Everybody Kills Somebody Sometime

Forty-three

You want what?”

I hadn’t expected her reaction to be so violent.

A list of-”

“I know,” she said, cutting me off. “A list of all of the employees hired by the Sands in the past six months.”

“How many could there be?” I asked.

“Hundreds!” she said. “Do you have any idea how many people work in the casino and the hotel?”

“Oh.” I hadn’t thought of that. “Okay, try this. How about a list of the hotel employees?”

That calmed her slightly.

“Well … the hotel doesn’t have as quick a turnover of personnel as the casino does. Mostly the dealers, you know? They come and go.”

“I know.” As a pit boss I saw them come and go.

“Not to mention the waitresses.”

“So, can you do it?”

“Oh, it was never a question of can I do it,” she said. “Just how long it will take.”

“How long will it take?” I asked.

“A few days.”

“I need it faster than that, Marcia.”

“Boy, you don’t ask for much, do you?”

“I also need you to have it ready for Danny Bardini to pick up.”

“Bardini?” she asked. “That good-looking private eye friend of yours?”

“That’s the one.”

“Hmm,” she said. “How about this? I’ll work late tonight and have the list ready by morning.”

“So far, so good. What’s the catch?”

“That he takes me to see the Rat Pack show, and then we go back stage to meet Frank Sinatra.”

“Deal,” I said. Danny had never met Frank. He might enjoy that, and he might enjoy Marcia, too. They were two of my favorite people, why not put them together?

“Then get out of here and let me get to work.”

I was almost out the door when she shouted, “Wait!”

“What?”

“Maids, too?”

“Oh, definitely,” I said. “Maids, too.”

“What the fuck?” Entratter said when I walked into his office. He looked as if he was about to explode-literally. It wasn’t anger, really, more puzzlement, but his big shoulders and deep chest looked as if they were going to burst from his jacket, and his tie seemed to be strangling him. As if on cue he reached up to pull it away from his neck.

“Sorry?”

“Two girls are dead?”

“And one man,” I added. “Mike Borraco.”

“From the Riviera?”

“That’s right.”

“The fuck is goin’ on, Eddie.”

“I wish I knew.”

“Why the hell are you gettin’ involved in this when you have another job to do?”

“Well,” I said, “I didn’t know it when I found the first girl, Jack, but it seems to be all the same job.”

“What?”

Briefly-quickly-I explained what was going on, and what had transpired out at the warehouse they were using for an Ocean’s 11 set.

“So you’re tellin’ me that you’ve found out that the threats against Dino are real?”

“With three people dead already, I would say so.” I left out the part about Jerry shooting Buzz Ravisi, and Ravisi accidentally killing his own partner.

“And what do the police think?”

“Apparently,” I said, “they’re lookin’ for Lou Terazzo.”

“Unlucky Lou? They wanna pin this on him?”

“You don’t think he could’ve done it, Jack?’ I asked.”Out of jealousy, maybe.”

“Jealous of Mikey Borraco?” Entratter made a rude noise.

“Jack,” I said, carefully, “do you know something I don’t know?”

“About what?”

“What the fuck, Jack-”

“You know, Eddie,” he said, suddenly calm, “your Brooklyn comes and goes. Did you know that?”

“Yeah, Jack,” I said, “I know that. Look, I’ve got to talk to everybody in the Rat Pack, and that includes hangers-on-”

“Hangers-on?”

“You know, Henry Silva, Richard Conte-”

“Don’t let those guys hear you call them that,” Entratter warned.

“Angie Dickinson,” I went on. “But before I do that is there somethin’ you wanna tell me?”

“No, Eddie,” Entratter said. “I don’t know what’s goin’ on anymore than you do. Go ahead and talk to everybody. Do your job.”

“When did this become my job?” I asked. “And not a favor for a friend?”

Before he could answer the phone rang. He picked it up, listened for the second, then said, “What the fuck do they want? They’re what? In my casino?”

He slammed the phone down.

“You know a guy named Jerry?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Frank sent him to watch my back.”

“Yeah well, Entratter said,”I guess somebody shoulda been watchin’ his.”

“What are you talkin’ about?”

“The cops are in the casino right now,” he said.

“What for?”

“Apparently,” he said, “they’re arrestin’ him.”