I'm a fool to kill you

EIGHTEEN

I opened the door, half expecting and fully hoping it would be Randy, the bell boy. It wasn’t. It was two guys in suits with ‘cop’ written across their foreheads.

‘Are you Eddie Gianelli?’ one of them asked.

‘Who’s askin’?’

They both showed me their nice shiny detective badges.

‘L.A.P.D.,’ one of them said. ‘Detectives Reasoner and Crider.’

‘Which is which?’ I asked.

‘I’m Reasoner,’ the spokesman said. He was a little shorter and broader than his partner, but they were both about the same age, mid-forties. My guess was they had been partners for a long time. ‘Would you mind coming with us?’

‘What’s this about?’ I asked.

‘A cab driver named Larry Carver,’ Crider said. ‘Although, it seems somebody might have thought he was you.’

‘I see. Couldn’t I come down to headquarters in the morning and make a statement?’

‘I’m afraid we’re on the job now, Mr Gianelli,’ Crider said. ‘We need you to come now. I’m sure your friend, Miss Johnson, won’t mind.’

It seemed they didn’t know that Lucy Johnson was Ava Gardner. That was good.

‘Would you mind if I tell her where I’m going?’ I asked. ‘She’s in the, uh, bedroom.’

The two men exchanged a glance that wasn’t hard to read.

‘Sure,’ Reasoner said, ‘go ahead.’

‘Can I tell her when I’ll be back?’

‘Before morning,’ Crider said, then added, ‘probably.’

‘Probably,’ I said, nodding. ‘Thanks. I’ll be right back.’

‘Wouldn’t be another way out in that bedroom, would there, Mr Gianelli?’

‘Actually, there isn’t,’ I said, ‘but why would that thought occur to you, Detective? I haven’t done anything I should be running away from.’

‘That’s good to hear,’ Reasoner said. ‘We’ll just wait here, sir.’

Those detectives were being a little too nice, for my taste. Not what I was used to from the Vegas cops.

I backed away into the bungalow, but left the front door wide open. I walked into the bedroom, kept that door closed. Ava rushed up to me.

‘Who is it, Eddie?’

‘It’s the police,’ I said, ‘they want to talk to me about what happened outside earlier tonight.’

‘That man who was beat up?’

‘I think so,’ I said, ‘but I’ll have to go with them to find out for sure. I’ll be back in a little while.’

‘Are you sure?’ she asked. ‘I mean, are you sure you should go with them?’

‘I don’t think they’re asking, Ava,’ I said.

‘Do they know about me?’

‘No,’ I said, ‘they referred to you as Lucy Johnson. They don’t know who you really are, and I think we should keep it that way.’

‘I think so too, Eddie.’

‘Unless you want the police to help you find out what happened, Ava.’

‘No!’ she said, eyes wide. ‘No, Eddie. For all I know. . I hurt somebody. Or. . or killed somebody. I can’t go to the police. There’d be publicity!’

‘OK, Ava, OK,’ I said. ‘I’ve got to get goin’ before they come lookin’ for me.’

‘Eddie-’ she said, and abruptly gave me a big hug. I held her tight and breathed in her scent. I found out later that she wore Acqua di Parma.

‘I’ll be back as soon as I can.’

I left her standing in the middle of the bedroom.