I'm a fool to kill you

FORTY-TWO

I had the length of the drive from L.A. and Vegas to decide where to put Ava. In the end, it was Jerry who came up with the answer. More than once Jerry had proven to be not just muscle, and it was usually when he came up with the simplest of answers.

‘Take her to your house,’ he said. ‘Nobody’s gonna look for her there.’

‘And you’ll be there with her.’

‘Right.’

I turned my head and looked at Ava.

‘I’d love to see your house,’ she said.

‘It would fit into one room of yours,’ I said.

She shrugged.

‘And my house would fit into one room of my villa in Spain,’ she said. ‘It’s all relative.’

I turned back and looked at the road.

‘How come I can’t sit in the front?’ Ava asked.

‘Because I called shotgun,’ I said.

‘Boys and their stupid games.’

As we approached Vegas Jerry said, ‘You callin’ yer buddy Bardini into this?’

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘I need a P.I.’

‘And he’s the one?’ Ava asked from the back seat.

‘He’s a good one,’ I said.

‘And a pretty good guy,’ Jerry said.

‘Really?’ I asked.

‘You never noticed?’ Jerry asked.

‘You know,’ I said, ‘Danny says the same thing about you.’

‘That’s nice.’

‘What are you going to have your friend do?’ Ava asked.

‘He’s gonna find out what happened during your missing hours, Ava,’ I said.

‘Will he be discreet?’ she asked. ‘My experience with detectives-’

‘He’s not only good at his job,’ I said, ‘he’s also my friend. And he’s a movie buff. As long as he gets to meet you he’ll be fine.’

‘He’ll expect you to fall for him,’ Jerry warned her.

‘Oh, one of those men?’ Ava asked. ‘I can handle him.’

‘This should be real interesting,’ I said.

‘Hey, Mr G.,’ Jerry said, ‘think we can get to a book? I wanna make a bet on the Liston-Patterson fight. I think Liston’s gonna flatten him.’

‘No way,’ Ava said. ‘Patterson will box his ears off.’

‘No chance, Jerry,’ I said. ‘But bet with Ava. Maybe you can make back some of your gin losses.’

They started discussing terms.

Jerry drove directly to my house without asking me for directions.

‘Cute,’ Ava said, as we got out.

Jerry got the bags out of the trunk while I unlocked the front door.

‘Gotta open the windows and let some air in, Mr G.,’ Jerry said.

‘Do it.’

Since meeting Frank, Dean and the rest of the guys I’d been beaten up in my house, Frank had make coffee in my kitchen, and Sammy Davis had shot a man in my living room.

Now Ava Gardner was in my house.

‘My room is your room,’ I said to Ava.

‘That’s very kind,’ she said. ‘Where will you sleep?’

‘I probably won’t be here very much,’ I said. ‘Jerry will sleep on the couch. He’s done it before.’

‘Will you go and see Frank now?’ she asked.

‘Later tonight.’

We’d gotten an early start that morning. Even with the 300 mile drive it was still pretty early for Vegas.

Jerry looked at me and asked, ‘Can we eat first?’