Robert Randisi - I'm a fool to kill you

‘You do everything Eddie tells you to do, Ava, and we’ll figure this out. OK?’

‘OK.’

Danny stood up and headed for the door, pausing only to slap Jerry on the back. The waitress came by and refilled our coffee cups.

‘Is Danny done?’ she asked, pointing to Danny’s plate.

‘Yeah, you can take it away.’

She grabbed the plate and carried it away. I saw her sneaking glances at Ava, but she’d been working in Vegas too long to make a fuss.

‘He’s very good-looking,’ she said.

‘And he knows it.’

‘Is he good at his job?’

‘Very good. I’ve known him since we were kids. We can trust him.’

‘I trust you,’ she said. ‘If you trust him, that’s fine with me.’

She toyed with her omelet. Something was obviously on her mind.

‘Ava?’

She looked at me.

‘I want to call my sister, Bappie.’

‘Bappie?’

‘Her name’s Beatrice, but I call her Bappie. She needs to know where I am.’

‘I don’t think so.’

‘Eddie-’ For a moment she worried, or was she feeling guilty? Or just upset that I wouldn’t let her call her sister.

‘You can call her,’ I said, ‘tell her how you are, but don’t tell her where you are, Ava. We need to keep that to ourselves.’

She bit her lower lip.

‘All right,’ she said, ‘but can’t we find someplace else to stay?’

‘You don’t like my house?’

‘It’s a nice house, Eddie, but it’s your house. It’s too small. Where did you sleep last night?’

‘At the Sands.’

‘You need to be able to sleep in your own bed.’

I hesitated, then said, ‘I guess I could find another place — but give me a day or two.’

‘Sure.’

I looked over at Jerry. He was working on another stack of pancakes, but keeping his eyes on us, and all over the room at the same time.

I had wondered briefly if Ava’s voracious appetite for sex would end up consuming Jerry, but he never would have been able to look me in the eye if that had happened. In fact, I’m not even sure he would have gone for it. Jerry’s got his own code that he lives by, and it’s based on the word ‘loyalty.’ I say this because it occurred to me at that moment to ask Ava about it, but I quickly decided not to bring it up.

‘What are we going to do now?’ she asked.

‘We can’t interrupt Jerry during his meal,’ I warned. ‘When he’s done we’ll go back to the house. I’m going to pack a few things to take to the hotel with me, just for a day or two, until I find you a new place.’

‘OK.’

‘Ava,’ I said, ‘you know the Cal-Neva wouldn’t be a bad place for you to go, but. .’

‘. . we’d have to tell Frank, and I don’t want to do that. But you know, I think Howard owns some homes in Tahoe, and here.’

‘Howard?’

‘Hughes,’ she said. ‘I know you don’t want to tell anyone where I am, but I mean, who knows more about privacy than him?’

‘Why don’t we put that idea on the back burner, ‘I suggested. ‘Let me look around first.’

‘OK, Eddie,’ she said. ‘Whatever you say.’

I doubted she would be this cooperative all the time, but for the moment I appreciated it.

‘You know,’ she said, ‘you could come home, spend the night in your own bed. . with me.’

‘Not with Jerry on the couch,’ I said.

‘You don’t think he’d actually tell anyone, do you?’

‘I wouldn’t want to test Jerry’s loyalties,’ I said. ‘I wouldn’t want him to have to make that decision.’

‘No,’ she said, thoughtfully, ‘no, neither would I. That would kill him.’

I was impressed that she already knew that much about him.

Jerry came over at that point, carrying a cup of coffee. He sat across from us. He was right about him and booths. Ava and I had to move our legs closer together for him to fit. She also rested her hand in my lap.

‘Everythin’ OK?’ he asked.

‘You done?’ I asked.

‘Yup.’

‘Will that hold you?’ Ava asked.

He grinned at her and said, ‘For a while.’ Then he looked at me. ‘Where to, Boss?’

‘Back to the house,’ I said. ‘Then I’m going to the Sands.’

‘You takin’ the Caddy again?’

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘You and Ava aren’t goin’ out, remember?’

He looked at Ava.

‘We better buy some more cards,’ he told her. ‘The ones we’re usin’ are soggy.’

‘Well,’ she said, with a smile, ‘this is the town for cards, right?’

Jerry laughed. I tried not to jump when she gave me a not so gentle squeeze through my trousers. Having sex with Ava had been a mistake — and I knew I’d do it again in a second.

‘We got a tail,’ Jerry said.

He was driving, and if he said we had a tail we did. But I still said, ‘We can’t.’

‘We do.’

‘What now?’ Ava asked.

‘This time,’ I said, ‘I think we’ll find out who they are.’

‘They musta picked us up at the Horseshoe,’ Jerry said. ‘There was nobody following our cab on the way there.’

‘Maybe they picked me up at the Sands,’ I said. ‘I’m not as good at spotting a tail as you are.’

‘I doubt it,’ Jerry said. ‘I think you woulda noticed.’

I smiled. ‘It’s nice that you have all that faith in me, Jerry.’

‘Why wouldn’t I?’

‘You guys are something,’ Ava said, with a smile.

Jerry and I exchanged a glance, and shrugged.

‘Where to, Mr G.?’ he asked.

‘Remember that time we found the body in the dumpster?’

‘Yep.’

‘Remember how to get there?’

‘Industrial Road, right?’

‘That’s right.’

‘Hold on,’ he said, pressing down on the gas petal.

‘Don’t lose ’em.’

‘I’ll just scare ’em a little.’

I would have preferred to do this without Ava in the car, but we didn’t have a choice. If we wanted answers we’d have to get them now.

‘Jerry, you got your.45, right?’

‘Mr G.,’ he said, as if I’d just asked him if he had both arms.

‘Ava, you got that little popgun of yours?’

‘I don’t think I’ll go anywhere without it for a while.’

‘Pass it to me, will you?’

‘Why can’t I hold it?’ she asked.

‘You’re gonna stay in the car when Jerry and I get out.’

‘But. . wasn’t I good at that junkyard?’

‘You saved my ass at that junkyard,’ I said, ‘but the point of this whole exercise is for me to save your magnificent ass, right?’

She sighed and said, ‘Right.’

As she handed the gun over the back of my seat I noticed Jerry giving me an odd look. I was going to have to remember not to be so informal with Ava in the future. I didn’t want him getting any ideas. They might be right.

Jerry drove us to the warehouse building where we had found a body in the dumpster during the Ocean’s 11 — what should I call it? Caper? Case? How about. . adventure?

He pulled into the abandoned parking lot, and I wondered if the other car would be so obvious as to follow us. They did. Apparently they didn’t care if we knew they were following.

‘What now?’ Ava asked. ‘We drive around the parking lot?’

‘No,’ I said, ‘just around the building.’

‘Gotcha, Mr G.’

Jerry accelerated around the side of the building, the other car following. Jerry kept going, turned around the back wall, then braked and put the car into reverse. The tires had squealed as we drove around the building. When they came around the back wall we were coming at them, backwards.

I watched through the back windshield as Ava covered her head. The other car’s driver’s eye went wide and he slammed on his brakes. Jerry did the same, but he tapped ours. He wanted there to be contact, and there was. . just enough to jar the two men in the other car.