Hey There (You with the Gun in Your Hand)

Thirty-seven

When Jerry and I left Sammy’s room we walked down the hall to the elevator.

“Jerry, we can’t talk about this when we’re around other people,” I said. “The drivers, the helicopter pilots … nobody.”

“I getcha, Mr. G.,” he said. “Mum’s the word.”

“That way we can control who else hears about this.”

The elevator doors opened and we got in. There were two people already there-a man and a woman who weren’t together-and we picked up a few more along the way. When we got to the main floor we let them get out first, then followed.

“Whataya think, Mr. G.?” he asked.

“I can’t figure out how somebody knew to break into Sammy’s house in the first place,” I said. “If we could figure that out, we might get some answers.”

“So how do we figure it out?”

“We’ll have to think about it once we get back to Vegas,” I said. “While we’re in the car, and the copter, we’ll talk about something else entirely.”

“Like what?”

As we approached the limo I said, “Cars, women, sports … anything but what we’ve just been talking about.”

Before we got into the car Jerry said, “You know what I think the photo might be?”

“What?”

“A naked picture of May Britt. That’d be somethin’ Mr. Davis would pay to get back. Man, a picture of that blond babe with all that pale skin … She’s kinda like Marilyn, ya know?”

I didn’t say anything as we got into the car, but from the beginning I had been thinking the same thing. And then when Sammy said something about candid photos I was even more sure that was it.

I knew that May Britt had not made a film since she married Sammy Davis Jr. In fact, her film career would virtually end because of the marriage. I also knew, at the time this was all happening, she was about four months pregnant.

I could only wonder what they’d gone through to be together. But while the effects on her were obvious, the effects on Sammy were not. He must have been holding everything inside, where no one else could see. Where he could suffer alone.

We didn’t talk about it again until we were in my room at the Sands.

Jerry sat on the bed and looked at me, then looked around.

“Can’t you get yerself a swankier setup?”

“I guess we could go back to my house,” I said. “If the cops were lookin’ for me they would have come here by now.”

“I guess.”

“Then again, we might be safer here,” I added. “After all, they obviously know where I live-whoever ‘they’ are.”

“What’s this?” Jerry asked.

“What?”

He picked up an envelope from the night table. It had my name written on the front. I grabbed it from his hand and stared at it.

“It’s the same kinda envelope,” I said, “and the same handwriting as the first note. The one stuck to my door in Tahoe.”

“Another note.”

I opened the envelope.

“It’s instructions for the next meeting,” I said.

“Where’s the meet, this time?”

“Reno. After dark, again.” I looked at him. “Why Reno?”

“To take you away from a place you know?” he asked.

“They could’ve said Tahoe, for that.”

“Then maybe it’s to take you someplace that they know.”

I picked up the phone and called the front desk. I got a man I knew named Ted.

“Did anyone send anything up to my room?” I asked. “Like an envelope?”

“Nope,” he said, “I don’t have anything for you.”

Ted’s not the smartest kid on the block.

“No, Ted, there’s already an envelope in my room,” I said. “I want to know how it got here. Would you check with the bell captain, see if anyone brought it up?”

“Sure, Mr. Gianelli.”

“And call me right back.”

I hung up.

“What about the maid?” Jerry asked.

“Good thought.” This time I called housekeeping and made the same request. Now we just had to wait for a call back.

I sat on the bed next to him.

“The only people we know of who know what’s gone on are you, me, Sammy and that driver, Thomas.”

“Whatever happened to him?”

“Nothing,” I said. “He’s still doing what he does, I guess. Driving.”

“He’s got somethin’ on us, now.”

“Yeah, but we’ve got more on him,” I reminded him. “He killed those men.”

“Well, two of ’em,” Jerry said. “You killed the third.”

“The point is we’ve got something on each other. And he doesn’t know where we are right now. I’m trying to figure out how they got this envelope here.”

“Has anybody been in this room but you?” he asked.

“Oh, Jesus,” I said, closing my eyes.

“What?”

“Caitlin.”

“Who’s Caitlin?”

I looked at him and said, “Exactly. Who is Caitlin?”