Hey There (You with the Gun in Your Hand)

Nine

All during the drive to the helipad, and then the flight to Vegas, I kept wondering if either Henry or the copter pilot-“Skip”- had anything to do with the word leaking out? Then I had to wonder how much damage the leak might have done. Maybe Sammy should have switched to someone else, but it was too late to do anything about it.

When I got back to my house in Vegas I took a few minutes to shower and get a beer from the refrigerator. Then I sat down in my living room and made the phone call. I had to look the number up, because this was the first time I’d ever dialed it.

“Yeah?” the voice at the other end asked.

“Jerry?”

A pause, then, “Who wants ta know?”

“It’s Eddie, Jerry,” I said. “Eddie Gianelli, from Vegas.”

“Hey, Mr. G.!” His tone changed completely. “Whataya say?”

I didn’t know what to say. Exchange pleasantries with my friend, the Brooklyn hood? Or just tell him I needed his help? Wasn’t I doing to him what I once thought Frank and Dino were doing to me? Just using me when it was convenient?

“How you doin’, Jerry?”

“Good, Mr. G., good. How’s the Caddy?”

“Safe and sound, buddy.”

“I love drivin’ that car, ya know?”

“Yeah, I do know, Jerry,” I said. “How’d you like to drive it again?”

“Sure. When?”

“How’s tomorrow?”

Now there was a long pause.

“Whataya sayin’, Mr. G.? Ya need my help?”

“I guess that’s what I’m sayin’, Jerry,” I admitted. “I’ve got a situation, here.”

“This have to do with Mr. S.?”

“Yeah, it does, kind of.”

“Tell me about it.”

So I did. I told him everything except where we found the note with the instructions and what Sammy was buying. Actually, that second one wasn’t hard, because I didn’t really know what Sammy was buying.

“Sounds like there’s a fink somewheres,” Jerry said.

“That’s what I was thinkin’,” I said. “I was gonna ask Danny to go with me, but he’s out of town-”

“You don’t need the keyhole peeper, Mr. G.,” Jerry said, “ya got me. When does this exchange gotta take place?”

“Thursday night,” I said. “Can you get here by Thursday?”

“Mr. G.,” Jerry said, “that’s me on the next plane ta Vegas….”

I called work and did a late shift in the pit at the Sands. I thought I was too late to see Jack Entratter, but in he walked just a little after midnight. Jack didn’t usually stop to talk to individual pit bosses, but he and I had kind of a different relationship-especially since I’d started doing favors for Frank, Dean and the guys. And after the most recent one, last year, I think even MoMo Giancana ended up kind of liking me.

So if Frank and MoMo liked me, I was in even more with Jack.

“Hey, kid,” he said, “I heard you were back.” He meant back in the pit, not back in Vegas. He already knew that.

“Can’t stay away,” I said. “Oh, by the way, I’ll need Thursday off.”

“This got anything to do with Sammy?” he asked. “Yes.”

When I didn’t go any further he said, “Ah hell, okay. I’ll get somebody to fill in for you.”

“Thanks.”

He walked away, then turned and said, “You’re not gonna find any bodies this time, are you?”

“I hope not.”

He gave me the eye. “That doesn’t sound very encouraging.”

“Oh, I’ll need a room tomorrow.”

“For who?”

“A friend of mine.”

“You want a free room you’re gonna have to tell me more than that.”

“Jerry,” I said.

“Lewis?” he asked, hopefully?

“Epstein.”

“Him? Why’s he comin’ here?”

“I asked him to.”

He walked back to me.

“Are you expecting trouble?”

“I … just want to make sure if there is trouble I’ll be ready.”

“And you wouldn’t be ready alone?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “The last time … I’m not a detective, you know. Or a made guy. I don’t carry a gun.”

“Why would you need a gun?” he demanded. “What are you not tellin’ me, Eddie?”

“Jack,” I said, “I’ve told you all I can. I just want Jerry here for a little backup. Can I have a room?”

“Hell, kid, sure,” he said. “It’s just that guy-”

“What about him?”

“Trouble follows him.”

“I don’t see where he can be blamed for anything that happened in the past,” I argued.

“Okay, then,” Jack said, “it’s the combination of you two. Trouble finds the two of you.”

“That’s not fair, either.”

“Just watch your step,” he said, “and your back. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay.”

“I’ll see you around,” Jack said, and stalked off. He wasn’t mad, he just always seemed to be stalking when he walked. Then again he always seemed kind of mad. It was probably because he was managing so many aspects of the Sands operation that he was always preoccupied with something.

I finished up my shift at 2 A.M. Normally I would’ve stayed ’til dawn, had breakfast and then gone home, but I had to be up early to pick Jerry up at the airport. I knew I’d have to get him settled in at the hotel, and then take him somewhere to satisfy what was the most prodigious appetite I’d ever run across-and in my thirteen years in Vegas I had seen a lot of appetites.

I satisfied my own appetite in the coffee shop before heading home to bed.