‘We gonna leave the cab here?’ he asked.
‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘Larry works for Freddy’s brother, Louie. Let them work it out.’
We got back in the car.
‘You looked pretty good in there, Ava,’ I said. ‘Like you were made for that part.’
‘That wasn’t acting,’ she said, ‘that was real life — and you know what? I liked it.’
‘Well, I gotta thank the two of you again. You saved my ass.’
‘And what a cute ass,’ Ava said.
‘Here,’ I said, holding the money out to her and ignoring the comment, ‘take your money back.’
‘Keep it,’ she said.
‘I’m not doin’ this for money, Ava.’
‘I know that, Eddie. Keep it for expenses. I don’t want Frank footing the bill for you helping me. Or the Sands. I pay my own way.’
‘Where we goin’, Mr G.?’ Jerry asked. ‘I’d like to get outta this neighborhood.’
‘Head for the highway, Big Jerry,’ I said, tucking the cash back into my pocket, ‘we’re goin’ to Vegas.’
‘Now you’re talkin’.’
FORTY-ONE
The main run from L.A. to Las Vegas was Highway 15 and that was where Jerry decided to let the car out.
‘Hey,’ he said, ‘this thing runs pretty good.’
‘Just remember it’s got phony plates and an altered VIN,’ I said. ‘Don’t get stopped.’
‘Gotcha, Mr G.’
The place to stop to eat during that journey always seemed to be Barstow. True to form, that’s where Jerry got hungry.
‘I could eat, too,’ Ava admitted.
‘OK,’ I said. ‘Get off at Barstow. Plenty of places to eat right by the highway.’
‘A diner’s good enough for me,’ Jerry said.
‘Me too,’ Ava agreed.
‘I still owe you guys for saving my bacon,’ I said. ‘I’m gonna buy you lunch.’ I looked at Ava. ‘With your money, of course.’
She laughed throatily and said, ‘Suits me.’ She looked better than she had in days. Holding a gun on some hoods seemed to agree with her.
Right off the highway Jerry spotted a diner and pulled into the parking lot.
‘Hang on a minute, Mr G.,’ he said, as he put the car in park. ‘I wanna have a look around.’
‘Good idea.’
He got out of the car and slammed the door.
‘Does he think we’re being followed?’ she asked. ‘Or that somebody got here ahead of us?’
‘Jerry’s just bein’ careful.’
‘But how could anybody have gotten here ahead of us?’ she asked. ‘We didn’t even know we were coming here.’
‘I know,’ I said, and then repeated, ‘Jerry’s just bein’ careful.’
‘I guess that’s wise.’
We waited until Jerry took a turn around the parking lot and peered in the window of the diner, then returned to the car. He opened the back door for Ava.
‘It’s OK,’ he said.
‘Good,’ Ava said. ‘I’m starving. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten as much as I have with you guys.’
‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘that’s what happens when you’re around Jerry.’
We went into the diner and got a booth away from the window. Jerry sat on one side, Ava and I the other. The middle-aged waitress came over, gave us menus, stared at Ava for a few moments, then went off to get coffee.
When she came back with a pot and three cups she filled them slowly, still staring at Ava.
‘Honey, I swear,’ she said, finally. ‘You look like that movie actress? What’s her name?’
‘I get that a lot,’ Ava said. ‘I don’t see it myself.’
‘Joan Crawford, right?’ I said to the waitress.
‘No, no, that’s not it,’ she said. ‘I’ll think of it before you leave, though. What’ll ya’ll have?’
Jerry ordered two stacks of pancakes, an order of bacon, four pieces of toast and a large glass of orange juice. Ava and I both ordered burgers and fries.
‘What’s with you and the pancakes?’ she asked Jerry.
‘What? I like pancakes.’
‘And he makes really good pancakes, too,’ I said.
‘He’s cooked for you?’ Ava asked.
‘Sure I did,’ Jerry said. ‘Mr G. stayed at my place for a few days earlier this year.’
‘In Brooklyn?’
‘Yeah,’ Jerry said, ‘he had to go back there for. . somethin’.’
He caught himself before saying I had gone back to Brooklyn for my mother’s funeral, and one last meeting with my dysfunctional family.
She looked from his face to mine, back to his, and then said, ‘Not something we want to talk about?’
‘No,’ I said.
‘Fair enough. Listen, I’ve had a thought about you taking me to Vegas.’
‘What’s that?’ I asked.
‘I don’t want Frank to know where I am.’
‘Why not?’
‘We don’t know what’s going on,’ she said. ‘What happened during those forty hours. If it’s bad, if I’m involved in something really bad, I don’t want him involved. Frank gets enough bad press as it is.’
‘Makes sense to me,’ Jerry said.
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I’m supposed to be keeping you safe for Frank.’
‘You can do that,’ she said, ‘and you can keep Frank safe for me — and from me — until we find out what’s going on.’
‘OK,’ I said, ‘OK, let’s say I agree to that, for now.’
The waitress came with the food, setting the plates down while staring at Ava’s face.
‘Rita Hayworth, right?’ Jerry asked.
‘No, no, that ain’t it,’ she said. ‘I’ll get it.’
‘Have I been out of films that long?’ Ava asked.
‘A couple of years,’ Jerry said. ‘When does your new movie come out?’
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘Maybe never.’
‘Why do ya say that?’ he asked.
‘Because I was awful in it,’ she said. ‘I look awful and I performed awfully.’
‘You can’t look awful, Miss Ava,’ Jerry told her.
‘I agree with Jerry.’
‘You two are sweet,’ she said. She picked up her burger and bit into it. There’s nothing like a good, big diner burger. And they make the best fries. I covered mine with ketchup.
We devoured our food and when the waitress came with the check she said, ‘I think I got it!’
Ava looked at her, smiled and said, ‘Kathryn Grayson.’
‘I knew it!’ the waitress said. ‘That’s what I was gonna say!’
As we walked to the car I said, ‘Kathryn Grayson?’
‘I didn’t think you wanted her broadcasting that she’d served Ava Gardner in her diner,’ she explained. ‘Katy’s a good friend of mine, and she’s beautiful.’
‘You did Show Boat together,’ Jerry said.
‘That’s right.’
‘She ain’t as beautiful as you.’
I nodded. ‘He’s right.’
‘You two are so good for my ego.’
We got to the car and got in. Across the street was a gas station.
‘Let’s gas up, Jerry,’ I said.
‘Right, Mr G.’
He pulled out of the parking lot and right into the gas station. He told the attendant to fill it up.
‘Check under the hood for ya?’ the man asked.
‘No, it’s fine.’
Ava sat back and kept her face averted so the attendant couldn’t see her while he cleaned the windshield.
He came to the window and Jerry paid him.
‘Think he saw me?’ she asked.
‘No,’ Jerry said, starting the engine.
‘Next stop, Vegas,’ I said.
FORTY-TWO
I had the length of the drive from L.A. and Vegas to decide where to put Ava. In the end, it was Jerry who came up with the answer. More than once Jerry had proven to be not just muscle, and it was usually when he came up with the simplest of answers.
‘Take her to your house,’ he said. ‘Nobody’s gonna look for her there.’
‘And you’ll be there with her.’
‘Right.’
I turned my head and looked at Ava.
‘I’d love to see your house,’ she said.
‘It would fit into one room of yours,’ I said.
She shrugged.
‘And my house would fit into one room of my villa in Spain,’ she said. ‘It’s all relative.’