Hollywood Tough

Chapter 29

They headed up the winding driveway and were met by two bodyguards in dark suits, who motioned them around to the side of the mansion. Another of Dennis Valente's long-armed, short-haired enforcers was waiting in the parking area for them. When Shane and Alexa got out of the car, the man walked over carrying the same 2300 Frequency Finder that Gino had used on him the day before.

The goon came to a stop a few feet away. "I'm Silvio Cardetti," he said respectfully. "Mr. Valentine likes to know that none of his conversations are being recorded. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but if you could both turn around, please."

Shane and Alexa complied, then one at a time, Silvio ran the wand up and down their bodies. The little StarTAC cell phone clipped to Shane's belt was turned off so it didn't register on the meter. But Silvio did find both of their weapons.

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, could you leave your guns in the car?"

Shane unstrapped his piece from its ankle holster; Alexa took the Spanish 9mm Astra out of her purse. They locked both weapons in the trunk of the Acura, then Silvio led them to the front door of the estate.

"How's Gino?" Shane asked to make conversation.

"Back in New Jersey, recuperating. Mr. DeCesare sent the jet to pick him up."

They walked up onto the porch and Silvio rang the doorbell, which chimed the first eight notes of Kenny Rogers's "The Gambler." The carved oak door was immediately unlatched and Dennis Valentine stood there, smiling widely. He was dressed like the Easter bunny: white shirt, white silk tie, white pleated pants, Pat Boone bucks. A threequarter-cut white blazer with matching silk pocket square completed the ensemble. It took a very handsome, self-assured guy to pull it off… Champagne Dennis was managing to stay just inside the boundaries of fashion comedy.

"They're clean," Silvio reported, holding up the state-of-the-art frequency finder.

Dennis stepped aside grandly, motioning them into the magnificent but overdecorated front room. It looked as if his interior designer had managed to sell him everything on the showroom floor. The large living space was packed like a furniture warehouse.

On the far side of the room, dressed like a Frederick's of Hollywood model, was Lynette Valentine. She was in her late twenties, with long blond hair and a centerfold's body magnificently displayed in tight, leopard-print stretch pants and a plunging black top. Decorating her dainty feet were plastic platform heels.

"I'd like you to meet my wife, Lynette," Valentine said.

She moved across the room and extended a slender arm to Alexa, while giving her a competitive once-over. It was no contest as far as Shane was concerned, but he guessed there might be some men who would prefer Lynette's neon flashiness.

"Hi, we're Shane and Alexa," he said to her.

Lynette turned to check him out before she shook hands. It was a frank, inviting appraisal.

"Can I get anybody a glass of Tat?" Dennis smiled warmly.

"Do you have white wine?" Alexa asked.

"Certainly ck). And scotch for you, right, Shane?" For some reason, Valentine skipped his vitamin lecture. He crossed the room to the bar, then opened the built-in refrigerator, pulled out a bottle of chardonnay, and went to work on it with a fancy corkscrew.

"We have terrible party curfews in this neighborhood," Lynette blurted out unexpectedly. "It's because some guy who publishes a men's magazine used to live up the street. He was trying to be Hugh Hefner or some damn thing, throwing all-nighters, cars parked everywhere. The neighbors got an ordinance passed. Denny tells me you're a policewoman."

"Yes. I'm a lieutenant in the LAPD." Alexa smiled. "Is there any damn way to get this curfew shit eliminated?"

Dennis made a quick move back across the room with the drinks. "I'm sure they don't want to hear about that, Lynny." He handed Shane a glass of scotch, neat, and gave Alexa her wine. Nothing for Lynette. Then he picked up his flute of Taittinger.

Lynette's expression had changed to a pout, but she stood her ground. "I'm just saying, we're trying to have some charity fund-raisers, like for the Children's Hospital and the Women's Rape Center. We understand you can get a lot of important actors and showpeople to these kinds of events, but this ten-thirty curfew shit makes it flicking impossible."

"Please, Lynny, not now," Valentine ordered. The smile he was giving her would have looked good on a reef shark.

"I'm just saying, maybe they could help us get the damned curfew canned," she persisted. "My God, Dennis, it was your fucking idea to do these silly parties, not mine."

"Will ya shut up?" he snapped, then turned to Shane and Alexa. "Why don't we go into the den?" Valentine escaped Lynette's whining by leading the way toward the back of the house.

"Nice to meet you, I guess." Lynette pouted as they left the room.

They were walking down a long corridor hung with colorful and expensive modern art. "These paintings are beautiful," Alexa said, pausing to admire one.

"You think? Personally, I don't get modern art. Thai' an Umberto Boccioni," Dennis said, flicking his thumb at the colorful, kaleidoscopic painting. "And that's a Gino Severini original… I think that's the Severini, maybe it's the Giacomo Balla, and the Severini is that one, on the other side, with all the circles and triangles." Then he stopped in front of a colorful brown and blue painting. "This is the only one I like," he said, smiling at it. "It's called Three Bluebirds Full of Marbles. I love that. Thing was painted by Jonathan Winters. Funny guy, but there was nothing funny about the price and they call me a criminal."

He moved on, stopping at another painting. "Lookit this thing. Cost me fifty grand. It's called Women with Flowers. So where're the fucking flowers? Lynette and the decorator picked all this stuff out. The art in this hall cost over two mil and except for the bluebirds, there ain't one of 'em I like."

They entered his den, which was masculine to a fault, hunting trophies and gun racks. Several game heads looked down from the walls with bored, glassy stares.

Alexa sat, but Shane remained standing.

"I understand you might be interested in helping me with a little project I got going here," Dennis began. He was smiling at Alexa, leering almost. Obviously he liked what he saw and seemed a little surprised by her beauty. She was a cop, so he'd probably been expecting a weight lifter with shoulders from Gold's and legs from Steinway. Instead, Alexa was beautiful enough to model.

Shane watched uncomfortably while the handsome mobster undressed his wife with his sexy bedroom eyes.

"If you have a business proposition," Alexa said, "then maybe we should hear it."

Shane reached under his jacket, took out his StarTAC and turned it on. Dennis was watching Alexa until Shane set the phone down on the bar top between them. His eyes flicked over to it.

"I'm expecting a call from Nicky. He's supposed to phone me with the time of Paul's casting meeting for tomorrow."

Valentine nodded, turning back to Alexa. "I'm new in town," the mobster started. "I'm sure your husband has told you about my family history…"

"Yes. He said you're Don Carlo DeCesare's nephew."

Dennis nodded. "I'm also a businessman who occasionally takes a calculated risk with legal parameters."

"Are you trying to say you're involved in crime?"

A cold look suddenly appeared in Valentine's eyes.

"Listen, Mr. Valentine," Alexa continued, "you and I will do much better if we cut out the verbal calisthenics. Remember, cops have short attention spans and limited vocabularies. Why don't you just state what you want and we'll see where it goes from there?"

Good move, Alexa, Shane thought. It would force Dennis to describe his bribe in plain terms that wouldn't be subject to legal maneuvering in court where defense attorneys could argue "That's not what he meant." It would get Valentine to make a straight pitch, thus helping to avoid an entrapment defense.

"I'm looking to do a little price-fixing in the entertainment guilds," he finally said. "This could cause some of the hard-liners to go to the D. A. to seek relief. That happens, I might need someone on the cops to work something out for me. Make it go away."

"You want me to boot the investigation?"

"However you do it, I don't want to face an indictment on a RICO statute."

"I see.."

"And for this service, I'm willing to pay you handsomely." He stood up and walked over to a large painting of Secretariat. It was a magnificent oil of the famous racehorse, mounted in an antique gold frame. Dennis swung the painting away from the wall and opened a concealed safe, withdrawing a small metal case. He carried it over to Alexa, set it on the bar, and popped it open. Inside the case were ten large bundles of banded hundreds. Each brick-sized stack contained a hundred bills.

"Say yes and you get to take this home with you tonight," Valentine announced. "If nothing ever happens, and I never need your services, it's yours to keep. But if I need you, then you do whatever it takes to end any investigation against me."

"I do this for a hundred thousand dollars? Pretty good deal for you, but not much of a deal for me," Alexa said.

"The hundred large is so you'll know I'm serious, and I'll know you're in the game. If I require more help, we make arrangements on a case-by-case basis. We could go as high as half a million if it keeps me from getting indicted. That's the fair market price for a police fix back East."

"Mr. Valentine, since you're new in town, maybe you don't know that the LAPD hasn't been for sale, so there is no 'fair market price' out here," Alexa said. "Beyond that, I'm not all that high on getting busted for felony bribery. If that happens, Shane and I will both end up in Soledad for the next five to ten years. Cops in prison don't do quite as well as mobsters. We don't get color TVs and yard privileges, we get the SHU," she said, referring to the Security Housing Unit where cops and high-risk prisoners were held in isolation. "If we're gonna make this deal, it's gonna have to be something that balances that risk. A hundred thousand doesn't come close, as far as I'm concerned."

"What does?"

"Half a million up front, and another half a mil at the end of the first year."

"That doesn't sound very fair to me," Dennis said softly.

Shane had to hand it to her, Alexa had upped the stakes and was trying to cover their budget overruns at Cine-Roma by getting Dennis to finance the entire sting against him. Sometimes his wife amazed him.

"Once I leave with this suitcase, I'm as guilty as if I already fixed a case," she said. "Bribery is bribery. Once we're in, we're all the way in, and you have to pay us for our risk. We'll be available to help you for a year only. No longer. After a year, it's over."

Dennis sipped his Taittinger as a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"You know, of course, what happens to you if you agree to take my money and then fail to render services as required?"

"Lemme guess. We get a nine-millimeter cancellation contract."

There was a tense silence as they eyeballed each other. Alexa picked up the case and snapped it shut.

"Does that mean we got a deal?" Valentine said.

"Are you gonna meet my price, terms, and conditions?" Alexa asked.

"A million for a year, paid in two installments, first payment in advance?"

"That's it," Alexa said. "Five hundred thousand now gets the deal moving."

"You've got a hundred. I'll get the rest to you later." Dennis seemed irritated by her look of disapproval. "Hey, I don't keep that kinda cash on hand. It's gonna take me a day or two."

Finally Alexa nodded.

"Y'know, I wish Lynette was more like you. All she ever thinks about is shopping. She's got her fucking doctorate at Neiman Marcus."

"You wouldn't want someone like me. If you ever told me to shut up like you did with her back there, you'd get Maced."

Dennis smiled. "Would you put me in handcuffs?"

Alexa picked up her case full of banded cash and stood. "I really have to get back to Parker Center," she said. "You can get the rest of the money to Shane when you get it."

"Right, right, you must be busy. According to the TV, lotta killing going on."

Shane picked up his StarTAC, clipped it onto his belt, and they headed down the hall filled with expensive modem art back into the living room. Lynette was no longer there.

As they reached the front door, Dennis stopped Shane. "Gimme your cell phone number."

Shane cursed himself. He didn't even know the number of the ESD StarTAC. "This is Nicky's phone," he lied. "I don't know the number."

"Gimme it." Dennis reached and pulled it off Shane's belt. Valentine was now holding the bugged cell in his left hand, looking at it carefully. He pushed the star key, then RECALL, and the cell number appeared on the LED screen. Dennis took out a PalmPilot and wrote it down.

Valentine looked at Alexa. "Can you give us a minute?" he said. Alexa shrugged and walked out toward the Acura. As soon as she was gone, Valentine said, "I'm going to New Jersey on Saturday. My uncle wants to meet you and talk about this whole thing. I was thinking maybe you'd come with me on our private jet. Only gonna be gone for one day. Everything works out and he gives the okay, then we got a deal and I hand over the remaining four hundred grand."

"Go to New Jersey and meet with Don Carlo De-Cesare?" Shane said, still eyeing his StarTAC in the mobster's hand. Dennis nodded, so Shane said, "Sure, why not? Could I have the phone back?"

Dennis looked down at it. "Never saw a cell like this before. Must be brand new."

Shane reached over and took it out of his hand. "I'll see ya at the studio in the morning." Then he walked back to the Acura where Alexa was waiting.