‘That’s good for us,’ Jerry said. ‘I’m gettin’ another burger. Want one?’
‘I’m still workin’ on this one,’ I said. ‘I don’t inhale food the way you do.’
He went off and came back with not only another burger, but another basket of fries. I still had half mine left. We were washing everything down with Cokes.
‘Got any more people to hit today?’ he asked. ‘Some real lowlifes?’
‘You don’t think we talked to any lowlifes today?’
‘That Dewey looked like a scumbag.’
‘Not Candy and Darla?’
‘They’re just whores, Mr G.,’ he said. ‘Whores are OK. They’re just workin’ girls.’
‘Well,’ I said, ‘we could go out to some of the ranches.’
‘What ranches?’ Jerry asked. ‘We gonna talk to cowboys?’
‘Brothels, Jerry,’ I said. ‘Whorehouses.’
‘You call them ranches? Are they legal?’
‘No, but they should be,’ I said. ‘Someday they will be, when the politicians get their heads out of their asses.’
‘So they makin’ payoffs?’
‘Oh, yeah,’ I said. ‘They pay through the nose to operate.’
‘You think Irwin went to one of ’em?’
‘Not if he’s cheap,’ I said. ‘Rather than go out there, I’ll just make some calls.’
We finished eating and I went to a nearby pay phone to call Danny. I found him in his office, answering his own phone,
‘Where’s Penny?’
‘Out. What’s up?’
I told him I was spreading the word on Irwin, and wanted him to do the same.
‘He may be on a bike.’
‘A bike? Like a Schwinn?’
‘No, like a Harley.’
‘Irwin?’
‘Last time I saw him.’ I told him about the warehouse.
‘You let him get away?’
‘Don’t rub it in,’ I said.
‘What about Jerry?’
‘He was dancing with the Rienza brothers at the time.’
‘The guys who jumped you in Reno?’ he asked. ‘Where are they now?’
‘In jail. Hargrove’s keepin’ ’em under wraps.’
‘How do you stand with him now?’
I explained how he’d taken me from the plane to an interview room, where we talked.
‘Like human beings?’
‘Believe it or not,’ I said, ‘we came to an understanding.’
‘I don’t believe it,’ he said.
‘I think he still sees a chance to get in on the kidnapping,’ I said. ‘Like catching the last one.’
‘Barney Irwin?’
‘Well, he’s related to one of ’em,’ I said. ‘That’s close enough for Hargrove.’
‘OK, so I’ll put the word out on Irwin,’ he said. ‘Between you and me we got the town wired. We’ll find the bastard.’
‘Call me when you do.’
‘You do the same.’
We agreed and hung up. When I got back to the table I couldn’t believe Jerry had another basket of fries.
‘What the fuck?’ I said.
‘I got lonely.’
SIXTY-FIVE
When we got back to the Sands, Entratter had once again put the word out that he wanted to see me.
‘Where is he?’ I asked the bellman. ‘In his office?’
‘No, sir, I just saw him go out on the casino floor.’
‘OK, thanks.’
‘I’m gonna go to my room and wash up,’ Jerry said. ‘I’ll meet ya out there.’
‘OK.’
We split up and I went looking for Entratter. I found him watching two middle-aged women playing blackjack at a high stakes table.
‘They’re cleanin’ up, and I can’t figure out how,’ he said.
‘Maybe they’re lucky.’
‘Gotta be more than luck.’
‘You wanted to see me,’ I reminded him.
‘You didn’t come see me when you got back.’
‘I figured Mickey would tell you what happened.’
‘Mickey doesn’t know what happened,’ he said. ‘He thinks he got you out just by bein’ there.’
‘You don’t think he did?’
‘Mickey’s a good guy, but he gets a little puffed up about himself,’ Entratter said. ‘He ain’t no criminal attorney.’
‘No, he’s not.’
‘So what happened?’
‘You wanna get a drink?’
‘No,’ Entratter said, ‘I’m watchin’ these two broads. Tell me here.’
‘Hargrove and I came to an understanding.’
‘How the hell did that happen?’
‘He still thinks Barney Irwin had a hand in the kidnappin’, and if he catches him, he cashes in on some of the glory.’
‘And you let him think that?’
‘Why not? What can it hurt? I’m thinkin’ Irwin had somethin’ to do with his man Wayne’s murder. So I help Hargrove catch him, he charges him with the killin’ and the kidnappin’. Where’s the harm?’
‘And how are you gonna find him?’
‘I’m already workin’ on it.’
‘I suppose you’re usin’ your pals Jerry and Bardini?’ he asked.
‘Among others.’
Suddenly, Jack’s face changed. He looked away from the two women and directly at me for the first time. Then he put his big hand on my shoulder and squeezed.
‘You know, you really came through on this kidnappin’ thing,’ he said. ‘Maybe it’s time to think about givin’ you a promotion.’
‘To what?’ I asked. ‘I’m pretty happy with my job, Jack.’ I was hoping he wasn’t thinking about putting me in a position of more authority. I was pretty pleased with the amount of freedom my job gave me.
‘Well,’ he said, dropping his hand from my shoulder, ‘it’s just somethin’ we can talk about later.’
‘Sure,’ I said, ‘later.’
He turned his attention back to the women. I watched for a few moments, and of the five players at the table, they seemed to be the only ones who were winning consistently.
‘I don’t get it,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘But I will.’
As I walked away from Entratter I saw Jerry coming toward me. He’d changed his shirt and jacket, looked very casual with no tie.
‘Hey, Mr G. What’d Mr Entratter want?’
‘Just to be filled in. Apparently lawyer Rudin let Jack think he rescued me from the big bad police.’
‘Mr Rudin ain’t no criminal guy.’
‘No, he’s not,’ I said, ‘but if he wants to think he got me out, let ’im. I don’t care. All I know is we have a small window that’s closing by the minute.’
We’d spent most of the day driving around, hitting my contacts. We had about thirty-eight hours left.
‘So now we just wait?’
‘There’s got to be more that we can do than wait,’ I said.
‘Like what?’
‘Give me a minute.’
I figured we could go back to Irwin’s studio and house and search again, but we’d been pretty thorough the last time.
‘Irwin owns his house,’ I said, ‘but he doesn’t own the studio. He rents it.’
‘So?’
‘So maybe we should talk to the landlord. Maybe even some of his neighbors. The stores on either side of him.’
‘And ask ’em what?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I’m wingin’ it, Jerry. I just don’t want to sit here and wait.’
‘OK, then let’s go.’
SIXTY-SIX
On the right of Irwin Studios was a T-shirt and gift shop. The grey-haired older lady behind the counter said, ‘I just work here,’ to everything we asked, and Jerry’s size did nothing to intimidate her. Apparently, she’d seen enough in her life to know when to keep her mouth shut.
On the left side was a store that sold and fixed watches. The old guy behind the counter regarded us over the rims of thick glasses that had even thicker lenses, so he could do all the delicate work that was necessary with watches.
‘Ain’t seen Barney for a while,’ he said to us. ‘His place has been closed.’
‘We know that,’ I said. ‘We were just wonderin’ who the landlord was for this strip of stores, if it’s even the same person.’
‘It is,’ the man said. ‘Same landlord for this place, Irwin’s, the T-shirt store and the one after that, the hardware store.’
‘And who would that be?’ I asked.
The grey-haired man looked at Jerry, who wasn’t paying any attention to him. He was busy looking around at all the time pieces and clocks. There was a cuckoo clock on the wall that really seemed to attract his attention.