Robert Randisi - It Was a Very Bad Year

I was supposed to meet Irwin and Jerry in front of the Bank of Las Vegas branch on Simmons. I wondered if we’d made a mistake letting Irwin go. But when I pulled up in front there he was — easy to spot because he was wearing a paisley shirt — standing alongside Jerry.

And Billy.

‘He showed up,’ I said to Jerry.

‘I knew he would.’

‘What’s Billy doing here?’

‘I couldn’t trust him,’ Jerry said. ‘I thought I’d show him a little bit of what I do.’

I glanced over to where Irwin and Billy were standing. Billy had an unhappy frown on his face, but obviously to Irwin it was more of a threatening look. He seemed very uncomfortable standing next to the younger, bigger man.

‘What’d you tell Billy?’

‘Just to look mean,’ Jerry said, ‘and not to talk.’

‘Let’s go in, before Irwin changes his mind,’ I said. ‘He could give us a hard time in the bank, start yelling or something.’

‘He’ll be fine,’ Jerry said. ‘Maybe I can’t scare my own cousin, but this guy is scared.’

We entered the bank, approached a teller’s window. Billy and I hung back, but Jerry went to the window with him. Irwin told the girl he wanted to access his box. She was pretty, and wary of him, and I had no doubt that he’d made a couple of efforts to get her to pose for him in the past. Today he was all business.

It went surprisingly well — surprising to me, anyway, but apparently not to Jerry.

Irwin was meek. He went into the safe with a man from the bank, came out with an envelope. We left the bank and, out front, standing by my car, he gave me the photos.

I stepped away from them, slid the photos part of the way out, meaning only to look at them long enough to make sure they were the right ones. But it was hard to slide them right back in when I got a look at a young, naked Abby Dalton. There were six different prints, but only two full frontal. In the others she was looking back over a shoulder, so that her perfect back and butt were in view. Further down in the envelope were the negatives.

‘Mr G.?’

Jerry startled me, coming up behind me, and I shoved the photos back into the envelope.

‘Yeah, OK,’ I said. I looked at Irwin. ‘These better be all of them.’

‘He knows,’ Jerry said, ‘that if he ever comes back with more photos, he’ll have to deal with me.’

‘Yeah, yeah, right,’ Irwin said. He was a changed man since I left him in the warehouse alone with Jerry.

‘Mr G.?’ Jerry asked. ‘We gonna pay ’im?’

‘Oh, right.’ I took the envelope Abby had given me from my back pocket. ‘This is what Abby gave me to give you. Take it and be happy.’

Irwin looked at Jerry first, and when the big guy nodded he accepted the envelope. To my shock and surprise he didn’t count it. In fact, he didn’t even open it.

‘Zat it?’ he asked. ‘I mean, I’d like to get home. . you know, see what else is on TV about the JFK thing.’

I didn’t think Irwin cared a bit about JFK. He probably had a couple of babes lined up for a photo shoot. I wondered if I should use Jerry to put him out of business for good. Then again, why was it my concern? However he chose to make a living, that was up to him. As long as he left Abby alone.

‘Yeah, that’s it,’ I said. ‘Abby doesn’t want to hear from you again, and I don’t want to see you again. Got it?’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Irwin said, looking not at me, but at Jerry. ‘I got it.’

‘Good,’ I said, ‘then go.’

I didn’t know how he had gotten there, but he took off walking down the street, then turned the corner. Maybe he’d parked there.

‘We good?’ Jerry asked.

‘Yeah, yeah,’ I said, ‘we’re good. Might as well get back to the Sands and deliver these to Abby.’

Jerry and Billy had taken a cab to the bank, so we piled into my Caddy, Jerry behind the wheel and Billy in the back seat.

As we pulled away from the bank Billy leaned forward and said meekly, ‘I’m hungry.’

I looked at Jerry, who returned the look and said, ‘I could eat.’

‘OK, sure.’

‘The Horseshoe.’

We weren’t far from there, and I knew Jerry liked their coffee shop, so I said, ‘Why not?’

Jerry suggested calling ‘the dick’ to join us at the Horseshoe Coffee Shop. I called from a pay phone and Danny was there waiting when we got there.

‘Get it done?’ he asked, as we joined him in a booth.

‘Done,’ I said.

‘Those the photos?’ He jerked his chin at the envelope in my hands.

‘I didn’t want to trust leaving it in the car.’

There was no way one side of the booth would have accommodated both Jerry and Billy, so I got in on one side with Jerry, Billy joined Danny on the other side, and they shook hands dutifully.

‘Is he the runt of the litter?’ Danny asked Jerry.

‘How’d you know?’

‘Huh?’ Billy said.

‘Forget it,’ I said.

‘So this is a celebration breakfast?’

‘Celebration second breakfast,’ I said. But my first one had only been toast and coffee, so I went for eggs with the works.

Danny had steak and eggs, while the cousins demolished a couple of stacks of pancakes each.

‘So?’ Danny asked, halfway though.

‘So what?’

‘We get to see what’s in the envelope?’

‘Nope,’ I said.

‘What’s in the envelope?’

‘That wouldn’t be right,’ Jerry said.

‘Just a peek,’ Danny said.

‘What’s in the envelope?’ Billy asked, again, pouring syrup on to his second stack.

‘Never mind,’ Jerry said. ‘It just wouldn’t be right.’

‘You haven’t seen them?’ Danny asked Jerry.

‘No.’

Danny looked at me.

‘He wouldn’t look if I gave them to him.’

‘What a gentleman,’ Danny said.

‘What’s in the damn envelope?’ Billy asked.

‘None of your business!’ Jerry snapped.

‘Jeez,’ Billy said.

‘What’s with the cousins?’ Danny asked.

‘Family tensions.’

‘I’d hate to be at the reunions,’ Danny said.

‘There,’ Jerry said, ‘you’d be the runt of the litter.’

The waitress came to clear the wreckage when we were done, and we all got seconds and thirds on the coffee.

‘So, what’s the next step?’ Danny asked.

‘Just get these to Abby,’ I said. ‘Then she’s on her way back to Hollywood, and we have our lives back.’

‘I guess we should all get back to our lives,’ Danny said. ‘I mean, after what happened yesterday.’

‘Why not?’ I asked. ‘We get a new president an hour later. The government goes on, so should we.’

‘Anybody talk to Sinatra?’ Danny asked. ‘See how he’s handling this?’

‘Entratter found out where he was when he heard,’ I said. ‘On the set.’

‘And now?’

‘I guess they closed it down, for the day at least. I don’t know where he is now.’

‘Mr S. is a pro,’ Jerry said. ‘He’ll be back on the set today or tomorrow.’

‘Probably,’ I said.

Billy looked over at the envelope beneath my elbow and asked, ‘Come on, what’s in the envelope?’

Outside the Horseshoe, Danny asked, ‘You guys gonna do some gambling down here?’ He was looking at the cousins.

‘Yes!’ Billy said.

‘No!’ Jerry said. He grabbed his cousin by the scruff of the neck and walked him away.

‘What’s that about?’

‘The kid got himself in the hole seventy grand.’

‘Yikes. Who gave him that much credit?’

‘It was a mistake,’ I said.

‘You?’

‘No, not me. A lunkhead Entratter promoted to pit boss.’

‘Has he met Jerry?’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘he’s not gonna make that mistake again.’