Hey There (You with the Gun in Your Hand)

Thirty-eight

I explained, as briefly as possible, about Caitlin.

“You got laid?” he asked, breaking it down into even simpler terms. “Yes,” I said, “but I should have suspected something when she came to my room.”

“Don’t you, uh … I just thought you had a lot of, um …”

“I do okay with women, Jerry, but this girl is twenty-four years old,” I said. “I really don’t think she came to my room just because she had to have me.”

“So you think she’s part of the gang?”

“If there is a gang. There’s one way to find out,” I said. I called down to the employment department and asked about Caitlin. I listened to the reply and hung up.

“She started working here as a trainee last week,” I told Jerry. “She quit today.” I slapped my forehead with the heel of my hand. “Jesus, I’m so stupid!”

“Hey, she was good-lookin’, right?”

“Very.”

“So, you’re just a guy,” he said. “She threw herself at ya. What were you supposed to do?”

“Be smart,” I said. “I should have been smart and figured something was up.”

“So she left you a note. If that’s all she did, so what? You were waitin’ for more contact, anyway.”

“True,” I said, “but why didn’t I see it this morning?”

“Maybe you had your mind on somethin’ … else.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said, waving at him. “Okay, Caitlin’s gone, but she did what she came to do, I guess.”

“She probably coulda done it without fuckin’ you,” he said, “like … slidin’ the note under the door?”

I stared at him.

“I ain’t no genius, Mr. G.,” he said, “but what I got is a lot of common sense.”

“Yeah,” I said, “you’re right about that one. Okay, so we have to go to Reno.”

“When?”

“Today,” I said, “we go today.”

Instead of calling Sammy to arrange for Frank’s helicopter I called Jack Entratter.

“You need a chopper to take you to Reno?” he repeated into the phone. “For what?”

“I can’t tell you that, Jack.”

“Yeah, okay,” he said. “I’ll arrange it. And a car.”

“Thanks. Half an hour?”

“You got it.”

When I hung up Jerry asked, “Why didn’t you call Mr. Davis?”

“I don’t want him to know about this meet.”

His eyes widened.

“You don’t trust Mr. Davis?”

“I just want to keep it quiet this time,” I said. “Just between us two.”

“Okay,” he said. “Just between us. Now what?”

“I’m gonna wash up and then we can go down and take the car to the airport.”

He made a face. “The helicopter, again.”

“It doesn’t bother you to fly in a helicopter, does it?”

“It don’t thrill me.”

“You sure hid your feelings real well.”

“Yeah,” he admitted, “I’m good at that.”

I dry-washed my face with my hands and said, “I just need to slap some cold water on my face and then we can go.”

“I could use some water myself.”

We took turns at the sink in the bathroom, then left the room.

That is, we started to leave the room. When I opened the door there were some men in the hall. One of them had his hand raised, as if he was getting ready to knock on the door.

“Mr. Gianelli,” Detective Hargrove said. “Just the man I was looking for.” Then he looked past me. “Oh, and look who’s in town. If I had any doubts when I came up here they’re gone now. Come on, boys. We’re takin’ a ride downtown.”

I could see that the meet in Reno was now definitely in jeopardy.