Robert Randisi - I'm a fool to kill you

I liked the sound of that because it meant if we were going home, we’d be alive.

Unless, of course, we left in a box.

Sammy had left us when Momo’s man drove us to the hotel. We saw him later at the Chez Paree. He was in rare form, singing, dancing, playing the drums, doing impressions. He took me away from everything for over two hours. Afterwards, Momo took us back stage, where we congratulated Sam. But there were a lot of other people there, and I had no time to fill Sammy in.

‘That’s OK,’ he said. ‘I’ll call Frank — that is, if I want to know more.’

‘Thanks a lot, Sammy,’ I said. ‘You took a chance.’

‘Momo wouldn’t hurt me. He knows Frank wouldn’t like it.’

‘I thought you were friends-’

‘Friends?’ he said, laughing. ‘You notice he didn’t ask me to taste any sauce off the wooden spoon?’

‘Sam-’

‘Ah, it doesn’t matter. I’m glad you enjoyed tonight, Eddie. Go back home tomorrow and finish what you have to finish.’

We shook hands.

On the plane the next day Danny and I had seats together so he could tell me what he’d been doing.

‘I spent a day in Madrid just to see where the trail started,’ Danny said. ‘Ava had really been burnin’ the candle at both ends over there. Lots of men: bull fighters, actors, race car drivers. I found out what flight she took to the US, and I took the same one.’

‘To Chicago?’

He shook his head.

‘New York first,’ he said. ‘Same thing. Hittin’ the clubs, lots of men. . I talked with the hotel staff at the Waldorf. They were happy to have her, but she appeared to be drunk most of the time, people on her floor complained about the noise. . and then she flew to Chicago.’

‘Anybody go with her?’ I asked. ‘From Spain to New York, or New York to Chicago?’

‘No,’ he said, ‘she flew alone, but that doesn’t mean somebody didn’t follow her.’

‘Any fights, anything that made the police necessary. .’ I said.

‘No,’ he said, then, ‘not yet.’

‘But. .?’

‘Apparently, things got messy in Chicago.’

‘How so?’

‘Somebody got killed.’

‘Who?’

‘A man named Vito Napolitano.’

‘Great,’ I said. ‘A made guy?’

‘Actually, the son of a made guy,’ he said. ‘Tony Napolitano.’

‘How was he killed?’

‘Shot with a small caliber gun.’

‘Where did it happen?’

‘That’s the part you’re not gonna like.’

‘The Drake Hotel?’

‘Yes,’ Danny said. ‘The body wasn’t discovered in his room until after Ava got on a plane to Vegas.’

‘Are the police lookin’ for her?’

‘No, but Napolitano’s father is.’

‘Did you see Napolitano?’

‘I was on my way when Momo made me his guest.’

‘So Momo knows Napolitano?’

‘Apparently.’

‘Fellow businessmen?’

Danny shrugged.

‘I didn’t have time to get the goods,’ he said. ‘You should ask Entratter.’

‘Yes,’ I agreed, ‘I should.’

At the airport we took separate cabs.

‘Want me to keep lookin’?’ he asked. ‘I could get the next flight back to Chicago. I didn’t get to have one of those famous Chicago hot dogs while I was there.’

‘They don’t compare to a Nathan’s hot dog’ I said.

‘I was sort of hopin’ to make the comparison myself,’ Danny said.

‘No,’ I said. ‘You go back and Momo’s liable to make you his guest again. A more permanent one. If Napolitano is made, then he’s off limits to anybody but another made guy.’

‘That’s their code, not ours.’

‘Well, they kill to uphold their code, we don’t,’ I reminded him. ‘Go home, see Penny, work some normal cases.’

‘If you need me for anythin’,’ he said, slapping me on the back, ‘don’t hesitate.’

‘When have I ever?’

He got in the first cab in line, I walked to the second.

I had left the Caddy at the Sands, stranding Jerry and Ava until I came back. I was going to drive out there, but I stopped at Jack’s office first.

‘Napolitano,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘I heard the kid got hit.’

‘Well, apparently his father thinks Ava did it.’

‘If that’s the case,’ Entratter said, ‘he won’t stop comin’.’

‘Napolitano’s a boss?’

‘Let’s say he aspires,’ Entratter said. ‘He’s got a crew made up of misfits. He’s tryin’ to establish his own “family”.’

The Five Families were based in New York, and were ruled over by the Commission. While the Chicago Outfit was separate from the Five Families, it was still ruled by the Commission. Giancana was ‘the man’ there, but he was in a constant struggle to keep his territory. Entratter said that Napolitano was one of those who were trying to muscle in.

‘You can forget all about this now, Eddie,’ he said. ‘Momo will take care of Napolitano. He won’t let him kill Frank’s Ava.’

‘I hope not,’ I said. ‘And I hope his protection will also extend to Ava’s friends.’

I picked up my suitcase, hefted it, then put it down and opened it. I took out one of Momo’s jars.

‘Here,’ I said, putting it on Jack’s desk. ‘A gift.’

I left Entratter’s office to make the drive to Tony LaBella’s cabin on Lake Mead. He was examining the jar as I walked out.

When I walked up on to the deck I noticed the broken window in front, now covered by some cardboard. Then I saw the bullet holes in the side of the building, some chunks taken from the wooden railing.

‘Jerry?’ I shouted. ‘Ava?’

I rushed into the house, found Jerry and Ava sitting in the living room. They both looked unharmed.

‘Hey, Mr G.’

‘What the hell happened?’ I asked. ‘Are you two all right? Ava?’

‘I’m fine,’ she said, ‘thanks to Jerry. Where’ve you been?’

‘Danny and I were guests of Momo Gianacana’s.’

‘Guests?’ Jerry asked.

‘That’s what he called it,’ I said. ‘We never tried to walk off on our own, so I don’t know what would have happened if we had. But what happened here? And when?’

‘Last night,’ Jerry said. ‘After dinner. I made a nice roast-’

‘I’ll get something for us to drink,’ Ava said, standing up from the sofa, ‘while Jerry fills you in.’

She went into the kitchen.

‘She’s a real trooper, Mr G.,’ he said. ‘Didn’t go into shock like the other day.’

‘What happened, Jerry?’ I said.

‘Come outside,’ he said, ‘and I’ll tell ya. .’

The previous night, Ava and Jerry had just finished their dinner, the pot roast Jerry had prepared with potatoes and carrots.

‘I’ll make the coffee,’ Ava told Jerry. ‘It’s the least I can do.’

‘OK, Miss Ava,’ Jerry said. ‘I’m just gonna go out on the front deck and get some air. I’ll wash all the dishes after we finish.’

‘I’ll bring it out there,’ she promised.

‘Sounds good.’

Jerry went and stood on the deck, looking out at the dying light and breathing in the fresh air. This was a lot different from trying to breathe in Brooklyn — but Brooklyn had a lot of other things to recommend it. He wasn’t about to trade in Brooklyn for Vegas or Lake Mead. Not permanently, anyway.

He was still standing at the rail, leaning on it, when Ava came out of the house with two mugs of coffee.

‘Here you go, Jerry-’

Before she could get another word out there was a shot, and the front window shattered just behind Ava.

‘Wha-’ she said, dropping the mugs.

‘Get down!’ Jerry shouted. He grabbed Ava and dragged her to the ground with his left hand, while pulling his.45 from his belt with his right.