Hey There (You with the Gun in Your Hand)

Twelve

“You know,” I said to Jerry when we reached the diner, “I think we spend half our time together with me watching you eat.”

“You eat, too,” Jerry said.

“Yeah, but you don’t watch me,” I said. “You’re so intent on your food.”

“And you don’t pay attention to your food?”

“I pay attention to a really good meal,” I said. “You pay attention to every meal.”

He looked confused.

“But every meal is a good meal,” he said.

“Come on,” I said, opening the car door, “I’ll buy you some fries.”

“I love fries….”

After Jerry had eaten his fill of fries-really good diner fries-we went back to the Sands.

“I’ve got some calls to make,” I said. “I can come with ya.”

“I don’t need you to watch my back, yet,” I said. “You remember where the race book is?”

“Oh, yeah.” His eyes lit up. “I remember.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

“Okay, Mr. G.,” he said.

We split up. I went to Jack Entratter’s office to use his phone. His girl told me he wasn’t there, but she let me sit at an empty desk. I called Sammy in Tahoe, first.

“I made the arrangements for the money, Eddie,” Sammy said. He gave me the name of the bank and the man I should see when I got there.

“Have you heard anything else?” I asked.

“Not a peep,” he said. “No calls, no notes.”

“Okay, I’ll be in touch.”

“Thanks, man,” Sammy said. “I know I’m in good hands.”

I almost said, “I hope so,” but didn’t think that would go over real well.

After that I called Frank in Palm Springs and gave him a rundown.

“I’m glad you brought big Jerry into it, Eddie,” he said. “He’s a good man to have on your side.”

“I know it, Frank.”

“Listen, I’ll be back in Tahoe on Friday, so I’m gonna fly to Vegas for Dino’s show. Why don’t you and Sam meet me there?”

“Fine by me, Frank.”

“I’ll talk to Sammy,” he said. “See you then.”

When I hung up, Jack’s girl was waving me over to her desk.

“I’m not supposed to be taking your messages, you know,” she said.

“Messages? From who?”

“Just one,” she said. “And I only took it because it was Mr. Martin.”

“Dino?”

“He’d like you to have dinner with him tonight, if you have the time.”

“Dinner with Dean? Sure. I’ll call him-”

“I’ll return the message for you,” she said. “The Garden Room okay?”

“No,” I said, “I’ll take him someplace off the premises.”

“Our restaurants aren’t good enough for you?”

“I’ll call Dean-” I said, but she cut me off. “No,” she said, “I’d like to … please.”

That was when I realized how much she wanted to talk to him again.

“I’ll have a car out in front waiting for both of you,” she said. “Just tell me what time?”

“I tell you what,” I said. “Why don’t you work that out with Dino and let me know, huh?”

Her face brightened and she said, “I’ll call him back right now.”

“You do that,” I said. “Thanks for the phone.” I left her to her task and went to get Jerry out of the horse book. He was going to be disappointed my errands didn’t take longer.

“Want me to come into the bank with you?” he asked, as we pulled up outside.

“That’s okay,” I said. “You can wait out here.”

“How much money you pickin’ up, anyway?” he asked as I got out of the car.

“Fifty grand.”

“That’s all?” Jerry asked. “I thought they’d ask for more.”

Yeah, I thought, so did I.

When I came out of the bank I was carrying a brown manila envelope, slightly larger than a normal No. 10 white one, with fifty thousand-dollar bills in it. It was bound with a strong rubber band.

I got in the car and Jerry said, “That’s it? Fifty G’s?”

“This is it.” I tucked it inside my jacket.

I’d been concerned about carrying all that money, but I had been thinking about hundred-dollar bills. Obviously, Sammy had been thinking bigger than I had. He had arranged for the thousand-dollar bills. The only time we dealt with bills that large at the Sands was when our “whales” came to town. The bigger players liked the larger bills.

Jerry simply shrugged and said, “I thought it’d be bigger.”