Hey There (You with the Gun in Your Hand) (23 page)

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“How did he get ahold of them?”

“Search me,” he said, with a shrug. “All I know is he got ’em. He said some big shot was gonna pay a lot of money for ’em.”

“So when did you and Caitlin and her boyfriend decide to get in touch with Sammy Davis Jr.?”

“That was Ernie’s idea, like she said,” Tony answered, “but it was Caitlin who recognized the picture. She reads a lot of those Hollywood magazines. She saw what was in one of the pictures and Walter knew that the nigger would pay big money for it.”

I slapped him on the back of the head, hoping he was still sore there from Jerry’s blow.

“Hey!”

“Watch your mouth!”

“What’d I say?”

“Sammy Davis is a friend of mine,” I said. “Watch what you say.”

He looked totally puzzled.

I realized he had no idea that what he’d said might be out of line.

“Your brother let you in on which big shot was gonna pay?”

“Naw, but it must be somebody big if he wasn’t worried about this ni—uh, the Sammy Davis picture.”

If Tony had no inkling that the President was involved, I wasn’t going to tell him.

“So your brother has all the other prints?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“Does he know this one is missing?”

“He took it back from Ernie when he killed him,” Tony said, “but Caitlin had made a copy.”

“Okay, Tony, here’s the big question,” I said. “Where do I find your brother?”

“Him and the others …” he started, but then he trailed off.

“How many others?”

“He’s got two buddies, Denny and Paul.”

“And they killed Ernie and the others in that warehouse?” I threw in the others because we weren’t supposed to know who killed them.

“Naw, we don’t know who those other guys were or how they got there.”

“I want those photos, Tony, and the negatives.”

“Walter’s got ’em.”

“I figured that,” I said. “So all you’ve got to do now is tell me where Walter and his buddies are.”

Tony licked his lips and looked down at the two envelopes full of money.

“I get one of these envelopes if I tell?”

“That’s right.”

“Which one?”

I touched the one that had twenty-five thousand in it and moved it forward a bit.

“This one.”

He wet his lower lip again, and I thought he was going to drool.

“I want ’em both.”

“No.”

“Then two.”

“No.”

“My brother says he can get half a million for the pictures he wants,” he said, a crafty glint coming into his eye. “I figure I’m saving somebody that much money by tellin’ you. That’s gotta be worth seventy-five grand.”

It wasn’t my money, but for some reason I didn’t want to give in.

I moved the one envelope back and pushed the other forward.

“Okay, that one.”

Now he was thinking fifty grand
and
the girl. I felt sorry for him,
because if he kept Caitlin with him she’d find a way to pry the money away from him.

“Come on, Tony,” I said. “Where are they?”

“Walter’s gettin’ ready to send some of the pictures to the newspapers,” he said. “He says he’s tired of bein’ jerked around.”

“Well, it was you and Caitlin and her boyfriend who started jerkin’ him around,” I pointed out. “I’m sure he doesn’t appreciate havin’ to look for the three of you. If he finds you what do you think he’ll do?”

“He’ll kill me and Caitlin both.”

“So if I give you this money, and make sure Walter goes to jail,” I said, “you and Caitlin will be free and clear.”

He thought that over.

“All you’ve got to do is tell me where to find him,” I prodded.

Finally, I could see by the expression on his face and his body language that he’d come to a decision.

“I don’t really … know where they are … exactly.”

“What?”

“I don’t know where he is, I swear,” he said, quickly, “but I got a phone number.”

If I gave the phone number to Joe Kennedy he could probably have it traced, but if Tony was right and his brother was getting ready to release the photo something had to be done right away.

“Okay,” I said, “let’s get you a phone.”

W
E PUT CAITLIN BACK
in with Tony and took the money out into the hall. When I picked the three envelopes up from the table Tony looked like he was going to cry.

Out in the hall we were joined by Larry Bigbee.

“What’s up?” he asked. “Did you get what you want?”

“Not yet,” I said. “Can we keep them in there a little longer?”

“Hey,” Larry said, “be my guest. It’s a slow night for cheaters and drunks.”

He turned and walked off down the hall.

“What do we got?” Jerry asked.

“Caitlin was wrong. Tony doesn’t know where his brother is. Apparently, they’re not that close. But he does have a phone number.”

“Will he call ’im?”

“He’s the little brother,” I said. “He’s got a lot of resentment. Plus he wants the money and the girl all for himself.”

“That dame’ll eat him alive.”

“I know,” I said. “And she’d end up with the money.”

“So what do we do? Pay ’im?”

“String him along,” I said. “Get him to call his brother and either find out where he is or arrange a meet.”

“Then what?”

“I’d make a phone call,” I said, “but I have a feeling we need quicker action than that.”

“You got action pretty quick last time.”

“Somebody just had to go to the bank,” I said. “This needs something more personal.”

“I’m with you, Mr. G.,” he said. “Whatever you wanna do.”

“Ordinarily, I’d call the cops and hand this over to them.”

“But the cops are lookin’ for us.”

“I know,” I said. “Hargrove would be in too much of a hurry to bury us to listen to what we have to say.”

“So it’s you and me?”

“I guess so,” I said, again aware of the weight of the gun in my pocket—the gun I had not yet had a reason to use.

“How do you want to play it?” Jerry asked.

“I’d like to set it up someplace familiar,” I said, “but somehow I don’t think Walter’s as dumb as his brother, Tony.”

He nodded.

“We’ll have to give him something to say that his brother will buy.”

“Like what?”

I started pacing the hall. “Gimme a minute or two …”

When we went back inside, I explained to Tony what I had come up with.

“If I do this I get the money?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“And what do I get?” Caitlin asked. “This isn’t fair, Eddie.”

“Relax, baby,” Tony said, putting his hand on her arm. “You get me.”

I saw her arm jerk, as if her first instinct was to pull away, but she caught herself, leaned into him and smiled.

“You’re my man, baby,” she cooed to him.

Tony puffed out his sallow chest, looking inordinately proud of himself.

“Get me a phone,” he said to me.

Tony made the call while I listened on an extension. I asked him if his brother would hear in his voice that he was lying.

“Shit, man, I been lying for a living for years,” he assured me.

The phone rang four times before a man answered….

“What?”

“Hey, bro.”

“Tony? What the fuck you want, man? Where are you? With that crazy bitch?”

“Hey,” Tony said, “don’t talk about my lady like that.”

Walter snorted into the phone
.

“Don’t make me laugh, Tony. That bitch is bad news.”

“Yer just jealous.”

“Oh yeah, about you and that little girl? I’m busy, Tony. Why’d you call?”

“We made our buy.”

“What? You mean the Sammy Dav—You sonofabitch! I told you—”

“I know what you told me, but we got our price. Seventy-five grand.”

“Seventy-five! That’s chickenfeed compared to what we’re gonna get.”

“Yeah, well, you get nothin’ without a buyer.” Tony looked at me, smiled slyly, and nodded
.

“And you’ve got one?”

“Yah, big brother, I do. That go-between the nigger picked.”

“Listen, he’s got your money. He wants to meet and he wants the pictures plus the negatives.”

There was silence on the other end, and except for the fact that I didn’t hear a click I thought he might have hung up.

“Little brother, if you’re fuckin’ with me—”

More silence
.

“Okay, set up a meet.”

“I want a piece.”

I started toward him. Tony waved me away
.

“I want a piece, Walter. Yer gettin’ a lot of money.”

“You’ll get a piece, Tony,” Walter said. “I promise.”

“Okay,” Tony said, “write this down….”

W
HEN TONY HUNG UP I SAID
, “You added to the script, trying to clip your brother for more money.”

“He can afford it,” he said. “Yer gonna give him a bundle.” I couldn’t believe he actually thought I wanted to meet with Walter to pay him.

“Tell me, Tony, what will Walter do now?”

“Whataya mean?”

“When I show up with the money is he gonna give me the photos?”

“He’ll have Denny and Paul with him.”

“And they’ll all be armed?”

“Oh yeah.”

“So he’ll try to kill me.”

“Yup,” Tony said. “He don’t want nobody to be able to ID him.”

“And that includes you and Caitlin, right?”

“Yeah,” Tony said.

“It doesn’t matter that you’re his brother?”

“We’re half brothers, and he don’t care about that. He never did. He always treated me like shit. Well, now it’s my turn.”

I signaled Jerry to step outside with me.

“Hey,” Tony said, as we went out the door. “What about my money?”

Before I closed the door I heard Caitlin say bitterly, “You asshole …”

We found Larry and I said, “Look, I need to hold them until I get back.”

“Do I need to okay this with Mr. Entratter?” he asked.

“You can if you want to.”

Bigbee took a deep breath and blew it out.

“Naw, okay, how long?”

“With any luck,” I said, “there’ll be some cops here in a few hours to pick them up.”

“Cops would be a welcome sight,” Larry said. “I’d like these two off my hands.”

“This is on the up and up, Larry,” I said. “I promise you.”

“Okay, Eddie.”

Larry walked over to the door and locked it.

“Okay,” I said, turning to Jerry, “we’ve got about three hours to get ready.”

“I think,” he said, looking beyond me, “it might take us a little bit longer.”

I turned and saw Detective Hargrove and several uniformed cops coming down the hall toward us.

“Larry—” I said.

Larry came back to us, shrugged and said, “Sorry, Eddie. I didn’t have a choice. They came in lookin’ for you and said we had to call if we saw you.”

“So while we were questioning Caitlin and Tony you called them?”

“It’s a question of keeping our license,” he said.

“Or your job.”

I reached for him but he backed away and bounced off of Jerry, who pushed him back toward me.

“Eddie—” Larry said, warningly.

“That’s enough,” Hargrove snapped. “Officers, cuff both of these men.”

“Hargrove,” I said, turning to face the detective, “you don’t understand—”

“I understand that I finally caught you dirty, Gianelli,” Hargrove said as his officers put the bracelets on me and Jerry. He moved close enough for me to smell what he had for lunch or dinner. “Haulin’ you downtown is a pleasure I’ve been waitin’ for since last year. You don’t have your Rat Pack buddies to get you out, this time.”

“Hargrove—”

He backed away from me and snapped, “Take ’em downtown!”

T
HEY PUT US IN SEPARATE
rooms. I had a nice big clock on the wall staring down at me so I could see that we were going to miss our meet. And if that happened there was going to be an embarrassing photo—or worse—of JFK in the papers the next morning.

Hargrove came in, closing the door gently behind him. The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on me. Half an hour ago I was in his place, Tony and Caitlin were in mine.

“What happened to the two people we were holding?” I asked.

“You were holding?” he said. “You’ve got no right to hold anybody, Gianelli.”

“What happened to them?”

“You got enough to worry about, Eddie,” he said. “You and your buddy are in deep shit.”

“We didn’t do anything.”

“I’ve got you for flight,” he said, “at least.”

“We didn’t know you were lookin’ for us.”

“Like hell. I’ve also got a bullet in your wall that matches a gun that killed one of four dead men we found in an abandoned warehouse on Industrial Road.”

“I haven’t been home in a while.”

“Staying away until your rug dries?” he asked. “What’d you do, shampoo out the bloodstains?”

“Did you have a warrant to go into my house?”

“You asked me that last time,” Hargrove said, “and this time I did.”

“Hargrove, you don’t understand. You have to let me out of here. In two hours I have to—”