Danny and I stared at him.
‘It’s true,’ he said. ‘I learned about it from the Joe Franklin Show.’
FIFTY-FOUR
Rather than drive back to my house or the Sands, Danny suggested I call Evans in LA from his office. Jerry and I walked there with him. I sat at Penny’s desk and made the call. It was after hours, but I got through to somebody at the DA’s office and told them it concerned the Frank Sinatra Jr. kidnapping.
‘I’m sorry, sir, Mr Evans isn’t here at the moment.’
‘I need to know where he is,’ I said. ‘I have information that could lead to the capture of the kidnappers. Can you give me his home number?’
‘He’s not home, either, sir. Why don’t you give me your name and I’ll have District Attorney Evans call you as soon as-’
I broke the connection and swore, ‘Damn!’
‘What happened?
‘Evans isn’t in his office and they say he’s not home,’ I said.
‘Then where is he?’ Danny asked.
I looked at Jerry and at the same time we said, ‘Nancy’s house.’ Well, I said Nancy, he said ‘Mrs S.’
I had the number of Nancy’s house in my pocket. I called and the phone was answered by Ed Pucci.
‘Ed, it’s Eddie G., from Vegas.’
‘Hey, Eddie. What’s up?’
‘Is Evans still there?’
‘Yeah, he’s across the room from me. Hold on.’
After a few seconds Evans came on the phone.
‘What is it, Mr Gianelli?’
‘I’ve got some information I think you should have, Mr Evans. .’
I hung up and looked at Jerry and Danny.
‘What’d he say?’ Danny asked.
‘He said “thank you”.’
‘Is he gonna tell Frank?’ Danny asked.
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘He listened to me, I assume he took notes, then he thanked me and hung up.’
Danny laughed.
‘What’s so funny?’
‘He’s gonna catch those kidnappers, and take all the credit.’
‘I don’t really care,’ I said, ‘as long as they get caught.’
‘Make sure you let Frank know it was you who gave Evans the information,’ Danny said. ‘Don’t let him take the credit with him.’
‘Yeah, OK.’
Danny looked at Jerry, and saw Jerry nod once. If I didn’t tell Frank, the big guy would.
‘What are we gonna do now?’ Jerry asked.
‘I’m gonna talk to Hargrove,’ I said.
‘What for?’ Danny asked.
‘To find out if they tracked down Wayne’s killer,’ I said. ‘If they’re still lookin’ at me for it.’
‘That Irwin guy wouldn’t have the balls to do it himself,’ Jerry said.
‘Right. He sent those two guys to Reno to do me, and three to Brooklyn to do you,’ I said. ‘He’s got the nerve for that, he had the nerve to have Wayne killed. And maybe Hargrove managed to identify them as the killers.’
‘You walk into Hargrove’s arms, he just might hang on to you,’ Danny said.
‘I’ll take that chance,’ I said. ‘I didn’t do anything, and he can’t prove I did.’
‘I’ll go with you,’ Jerry said.
‘No chance,’ I said. ‘He sees you he’ll throw you into a cell.’
‘Don’t go to his office,’ Danny suggested. ‘Have him meet you somewhere.’
I thought about it, then said, ‘Yeah, OK. I’ll have him meet me.’
‘Us,’ Jerry said.
I looked at Jerry, saw that he meant it.
‘Yeah, OK, Jerry. Us.’
FIFTY-FIVE
To my surprise Hargrove agreed to meet. He picked the place, though. When we pulled up in front we realized what it was.
‘A cop bar,’ Jerry said.
‘That’s great.’
‘Wanna shitcan it?’ Jerry asked. ‘Make him pick someplace else?’
I thought a moment. ‘No, let’s do it.’
We got out of the car and walked into the bar. I didn’t know at the time if he had said anything to the others in the place, but it felt like they were all looking at us while we walked to the booth he was in. It reminded me of Clipper’s, Irwin’s hangout.
He was sitting alone, no partner. He looked as if he had come straight from work, still had on his suit, but no tie and his collar was open. It was probably the first time I’d ever seen him without a tie.
‘You brought your friend,’ he said. ‘Good. I won’t have to go lookin’ for him. Have a seat.’
Jerry slid into the booth first, and I followed.
‘Beer?’
‘Sure.’
He waved at the bartender, held up three fingers. The man immediately came over and laid down three mugs.
‘All these guys cops?’ I asked, looking around.
‘Cops, or ex-cops.’
‘They know who we are?’
‘No,’ Hargrove said, ‘but that don’t mean they won’t tear you apart if I say so.’
‘And why would you do that?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Hargrove said. ‘Why don’t you tell me what you’ve got on your mind?’
I sipped my beer, made him wait.
‘You find your killer yet?’ I asked.
‘Not yet. We did find a couple more witnesses, though.’
‘Witnesses to what?’
‘Two men — one your size, and one his — ’ he nodded at Jerry — ‘seen around a photography studio on South Decatur, where our victim sometimes worked.’
‘Worked? As what?’
‘We don’t know,’ Hargrove said, ‘we can’t seem to find the photographer.’
‘And I’ll tell you why.’
I hadn’t yet decided what I would tell him about how we came to find the slip of paper with all the names on it. But since I’d given the information to the Los Angeles DA already, I figured there’d be no harm giving it to Hargrove. After all, I still wanted to find Barney Irwin, and whoever killed Wayne. And if we could find the two knuckle-draggers who worked me over, even better.
‘I just got back from LA, where I helped recover Frank Sinatra Jr. from his kidnappers.’
‘Is that a fact?’ Hargrove asked. ‘You’re a regular fuckin’ hero, aren’t you?’
‘Yeah, he is,’ Jerry said.
‘Hey, it talks,’ Hargrove said.
‘Detective, why make him mad?’ I asked. ‘He could do a lot of damage in here.’
‘And get his ass shot.’
‘Be worth it,’ Jerry said.
Hargrove stared at Jerry for a few moments, but the big guy never even blinked. The detective looked back at me.
‘I can get a witness to ID both of you idiots in a heartbeat,’ he said. ‘Give me one reason why I shouldn’t.’
‘Because I don’t wanna be a hero,’ I said, ‘but I can make you look like one.’
‘How?’
This was where I took a chance. I brought the slip of paper out of my pocket and put it on the table.
‘What’s this?’
‘Frank Jr. was kidnapped from Lake Tahoe and taken to Canoga Park,’ I said, pointing to those words on the page. ‘He said he was grabbed by three men named Barry, Joe and John — or Johnny. The photographer your victim, Wayne, worked for is named Barney Irwin. He has a brother named. .’ I tapped the name on the paper. ‘. . Johnny.’
Hargrove looked at the paper again, this time more intently.
‘You’re telling me this photographer, Irwin, was involved in the kidnapping?’
‘At the very least he knew about it,’ I said. ‘And his brother was involved.’
‘What about this date? The twenty-second? The day JFK got hit.’
‘I think that might have been the original date they were gonna grab Frankie. The assassination changed their minds.’
Hargrove picked the piece of paper up for the first time.
‘Where did you get this?’
‘If I tell you,’ I said, carefully, ‘I don’t wanna get pinched.’
‘Me neither,’ Jerry said.
Hargrove chewed on the inside of his cheek for a few moments.
‘If this leads me to my killer,’ he said, ‘and Irwin, and it turns out he was involved in the kidnapping, you guys are off the hook.’
‘I got that out of Irwin’s desk, in his studio.’
‘What were you doin’ there?’
‘A favor for a friend.’
‘After the murder?’
‘Before,’ I said, ‘way before.’
‘What was the favor?’
‘That’s not on the table,’ I said.