by Rod Reynolds
I looked from Tanner to the deputy along the corridor. The man was standing stock-still, hand on his keychain, watching us. Something wasn’t right with the scene.
‘Why did you come here, Yates? The truth now.’
I looked at the deputy, then the man in the cell next to me, wondering about those listening on. ‘Not here. Get me out of this cell and we’ll talk.’
He looked at the deputy and nodded, and I got it then. ‘You already told them, didn’t you?’
The deputy came over and unlocked the door, swinging it open for me.
Tanner stepped inside to block the way. ‘I do not appreciate having to stick my neck out like this. Are we on the same page?’
I nodded, waiting, antsy.
He backed away to let me out, then indicated for me to follow the deputy along the corridor.
We passed through the doors and I tapped the deputy on the shoulder. ‘Where’s Newland?’
‘He’s with the sheriff.’
‘He had nothing to do with—’ I stopped mid-sentence. I was about to plead his case when I realised I couldn’t say anything about him for certain.
‘Who’s Newland?’ Tanner asked.
‘Nobody. A local hack.’
His silent acceptance was uncharacteristic.
The deputy led us up the staircase and through the station to a back exit, saying nothing, walking a little way ahead of me. I looked around for Lang as we went, wondering what his reaction would’ve been to the FBI speaking for me. But there was no sign.
Tanner’s ride was parked along the block. We passed a payphone on the way and I slowed. ‘I need to call my wife.’
‘We talk first.’
I stopped and picked up the receiver, reached for a nickel. He put his hand on my forearm to halt me.
‘She’s at a hotel Siegel owned,’ I said. ‘I had no idea.’
‘El Cortez?’
‘You know of it?’
‘I’ve done my homework. We’ll go get her, it’ll be quicker.’
I looked at him, remembering Rosenberg’s photograph of Lizzie at the Breakers, doubts still lingering.
He set the telephone gently back in its cradle. ‘Come on.’
*
He’d barely hit the ignition when he started in on me. ‘What’s the deal with the dead man? Why are you here?’
‘It’s unrelated to your investigation.’
‘Everything in this town relates to Siegel. Besides which, you’ve involved me now.’
I looked at my hands, recalling the conversation I’d overheard outside Lang’s office; turning it all over in my head.
‘He worked for him,’ Tanner said. ‘The dead man. From what I understand.’
‘The sheriff tell you that?’
He nodded, watching the road.
‘It’s a coincidence. It pertains to an old story I was working in LA.’
He raised his eyebrows. ‘Important enough to make you drop everything and clear out to come here.’
I waved a hand, nonchalant. Change the subject. ‘Siegel is desperate for cash. The Flamingo is sending him broke, he’s making enemies all over LA and Las Vegas because of it. That’s what the shakedowns are in aid of.’
‘That tallies with what we’re seeing. How does it help me?’
‘The pressure is making him careless. You stay tight and he’ll do something stupid soon enough.’
‘He’s no use to me dead,’ he said.
‘I’m not saying dead. But I’m worried others will get caught in the blowback.’
‘Is that a reference to the man that died this morning or yourself?’
I shot him a sidelong look, giving no answer. The name Nancy Hill on my lips, doubt like a lump in my throat, stopping me from saying it.
*
We pulled into El Cortez and I jumped out of the car, leaving Tanner behind. I took the steps two at a time and came up to our room, rapping on the door and calling Lizzie’s name until it opened.
‘Charlie, thank god.’ She took my hands and I pulled her to me.
I held her silently until a sound made me look up and I saw Tanner coming along the corridor.
‘You’ll forgive me for intruding, but after last time …’
Lizzie pulled back as he approached. ‘Special Agent Tanner, thank you for your help.’
‘It’s your husband should be thanking me. But you’re welcome.’
I stepped past Lizzie and into the room to get the bags. She turned to look. ‘Are we leaving?’
I nodded. ‘Right now. I’ll explain when we’re out.’
‘Where are we going?’ She looked at Tanner and it bugged me – his show again now.
‘Do you have a field office here?’ I asked.
‘We’ll have to improvise.’
*
Tanner paced back and forth in front of the window, reading from his pocketbook. ‘You said Moe Rosenberg gave you three days for Lyle Kosoff to raise the money. That’s tomorrow.’
I nodded.
‘But you’re telling me he demanded to see your smear today?’
I looked past him and out the window, nodding again. Tanner had led us to a motor court a short way out of town, on the highway headed north. The view was an expanse of desert that looked grey under gloomy skies, even the peaks in the distance appearing dulled by the grinding cold.
Tanner knocked on the wall to get my attention. ‘What’s your best estimation of their next move?’
‘Are you kidding me? After what they did before?’ I looked at Lizzie, sitting on the second bed, then back at him. ‘You know the answer to that.’
He held his pocketbook by his side. ‘It won’t be easy to get to Kosoff.’
‘Can you protect him? You have men watching him, surely?’
‘We’re doing what we can. But we’re spread thin, as you know.’ He shot me a look, a note of accusation about it. Enough to compel me into a peace offering.
‘There’s something going down at the Flamingo tonight, a reception. I think Siegel’s going to be there.’
‘Wouldn’t be a surprise, my information has it that he’s in town. That’s why you came here, isn’t it?’
‘Does it matter any more?’
‘The man who was killed – do you believe Siegel was involved?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘You don’t know? I can’t think of any other reason you’d be wrapped up in it.’
‘You’d need to speak to the cops.’
‘I already did, if you recall.’ He was pointing at me but he lowered his finger when he realised it. ‘Look, a dead construction hand may be trivial by comparison to what else he’s done, but you never know what’s going to break a case open. Think about Capone.’
I could feel Lizzie looking at me, and I wondered if she was about to spill about Hill and Desjardins. At the same time wondering if Tanner had already put it together and was just trying to trap me.
‘You made good time, Special Agent Tanner,’ she said. ‘To get here so fast.’
He paused, the line seeming to back him off. ‘I flew. A necessity of the situation.’
He looked away, taking no account of her, and back to me. Lizzie kept staring at him.
‘This function tonight – what’s the purpose?’ Tanner said.
‘I don’t know, I need to ask around.’ In my head, thinking to track down the heavyset man from Lang’s office. Harry.
‘Who’s on the invite list?’
‘Why do you care?’
‘Because it’s an unguarded moment.’ He went to the window and drew the curtain back to reveal more of the grey vista. ‘Because if certain parties were to be in attendance, it could present an opportunity.’
Lizzie stabbed her finger into her palm. ‘No.’
Tanner whipped around. ‘No, what?’
‘I see what you’re about to propose, Special Agent, and the answer is no. There is no cause for Charlie to be there.’
Tanner let go of the curtai
n, shadow flittering across the bedstead. ‘With respect, Mrs Yates, Bureau business is not a matter you’re qualified to make pronouncements on.’
I watched the exchange without speaking. Caught between wanting to defend my wife and the truth I hadn’t spoken – that I’d been intending to go from the moment I heard about it.
But as Lizzie looked at me, I could tell my silence had given me away.
She took a step backwards, shaking her head. ‘No. Charlie, no …’
‘Just hear him out.’
‘No—’
‘Liz—’
‘NO. I stood by and watched you walk out the door in Venice Beach and felt sure you’d never come back. I’ll be damned if I’m going to do that again. We’ve pushed and pushed and pushed and—’
‘Mrs Yates—’
‘With respect, Special Agent, allow me to speak. You’ve had your say and I mean to have mine.’ Tanner folded his arms, one eye narrowing. ‘I will not have my husband used as a pawn any longer. You have eyewitness testimony of a murder and of conspiracy to blackmail, what more can you possibly gain by sending Charlie into the lion’s den again?’
He was silent long enough to see if she was finished, then turned to me. ‘You have anything to say for yourself, Yates?’
Lizzie stamped her foot. ‘How dare you dismiss me?’ She marched to the door and opened it. ‘I mean to speak to my husband alone, I’ll thank you to leave.’
He put his hands on his hips, his tongue in his cheek. ‘You’ve a short memory, Mrs Yates.’
‘So do you, Special Agent.’
Tanner came over to me, watching Lizzie. ‘Get your wife under control, then come find me. And if you think to cut out on me again, I won’t be there to save your ass next time. Whoever it is catches up with you first.’
He carried on to the door, touching the brim of his hat as he passed Lizzie without looking her way.
She slammed it shut and marched to the bathroom.
‘Liz—’
I heard the faucet come on, the sound of running water. I went to follow her, but she came out again right away, her finger to her lips. She crept lightly over to the front door and looked through the spy hole.
She straightened up and beckoned me to follow her to the bathroom again.
I did as she indicated. Inside, I reached to turn the faucet off, but she grabbed my hand.
‘Mind telling me what the hell is going on?’ I said.
‘I couldn’t think how else to get rid of him.’
I looked at her, stunned. An incredulous smile split my face.
‘I don’t trust that man, Charlie.’
I glanced to the side, seeing her in profile in the dirty mirror, wondering what I’d ever done to deserve her. ‘Neither do I, but he came through this time …’
‘How did he get here so fast? Answer me that.’
‘He said he caught a flight.’
‘It can’t have been three hours from when I called to when he sprung you. Even if the FBI used their own airplane, does that sound right to you?’
‘I don’t know. Where was he when you spoke to him?’
‘That’s just it, I didn’t speak to him. I called the number in Los Angeles and spoke to Agent Bryce who agreed to contact him.’ She looked down as if only just realising she was still holding my arm. ‘Do you think it’s possible he was already here?’
The sound of running water intruded on my thoughts again. ‘What’s with the faucet? You think he’s listening at the door?’
She closed her eyes and put her hand to her mouth. Then she shut the water off. ‘Am I being paranoid? I feel as if this situation is making me crazy.’
I closed the bathroom door, shutting us in.
Lizzie leaned on the sink, her head bowed. ‘I just keep thinking about your notes. How he was on your trail so long before he made contact with you – the boarding house. Then he pops up here the second we call for him – even after …’
I put my hand on her back. ‘You’re not crazy. There is nothing normal about this situation.’
She looked up. ‘What if his interest is in you?’
I stood motionless, watching the top of her head in the mirror.
‘What if he sent you into Ciglio’s with the hope something bad would happen?’ Her voice was as quiet as a gliding bird. ‘What if he’s doing the same now?’
‘That’s …’ I thought back to the crack I’d made when he warned me there’d be no cavalry when I went back to Ciglio’s – ‘You’d have your case at least.’ ‘That can’t be right.’
‘You don’t sound convinced.’
We watched each other in the mirror, feeling as though each was daring the other to speak next.
‘You were meaning to go to the Flamingo tonight, weren’t you?’
I took a moment to gather my thoughts. ‘I want to speak to the man I heard talking about it. There’s resentment to Siegel here and that man was browbeating the sheriff as if it were nothing. If I can marshal that …’
She watched me a moment longer, then looked away as she pushed her hair off her shoulders.
‘If his focus is diverted, he can’t go on doing what he’s doing,’ I said. ‘And if that hotel goes belly-up, maybe it takes him with it.’
‘He could … He—’ She stopped herself. I waited for her to finish, but she ran her fingers slowly through her hair, tightening her grip until she was pulling at the roots. I reached out for her, but as I did, she screamed and swiped her hand across the shelf over the sink, clearing it of bottles. They ricocheted off the walls, crashing to the floor.
She turned around to face me, pushing me off as I tried to embrace her. ‘I was going to say he could kill you for interfering, but that’s already how it is. One goddamn door after another is closing in our faces.’
I ran my hand over my head then reached out to her. ‘Siegel’s got the FBI and the locals ranged against him, and he’s flat broke. He’s teetering, we just need to give him the last push.’
She withdrew her hand and looked up at me. From her words, I expected to see tears, but all I saw was cold acceptance. ‘I’m sick of feeling hopeless, Charlie. I can’t remember feeling any other way and it makes me want to just march in there tonight and stick it to him. There must be … He doesn’t know about the FBI. Why don’t we just tell him they’ll arrest him if he doesn’t leave us alone?’
I was struggling for words to reassure her and before I could get anything out, she spoke again. ‘I know, I know … it’s more complicated than that. But—It’s just that he hides away and sends men after us and this is the one time we know where he’ll be. I want so badly to feel as though we’re on the front foot.’
The notion horrified me as much as it buoyed me. The prospect of coming face to face with him again, Lizzie there to witness whatever humiliation he could inflict next. Delivering her into his clutches. Side by side with the dream of bringing an end to this – however unlikely.
I opened the bathroom door. ‘Let me take care of Tanner.’
*
Tanner was sitting in his car in the parking lot, his door open so he could face sideways towards our room. He got up as I came over, his coat slung over one arm. ‘You work it out with your old lady?’
‘Don’t talk that way to my wife again. Consider the situation she’s in.’
‘I’m well aware; she’s the one needs to face up to it, then maybe she’ll realise she ought to be listening to me.’ He took his coat from his arm, dangled it from his finger.
‘Why would you have me go to the Flamingo tonight?’ I said. ‘The truth.’
‘Are you in any position to demand the truth out of me?’
I looked away sharply. A saloon cruised into the lot, stopping outside the office and disgorging a family. ‘Eventually you’ll have to forget about what I did before.’
He smoothed his necktie, tucking it inside his jacket, watching mom and pop hustle the kids inside. ‘Let me tell you the truth, Yates: you came to Las Vegas for
the very reason of confronting Siegel. You crave a showdown because you think it’ll bring an end to your problems. You were intending to go there tonight long before I suggested it; that’s why you didn’t take your wife’s part back there, and why you’ve spent the last ten minutes trying to make it up to her.’
I let his words settle before I spoke. ‘Doesn’t answer my question.’
‘What?’
‘Why do you want me there? Are you sending me as a sacrificial lamb?’
He waved the suggestion off, looking sour. ‘Ridiculous.’
‘You think I’ll go in there and get myself killed and then you’ll have him. That it?’
He drew up to his full height, a half-head taller than me. ‘I ought to knock you on your ass. I’ve spent my adult life upholding the law and you have the nerve to say that? You ungrateful son of a bitch.’
The pop looked over at us from inside the office, averting his gaze again when he got the measure of the atmosphere between us. ‘Then tell me what you’d have me do there.’
He held his free arm out. ‘Use your eyes. Listen. See who’s there and who he talks to. Same as before, you might not recognise what has value to us, so store it all.’
‘Same as before’ – a trip to Ciglio’s that ended with the murder of an innocent man. The lingering feeling that he was hoping my presence would provoke as unpredictable an outcome this time – whatever his denials. But something in his face said he was holding back. ‘That’s not all of it, is it?’
He hooked his coat over his shoulder from his forefinger. ‘I want you to tell him you’ll write the piece on Kosoff.’
I screwed my eyes shut, about to speak, but he cut me off.
‘You’re just buying us some time, that’s all. Come up with a reason for why it’ll take a couple extra days. I’m not saying you have to go through with it.’
I emptied my lungs. ‘And what does a couple extra days do for us exactly?’
‘Leave that to me. I see the look on your face but consider it this way: could be you’re saving Kosoff’s life. Remember what happened to Trent Bayless.’
My mouth fell ajar, the absurdity of it – as if I needed reminding. But through it came a hardening certainty: that I would go anyway, for my own purposes. To look Siegel in the eye and plead with him to tell me anything he knew about the murder of Julie Desjardins. Whatever that cost me.