Hey There (You with the Gun in Your Hand)

Forty-seven

We went back to the room and I called Sammy in Tahoe.

“You’re a cool cat, you know that, Eddie?” Sammy said when I was done. “You were lookin’ to keep me out of the loop, weren’t you?”

“For your own good, Sam.”

“So what’s changed, man?” Sammy asked. “Why the call now?”

“I’ve got a theory,” I said. “About my pictures?”

“Yup.”

“Do I get to hear it?”

“Only because I need to talk to Peter, and you can get him to call me.”

“Peter … Lawford?”

“Right.”

“Listen, Eddie, Frank and Peter, they’re-”

“This’ll have nothin’ to do with Frank, Sammy.”

“But … you’re sayin’ this is about the President, aren’t you? About Kennedy?”

“That’s right, Sammy. I think you caught JFK, maybe in the background of a photo, but you caught him doin’ somethin’ they don’t want anyone to know about.”

“What?” Sammy asked. “Takin’ a payoff? Or was it a girl?”

“I don’t know, Sammy,” I said, “but it looks like they’re killin’ to keep it quiet.”

“Jesus … so now we’ve got two pictures to worry about?”

“I don’t know about you,” I said, “but my first concern is still your picture. But can you get Peter to call me? Talk to me about the Kennedy family?”

“I can get him to call you,” he said, “but whether or not he’ll talk to you, that’s somethin’ else.”

“Let’s start with the call, Sam, as soon as possible. I’m at Harrah’s in Reno. Here’s the number.” I read it to him off the phone.

“Stay put,” he said. “Let me see if I can get ahold of him.”

I checked my watch.

“It’s got to be in two hours, Sam,” I said.

“I’ll try, Eddie.”

I hung up and looked at Jerry.

“Why two hours?” he asked. “We got more time than that.”

“Not if we stick to the plan we’ve got to get you out there while it’s still light.”

“Oh yeah, the plan,” Jerry said. “Me in that broken-down house.”

“With your trusty forty-five,” I said, “keepin’ me alive.”

“I can do that, Mr. G.”

“I hope so, Jerry.”

“But if I’m gonna do it,” he said, sitting down on one of the beds, “I better take a little nap.”

“Yeah,” I said, suddenly realizing how tired I was, “me, too.”

“Should we leave a wake-up call?”

“Naw,” I said, reclining on the other bed with my shoes on, “Sammy’s call will wake us up.”

I woke up a while later. Jerry was sitting at the table. He had his gun in his hand and was cleaning it. He had the TV on.

I sat up and he turned the set off.

“Hey, Mr. G. Just wanted ta make sure this thing would work if we needed it.”

“What time is it?”

“You was asleep for an hour and a half,” he said. “I woke up about twenty minutes ago. I checked the news. Still no word on those bodies in Vegas.”

“Good.”

I rubbed my eyes. I felt like I had slept for ten minutes.

“I’m gonna call room service for some coffee,” I said. “I know this is a silly question, but do you want something?”

“Yeah,” he said, “I could use a burger and fries.”

I looked at my watch.

“We’re going to have to get out of here in half an hour.”

“Then you better call now.”

“Right.”

I called down and asked them to put a rush on two burger platters with coffee.

“Mr. G.?” Jerry said, as I hung up.

“Yeah.”

“I got another piece.”

“Huh?”

“Another gun,” he said, “in case you want it.”

“Not … not Sammy’s gun-”

“No, no,” he said, “that’s still hid around your house in pieces.”

“If the cops show up with a search warrant are they gonna find it?” I asked.

“Naw,” he said, then added, “I don’t think.”

Did I want to carry a gun? No. I might end up shooting somebody. Wasn’t that why I had Jerry around? Well, no, not exactly, but still, if somebody had to be shot he was sure as hell gonna be better at it than I was.

“That’s okay, Jerry,” I said. “I don’t want to carry a gun.”

“Suit yerself.”

He finished cleaning his.45 by the time the food showed up. We had ten minutes to eat. For some reason, it was the best burger and fries I’d had in a long time.

When we finished eating we put on our jackets. Jerry hadn’t packed a heavy one, so I reminded him he was going to be out there for hours and it was going to get cold.

“You’re right,” he said. He put on a second shirt, then grabbed the pickle off my plate and the rest of my fries-just a few-wrapped them in a napkin and put them in his pocket.

“In case I get hungry.”

The last thing he did was slide his.45 back into his shoulder rig.

“Well,” I said, “now that you’re completely outfitted, we better get going.”