‘What’s this about?’ I asked.
‘A cab driver named Larry Carver,’ Crider said. ‘Although, it seems somebody might have thought he was you.’
‘I see. Couldn’t I come down to headquarters in the morning and make a statement?’
‘I’m afraid we’re on the job now, Mr Gianelli,’ Crider said. ‘We need you to come now. I’m sure your friend, Miss Johnson, won’t mind.’
It seemed they didn’t know that Lucy Johnson was Ava Gardner. That was good.
‘Would you mind if I tell her where I’m going?’ I asked. ‘She’s in the, uh, bedroom.’
The two men exchanged a glance that wasn’t hard to read.
‘Sure,’ Reasoner said, ‘go ahead.’
‘Can I tell her when I’ll be back?’
‘Before morning,’ Crider said, then added, ‘probably.’
‘Probably,’ I said, nodding. ‘Thanks. I’ll be right back.’
‘Wouldn’t be another way out in that bedroom, would there, Mr Gianelli?’
‘Actually, there isn’t,’ I said, ‘but why would that thought occur to you, Detective? I haven’t done anything I should be running away from.’
‘That’s good to hear,’ Reasoner said. ‘We’ll just wait here, sir.’
Those detectives were being a little too nice, for my taste. Not what I was used to from the Vegas cops.
I backed away into the bungalow, but left the front door wide open. I walked into the bedroom, kept that door closed. Ava rushed up to me.
‘Who is it, Eddie?’
‘It’s the police,’ I said, ‘they want to talk to me about what happened outside earlier tonight.’
‘That man who was beat up?’
‘I think so,’ I said, ‘but I’ll have to go with them to find out for sure. I’ll be back in a little while.’
‘Are you sure?’ she asked. ‘I mean, are you sure you should go with them?’
‘I don’t think they’re asking, Ava,’ I said.
‘Do they know about me?’
‘No,’ I said, ‘they referred to you as Lucy Johnson. They don’t know who you really are, and I think we should keep it that way.’
‘I think so too, Eddie.’
‘Unless you want the police to help you find out what happened, Ava.’
‘No!’ she said, eyes wide. ‘No, Eddie. For all I know. . I hurt somebody. Or. . or killed somebody. I can’t go to the police. There’d be publicity!’
‘OK, Ava, OK,’ I said. ‘I’ve got to get goin’ before they come lookin’ for me.’
‘Eddie-’ she said, and abruptly gave me a big hug. I held her tight and breathed in her scent. I found out later that she wore Acqua di Parma.
‘I’ll be back as soon as I can.’
I left her standing in the middle of the bedroom.
NINETEEN
They didn’t take me to their headquarters, as I’d thought they would. They took me to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
‘This is where the cab driver, Larry Carver, was taken after somebody worked him over,’ Reasoner said, as we got out of their car. ‘We understand he was waiting for you in the lounge?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Why?’ Crider asked.
‘He drove me there from the airport,’ I said. ‘I thought I’d need him, so I asked him to wait.’
‘Cabbies usually wait in the cab,’ Reasoner said, ‘with the meter running.’
‘I made a deal with him to come inside and wait,’ I said. ‘I was gonna use him for the rest of my errands.’
‘Your errands,’ Crider said, ‘we’ll get to those later, Mr Gianelli.’
‘Let’s go inside,’ Reasoner said.
We entered the hospital through the front door, not the emergency entrance. Just inside we stopped.
‘This is as good a place as any,’ Reasoner said. ‘You took the cab from the airport?’
‘That’s right.’
‘You mind tellin’ us where you came in from, Mr Gianelli?’
‘Las Vegas.’
‘Now we can get to your errands,’ Crider said. ‘What brought you to L.A.?’
I’d had time in the car to think about what my answer would be if they asked this question.
‘There are several high rollers living here who owe the Sands quite a bit of money,’ I said. ‘I came to collect.’
‘Does the Sands usually send pit bosses to collect their debts?’ Crider asked. Of course, they had checked me out already and knew half the answers I was giving them — the true half.
‘They do when the players are whales,’ I said, ‘my whales. See, I brought these guys into the casino, I OK’d their increased credit lines, so my boss is holding me responsible for their debts.’
‘And if we asked you who these whales were, would you give us their names?’ Reasoner asked.
‘Only if I had to, Detective,’ I said. ‘My boss at the Sands wouldn’t like it’
If they’d checked me out, like I thought they had, they knew who my boss was. They also knew he ran the Sands, and who he ran it for.
‘Let’s revisit that later,’ Reasoner said. ‘What do you think happened to your friend Larry, Gianelli?’
He had dropped the ‘Mister,’ so I said, ‘Why don’t you just call me Eddie, Detective?’
‘Maybe we’ll get friendly later, Gianelli,’ Crider said. ‘Why don’t you just answer our questions for now?’
‘From what I hear,’ I said, ‘I was paged in the Polo Lounge for a phone call. Larry picked it up. Then he got beat up. I’d say either a pissed off fare got to him, or somebody thought he was me.’
‘Ah,’ Crider said, ‘and why would somebody want to put you in the hospital, Eddie?’ I guessed we were friends now.
‘I don’t know, Detective,’ I said.
‘Could it have been somebody working for one of the whales you were talking about?’ Reasoner asked.
‘It could have been, but I haven’t talked to any of them yet,’ I said, ‘so they don’t know I’m in town.’
‘And what were you doing at the Beverly Hills Hotel?’ Crider asked.
‘Getting a room.’
‘Is that where you usually stay when you come to town?’ Reasoner asked.
‘No,’ I said, ‘but considering the caliber of people I’m here to talk to, my boss thought I should look the part.’
‘So that’s why you got a bungalow?’ Crider asked.
‘Exactly.’
‘But the bungalow is registered to Lucy Johnson,’ Reasoner said.
‘A lady friend of mine,’ I replied. ‘I called ahead and asked her to get the place, and meet me there.’
‘Killin’ two birds with one stone, Eddie?’ Reasoner asked.
‘So to speak, Detective.’
‘Let’s go upstairs and see your friend, Eddie,’ Crider said.
‘Are you guys thinkin’ there’s an off chance that I beat Larry up?’ I asked.
‘I guess that’s what he’ll tell us,’ Reasoner answered.
‘If he’s awake,’ his partner added.
TWENTY
He was awake.
‘Naw, it wasn’t him,’ Larry said when the cops asked him if I did it, ‘it was two guys, jumped me from outta the bushes.’
‘Did they say anything?’ Crider asked.
‘No,’ Larry said, ‘they just started whalin’ away on me.’
‘They use anything other than their fists?’ Reasoner asked.
‘I think they had blackjacks,’ Larry said. ‘One of them may have been wearin’ knucks. Oh, one had a big silver ring on his, uh, right hand. Right hand?’ He thought a moment. ‘Yeah, right. Had, like, a snake on it.’
From the bruises on his jaw I figured he was right about the brass knuckles.
‘I’m sorry this happened, Larry,’ I said.
‘Wasn’t yer fault,’ he said, then asked, ‘was it?’
‘Could be you got beat up because you took that phone call for Mr Gianelli, Larry,’ Crider said. ‘Maybe those two guys thought you were him.’
‘Jeez,’ Larry said, ‘I been rackin’ my brains tryin’ ta figure out who’d wanna work me over.’
‘Any bad fares?’ Reasoner asked.
‘Naw,’ he said, ‘well, yeah, sure, but not this bad.’
‘Angry boyfriends or husbands?’ Crider asked.
‘I wish.’
‘Bookie?’ Reasoner asked.
‘I don’t bet.’