin’ me to let her work on a case.’
‘Would you ask her for me?’
‘Hold on.’
While he spoke with Penny I thought about it. Using Danny was chancy, because we were so connected, but using Penny might give me a few days. And the fact that she could use a gun freed Jerry up for — what? I wasn’t sure. Maybe just to watch my back.
‘Eddie? No problem. Penny’s thrilled to meet Ava.’
‘OK,’ I said. ‘I don’t think we should come to your office.’
‘No, take Ava right to Penny’s. We’ll meet you there.’ He gave me the address. ‘Warn Ava that it’s a small place.’
‘At this point if there’s no shooting I don’t think Ava will mind the size.’
‘OK, then. See you there. Half an hour?’
‘Twenty minutes,’ I said.
‘Done.’
I called Entratter quickly and told him I’d be there in an hour.
‘Any sign of Hargrove?’ I asked.
‘He was here earlier, but only to talk to me,’ Entratter said.
‘Did he ask about me?’
‘You were one subject we discussed,’ he said. ‘I’ll talk to you when you get here. This has gotten way out of hand. I’m thinkin’ about just dumpin’ it on Frank.’
I knew that wasn’t what he was thinking, at all, but I said, ‘Don’t do anything until we talk.’
‘I’ll see you later.’
I hung up, went back to the car and gave Jerry directions to Penny’s place.
Penny lived in a neighborhood that was on an upswing. It was only a few blocks from Freemont Street, which meant she could walk to work each morning. It was a fourplex on a residential block where one end was burnt out and the other end was being renovated. She was right in the middle.
We pulled up in front and Jerry got out first, followed by me, and then we opened the door for Ava and stood on either side of her. She was wearing a plaid shirt that was too big for her, jeans and her dark glasses.
‘I feel like the goddamned president,’ she said.
‘He ain’t bein’ guarded as well as you are, Miss Ava,’ Jerry said.
‘Yeah,’ she said, ‘but his bodyguards would take a bullet for him.’
I swore Jerry looked as if she’d smacked him. I knew Jerry would take a bu
llet for me, or for Ava.
I give Ava credit, she also saw the look on his face.
‘I’m so sorry, sweetie,’ she said, giving him an impulsive hug. ‘I know you’d take a bullet for me.’
‘Of course I would, Miss Ava.’
‘Don’t pay any attention to me, Jerry,’ she said. ‘I have a big mouth.’
‘Can we take this love fest inside?’ I asked. ‘It’s way too wide open out here.’
Jerry and I walked Ava to the door and inside. Luckily, neither of us had to take a bullet for her.
SEVENTY-ONE
Danny and Penny were waiting for us, so when we rang her bell — second floor, back — Danny opened the door immediately.
Penny tried not to gush, tried her best to be professional, and she almost made it.
When she went to her kitchen to get coffee Ava said to all of us, ‘She’s sweet, is she really the one who’s going to be responsible for my safety for the next few days?’
‘No,’ Danny said before I could respond, ‘she’s not. I’ll be staying here, too.’
‘And what will the sleeping arrangements be?’ Ava asked with a grin. ‘You and Penny in her bed and me on the sofa?’
‘No,’ Danny said, ‘you could share the bed with Penny, or you could have the bed, Penny will take the sofa and I’ll take the floor.’
‘Or-’ Ava started, but I cut her off.
‘You three can work that out,’ I said, ‘and I’m hoping it won’t be more than one night. If Momo is true to his word, that is.’
‘I’ll go help Penny and get acquainted, then,’ Ava said. ‘I’ll see you boys later.’
‘That was good thinkin’, Danny,’ I said.
‘You had a good idea, Eddie, bringin’ her here, but you didn’t think it through, and neither did I, until now.’
‘You’re right,’ I said. ‘I don’t know what I was thinkin’.’
‘Well, we’ve got it straight now,’ he said. ‘You and Jerry go and do what you gotta do. We’ll just wait here for the good word.’
‘OK,’ I said.
‘Remember,’ Jerry said to Danny, ‘she’s a lady.’
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