‘That’s what we just said.’
‘OK,’ he said, sliding out of the booth. ‘Call me, or these might find a new home.’ He fanned himself with the envelope.
‘Barney,’ I said, ‘don’t make me regret being nice to you.’
SIXTEEN
Outside of Clipper’s, I looked for Jerry, but if he was there he was better at blending in than Danny was.
Speak of the devil, Danny came walking out of the bar. I headed for my car, got behind the wheel and waited for him to join me.
‘That’s a great disguise,’ I said, when he slid into the passenger seat. ‘Why didn’t you shoot off some flares, while you were at it?’
‘See,’ he said, ‘this is why I’m the pro and you’re the pit boss. When people see a shirt like this, they rarely look at your face. Admit it, when you walked in you didn’t see me right away.’
‘Never mind that,’ I said. ‘He didn’t have the right photos.’
‘I noticed you let him keep the envelope.’
‘We made a deal for ten grand,’ I said. ‘I’m supposed to meet with him tomorrow.’
‘Where?’
‘I haven’t decided,’ I said. ‘Someplace. . quiet.’
‘Quiet?’
‘Yeah, I’m going to have Jerry with me,’ I said. ‘I think I might let him ask Irwin about the photos one more time.’
‘Ask?’
‘Ask.’
‘Ah,’ Danny said, ‘someplace quiet.’
‘Yes.’
‘Maybe I can come up with something. You think Irwin will show?’
‘He will if he wants his ten grand.’
‘Where is the big guy?’ Danny asked. ‘I know he wouldn’t let you come here alone.’
‘He’s around here somewhere,’ I said, ‘probably not wearing an ugly Hawaiian shirt.’
‘Ugly? Penny said this shirt had character.’
‘I think she meant it makes you look like a character.’
‘Ha-ha.’ He opened the car door. ‘My heap is around the corner. If you need me to do anything else, let me know.’
‘Thanks, Danny,’ I said. ‘I will.’
I watched him walk down the street until he turned the corner. I was about to start the car when Jerry appeared at my elbow.
‘Shove over, Mr G.,’ he said. ‘I’ll drive.’
Jerry said he wanted barbecue so I took him to a place I knew just a few blocks away.
‘I discovered ribs last year,’ he said, working on the first of two racks. ‘I had a job makin’ a pick-up from this Texan who thought he was gonna come to New York and score big. Well, he lost and introduced me to ribs just before I broke his arm and collected the debt.’
I picked up a rib from my half rack and gnawed on it.
‘I mean, I knew what ribs was from, you know, Chinese food, but I was pretty much a steak, burger and hot dog guy until Bubba offered me some ribs.’
‘Chinese ribs are pork,’ I said. ‘These are beef.’
‘Well, that explains it then.’
‘So this guy Bubba, he offered you ribs not to hurt him?’
‘No, he pretty much knew I was gonna hurt him,’ Jerry said. ‘He was just bein’ polite. When I found him he was eatin’, so he offered me some.’
‘And you broke his arm, anyway?’
‘I was supposed to break his legs, but he was a nice guy, and he wanted to leave town so. .’ He shrugged, ‘I figured I’d let him walk.’
‘OK.’ I dropped the last bone on to my plate.
‘How did it go in the bar?’
I told him about the deal I’d made with Irwin for Abby’s pictures.
‘Ten grand?’ Jerry said. ‘You’re gonna give that asshole ten large?’
‘No,’ I said, ‘I just told him that so he’d meet us somewhere.’
‘Us?’
‘Yeah, us. I’m going to give you your shot at Mr Irwin.’
‘I get to squeeze him?’
‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘but that doesn’t mean you get to break anything. At least, not till I say so.’
‘Yeah, well, your call, Mr G.’
I started working on my fries. Jerry had dumped about half a bottle of ketchup and a pound of salt on his.
‘He didn’t show you any naked stuff?’ he asked.
‘No, just cheesecake. I think he’s holding the nudes back. If he is, you’re going to squeeze them out of him.’
‘Yeah, I am,’ Jerry said, with a barbecue-sauce-smeared grin.
SEVENTEEN
10.31 a.m., November 22, 1963
Even before I entered the lobby of the Sands I knew something was wrong. I had eaten my breakfast that day without benefit of the TV or radio, and driven directly to the casino. I still needed to work out where Jerry and I would meet Barney Irwin in order to squeeze the Abby Dalton photos out of him. We would need someplace quiet, just in case it became necessary for Jerry to break something.
As I entered the lobby, though, the climate was one of panic. People were running across the lobby, panicked, toward no apparent destination. One of the girls behind the counter was crying, and over by the pay phone a man was consoling another weeping woman. I looked around, expecting to see the cause of these reactions, but nothing was immediately evident. I scanned what was becoming a crowd in the lobby, looking for an employee I could ask, but finally had to walk to the front desk.
The hysterical girl was the same one who had given me Barney Irwin’s message. I still hadn’t found out her name.
‘What’s going on?’ I asked her.
‘You don’t know? Oh, Mr Gianelli — Eddie, it’s terrible.’
‘What is?’
‘The President,’ she said. ‘Somebody shot the President.’
‘The President.’ Just for a moment I thought, President of what? ‘Wait. . you mean. . JFK?’
She nodded, held a handkerchief to her nose and began to sob.
I knew I’d get nothing else coherent out of her, so I made for the elevators, figured I’d go somewhere I knew there’d be a television.
When I got to Entratter’s office I found his girl at her desk, in much the same condition as the girl at the front desk. She even neglected to sneer at me.
I entered Jack’s office, found him standing in front of a large color TV in his wall. Color TV’s were still not in everyone’s home at that time, but the appearance of The Wonderful World of Disney as a weekly series in 1961 sure sent a lot of people scurrying for them.
‘What’s goin’ on?’ I asked.
He looked at me over his shoulder, then back at the TV. He was standing with his back straight, his arms folded.
‘No word yet on his condition,’ he said. ‘We just know he was shot while in his motorcade.’
‘In the car? What about the first lady?’
‘Nobody said anything about her.’
I joined him in front of the TV.
‘Jesus,’ I said.
‘Yeah.’
‘It’s a madhouse downstairs.’
‘Yeah.’
‘I didn’t hear anything until I walked in.’
‘It’s all over the TV and radio.’
‘I didn’t turn either of them on this morning.’
It was all very surreal, the panic in the lobby, and the coverage on the TV. The usually stolid Walter Cronkite appeared shaken up. Cronkite was like everybody’s uncle. To see him upset just added to the unsettling feeling of it all.
We stood side by side for quite a while, just watching the reports. After the fact that Kennedy had been shot it was all supposition, but a lot of people were doing the supposing.
After a few minutes I asked, ‘Do we know where Frank is?’
Entratter let out a breath, as if he’d been holding it for a long time. ‘I think he’s home, in Palm Springs.’
‘He must be taking this hard.’
From the outer office we could hear the sound of Jack’s girl, blubbering.
‘Hold on,’ he said.
He walked out and I heard him tell the girl to go home, they weren’t going to get much work done that day. She didn’t argue. When he came back in he picked up his phone and called the hotel room service and ordered some coffee.
‘You want something to eat?’ he asked, before hanging up.
‘See if they can send some pastries with it.’
He told them to send whatever they had in the way of pastries or donuts, then hung up and rejoined me in front of the TV.