Hey There (You with the Gun in Your Hand) (6 page)

“People like you, Dean,” I said.

“People like Frank,” he argued. “And Nat.”

“And Joey,” I said. “And Sammy, too. But not the way they like you. It’s just something that you have.”

“And you think this … something … would come across on television?”

“I’m sure of it. Look what television did for Edd Byrnes.”

“Kookie!” he said.

“Exactly. Television made him popular, because people liked him.”

“Girls liked him.”

“Women love you,” I said, “and they’ll love you more in their living rooms.”

“You know,” Dean said, leaning back and regarding me with interest, “you should come to work for me.”

I laughed, then saw that he was serious.

“As what?”

“An advisor.”

“What do I know about show business?”

“Look at what you just told me.”

“That was common sense,” I said. “An observation.”

“Then I’ll hire you to be my common sense.”

“Dean—”

“Think about it, Eddie,” Dean said, as the waiter arrived with our dinner. “That’s all I ask. Give it some thought. It’d be nice to have someone with me who has no agenda.”

“What about Mack?” I asked, referring to his man, Mack Gray, a majordomo type who had been passed on to him by George Raft.

“Okay,” he said, “other than Mack.”

Of course, there was a secret about Mack Gray I knew that I’d promised never to tell Dean, or he might have felt differently. Foolishly, Mack had sent Dean those threats early last year, hoping to make Dean more dependent on him. He’d seen the error of his ways, though, and I decided the best thing to do was keep Dean in the dark. I knew Mack loved Dean and would do anything for him, but I doubted he had much wisdom or common sense to pass on.

As the waiter set our plates down in front of us I said, “I’ll think about it, Dean. Thanks.”

“Then let’s eat,” he said. “I have a rehearsal tonight—although, if
Frank and Sammy are gonna be there opening night, there’s not much chance anything will go as rehearsed.”

We dug in, my mind reeling with the offer Dean had made me. I was flattered, to say the least, but I didn’t think I was ready to leave Vegas just yet.

T
HE NEXT NIGHT
I pulled the car into the parking lot on Industrial, butterflies in my stomach. Jerry was right, the only light was coming from my headlights. I stopped and kept the motor running and the lights on. I trusted that Jerry was out in the field in the dark, watching.

I checked my watch. I was five minutes early. Were blackmailers prompt? Apparently not, because I sat there for fifteen minutes and still nobody showed. I decided to drive around the building once, just in case they were on the other side and we were missing each other. No such luck. My once-around revealed I was alone in the parking lot. Were they inside? With no car in the lot? Maybe they had keys, opened the loading door, drove the car in and then went inside to wait? And if so, how was I supposed to know that? My note said to meet in the parking lot. On the seat next to me was a brown envelope with fifty grand inside.

I drove back around and stopped in my original position. I waited another twenty minutes, and then I jumped when somebody knocked on the window of the passenger side. When I saw it was Jerry I reached over and unlocked the door.

“They’re not gonna show,” he said, getting in. He picked up the envelope without curiosity and tossed it into the backseat.

“Why not?”

He shrugged.

“Maybe they saw me.”

“Out there? How?”

He didn’t answer.

“Maybe they’re inside,” Jerry said.

I told him what I was thinking about the loading dock door.

“Okay,” he said, “let’s take a look.”

“Wait.”

“For what?”

“We’ve been here before,” I said. “What about the Dumpsters?”

“Oh yeah, that time we found that guy’s body … you’re thinkin’ about those rusted-out Dumpsters over there?”

“Maybe somebody’s hiding in one of them,” I said.

“Or maybe there’s a body,” Jerry said. “Maybe the blackmailer had a sucker meet him here before us and somebody ended up in the Dumpster?”

“Yeah, maybe.” I remembered Entratter warning me not to find any bodies this time. Also what he said about Jerry and I attracting trouble.

“Maybe we should just leave, Mr. G.,” Jerry suggested.

It sounded like a good idea, except …

“What do I tell Sammy, then?”

“Tell him nobody showed up, and that you have to wait to be contacted again.”

“Crap, crap, crap,” I bitched, banging the steering wheel.

“Okay, point your headlights over there and I’ll check the Dumpsters.”

I turned the wheels and pulled forward so that my lights were illuminating the two Dumpsters.

“Wait here,” he said, opening his door.

“No,” I said, “I’ll come with you.”

“Did you bring a flashlight?” he asked.

“No.”

He took one the size of a pen from his pocket and wiggled it at me, smiling.

We walked up to the Dumpsters and Jerry turned on his flashlight. We peered into one together, and then the other. Both were empty, except for beer cans, trash and puddles.

“There ya go,” Jerry said. “No bodies. What about inside?”

“Are you … heeled?”

“Always.”

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s go.”

“Which door?”

“Let’s start with the front.”

We got back into the car and I maneuvered so that the front door was lit up. Jerry got out to try it, then got back in.

“Locked.”

“Okay,” I said. “Let’s try the back.”

I drove around and aimed the headlights at the back door, which was next to the loading dock door. I decided I wouldn’t have minded if this one was also locked.

I got out of the car with Jerry, first sticking the money in my pocket. He grabbed the doorknob, pulled, and the door opened.

“Uh-oh.” He looked at me. “We goin’ in?”

“With just that little penlight?” I asked. “Let me move the car so the light’s shining right inside.”

I got in, maneuvered the car while Jerry directed me, then got out. It was a regular-size doorway, but as the light shone in the shaft widened.

“Let’s go,” I said.

“I’ll go first,” Jerry said, and took out his .45. With the gun in one hand and the penlight in the other, he stepped inside.

I
FOLLOWED JERRY
into the warehouse. We were blocking the car headlights from illuminating any part of the room. When Jerry moved aside I followed, and the beams came pouring in like a spotlight. The residual light from the spot lit some of the interior, but not all of it. There were still dark areas and corners. For that, Jerry started using his penlight.

“Looks completely empty,” he said, and his voice echoed, as if to support his statement.

We walked around, the light from Jerry’s flash showing the way. Here and there we found some rags, empty cardboard boxes, a puddle or two—and then something in a corner that looked like more rags, a large pile.

“Jerry …”

“You wanna leave, Mr. G.?” he asked. “Or wait outside?”

“No,” I said, “we’ll either stay together or go together.”

“It’s your call, then.”

Backing out seemed the thing to do, but I said, “Let’s take a look.”

We moved closer to the pile and completely away from the light coming from the car. Now all we had was the thin shaft of light given off by Jerry’s flashlight.

“Damn,” I said, when he moved the light to reveal a head.

“Maybe it’s a drunk, sleepin’ it off,” Jerry said.

He kicked, found something solid beneath the rags. He kicked again, then leaned down to take a closer look.

“Don’t touch—” I started.

“I gotta touch to see if he’s dead,” he said. “Just his neck.”

Jerry handed me his gun, then reached out and put two fingers to the man’s neck.

“No pulse,” he said. “He’s dead.”

“How?”

Jerry moved his light up and down the body.

“I can’t see how he was killed, but he’s dead, all right. And I ain’t about to move these rags. I’m leavin’ this guy just the way we found him.”

He stood up, took the gun back and put it away. Then he shined the light on the corpse’s face.

“Know ’im?”

The face being slack with death, I could only assume this guy had been in his thirties. He was dark-haired, with heavy black stubble. His eyes were closed, his thin-lipped mouth was hanging open.

“Never saw him before.”

Jerry moved the light off the man’s face.

“I guess we should call the police,” I said.

“What for?”

“Well … we found a body.”

“This body doesn’t have to have anything to do with why we’re here, Mr. G.,” Jerry reasoned. “If we call the cops, we’re right in the middle of it, and maybe we don’t hafta be.”

“So we just … walk out? What do I tell Sammy?”

“Tell him the truth,” Jerry said. “What else is there to tell him? You guys’ll just hafta wait to hear from the blackmailers again.”

“And what do we tell them?”

“Also the truth,” he said. “You gotta tell everybody the truth, with one exception.”

“What’s that?”

“The cops,” Jerry said. “You don’t never tell the truth to the cops.
It only gets ya in trouble. Nothin’ good can happen if ya tell the cops the truth.”

I thought a moment, then said, “I could call them anonymously.”

“That’s up to you, Mr. G.,” Jerry said. “Right now I say we get the hell outta here. Your car’s been sittin’ in this parking lot with the lights on for too damn long as it is.”

He was right about that. But still I didn’t move. I just stood there staring down at the body.

“What?” Jerry asked.

“Let me have your light.”

He handed it over.

“Whataya gonna do?”

“Just poke around a little bit,” I said, crouching down. Using the tip of the light I poked into the rags that covered the body.

“Whataya lookin’ for?”

“I just want to see if he has anything on him,” I said.

“You think he’s holdin’ what you went after?” he asked.

“Could be.”

I poked and prodded, hoping I wasn’t completely screwing up any evidence. I didn’t feel anything that could be an envelope. I didn’t feel anything hard, or out of the ordinary. And then …

“What is it?” Jerry asked.

“I don’t know.” I felt it again, then tapped it. “Something hard, like metal.”

“Are you curious enough to take a look?”

“Damn it, we’re here,” I said. “And maybe it’s … something.”

“Go ahead, then.”

I used the penlight to move a couple of the rags, revealing what the metal thing was.

“That’s a gun,” Jerry said.

I moved the light up and down the weapon.

“Not just any gun,” I said. “A six-gun.”

“Like in John Wayne movies?”

“Yeah.” Like the ones I had seen Sammy wearing in his room at Harrah’s in Tahoe. “Great.”

Jerry crouched down next to me, took the light and pushed aside some more rags. In for a penny, I thought …

“Okay,” he said, “he was shot, maybe with this gun. See?”

I could see the hole in the guy’s clothes, and the small amount of blood that had soaked his shirt.

“That’s not much blood,” I said.

“He died right away, so he didn’t bleed out. We better get outta here.”

“I want to take it with us.”

“Take what?” He stood up. He was holding the light now and shone it in my face.

“The gun.”

He studied my face with the light.

“You serious?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I’ll explain it to you later.”

Jerry looked around now, as if we were being watched, then back at me.

“You got a pen?” he asked.

“What?”

“A pen, do you got a pen on ya?”

“Yeah, but—”

“Use it to pick up the gun and let’s get the hell outta here.”

I took a pen out of my pocket, stuck it through the trigger guard and picked up the gun. Jerry reached down and, using his flashlight, moved the rags back to approximately where they were before we disturbed them. Then we hurried to the door, the gun swinging to and fro on my pen.

A
S WE DROVE AWAY
he said, “We just fucked with evidence, ya know?”

“I know.”

“I just wanted to make sure you knew what you was doin’.”

“I know,” I said, again.

“I heard Mr. Davis is pretty good with a six-gun,” Jerry said, after a few more blocks. “I heard that, too.”

“That one of his?”

I turned and looked in the backseat, where I had tossed the gun.

“I don’t know,” I said, honestly.

“I guess we’re gonna find out, huh?”

“I guess we are.”

“So where we goin’?”

“Back to the Sands for now,” I said. “I’ve got to make some calls.”

When Jerry pulled the Caddy into the parking lot behind the Sands we sat there for a few minutes.

“We’ve got to put that gun somewhere,” I said, jerking my head
toward the backseat where I had tossed it and the envelope of money.

“Your trunk, for now,” Jerry said.

“Isn’t that the first place somebody would look?”

He shrugged.

“Who’s lookin’ now? I think it’s pretty safe there for tonight. Nobody followed us back.”

“If somebody knew I was gonna be there tonight, then they know where I work and live.”

“So you think somebody left the gun there for you to find, just so they could take it back an hour later?” Jerry asked.

“No,” I said, “more than likely the gun was left there for the cops to find.”

“So you think you were sent there to find that body?”

“I was sent there to buy something,” I said. “Instead, we found a body.”

“You got stood up,” Jerry said. “If we’d just left, ya wouldn’t’ve found nothin’.”

“But we went inside and did find something.”

Jerry turned in the seat to face me.

“It’s more than likely whoever was there to sell you the thing you was gonna buy had a fallin’ out, and one of ’em got shot and left the other there, then took off.”

“So the blackmailers fell out and … what? That’s it?”