Tony LaBella had given me directions and advice on the phone. I read them to Jerry, and when we got within a mile of the cabin I took Tony’s advice. We stopped at a small convenience store and stocked up on some groceries.
When we reached the cabin I realized that it was nearly perfect. It stood alone on the Lake, the nearest neighbor at least half a mile away. It was rustic, built on stilts, with a deck running completely around it. Jerry and I grabbed the groceries and followed Ava up the steps to the front door. She took a bag from me while I unlocked the door, and we entered.
We found ourselves in the living room; Ava pulled the drapes so we’d have some light to look the place over. We left her to it while we went out and got the bags.
‘Two bedrooms, and a nice couch,’ she said. ‘All three of us can stay here comfortably. And it doesn’t smell musty.’
‘No, Tony was here recently, before his Sands engagement,’ I said. ‘But we can open some windows and air it out, anyway.’
‘I’m going to put the groceries away,’ Ava said. ‘Jerry, put my suitcases in the big bedroom, will you?’
‘Yes, ma’am.’
Jerry did that, came out and made sure Ava wasn’t in the room before saying to me, ‘This place has a lot of windows, Mr G.’
‘I noticed,’ I said.
‘Later I’ll scout around, see where somebody might set up,’ he said. ‘That way I can keep Ava from certain windows. Or off the deck.’
‘Nobody should be able to find us here,’ I said. ‘She should be able to sit on the deck. But go ahead and take a look.’
‘That’s a big, solid sofa,’ Jerry said. He was right, it looked as if it had been hand crafted by somebody who knew what they were doing. ‘You take the second bedroom, I’ll take the sofa.’
‘OK,’ I said. ‘I’m gonna call Entratter now and see if he’s talked with Hargrove.’
‘I’ll put your suitcase in the bedroom, and then make some coffee.’
‘Sounds good.’
The phone was next to the sofa. I sat down, realized Jerry was going to be very comfortable. I dialed the Sands, got Entratter’s girl.
‘Is he in?’
‘Yes.’ So much disapproval in one word. Maybe I should have told her how the waitresses felt about me. Entratter came on the line.
‘Eddie?’
‘Yeah, Jack.’
‘Where are you? Wait, don’t tell me. I don’t wanna know. Is Ava with you?’
‘Yeah, Ava and Jerry. Jack, I saw Hargrove in the casino. Did he come to see you?’
‘Yeah, he was lookin’ for you.’
‘For what? I didn’t do anythin’ to attract his attention.’
‘Since when do you have to do somethin’ to get on his wrong side?’ Entratter asked.
‘He didn’t say why he was lookin’ for me?’ I asked.
‘No, just that he was. He warned me to tell you to call him.’
‘Yeah, right away,’ I said. ‘Jack, did he mention Jerry?’
‘No,’ Entratter said. ‘No mention.’
‘That’s good, anyway.’
‘What did you do, Eddie?’
‘I’m just tryin’ to keep Ava safe, Jack,’ I said. ‘And find out what’s goin’ on. Like Frank wanted.’ I knew all I had to do was mention Frank and Entratter would back off.
‘Yeah, OK,’ he said, ‘OK. Look, here’s his number.’ He read it off to me. ‘Just keep in touch. And stay safe. All of you.’
‘Sure, Jack,’ I said. ‘Thanks.’
I hung up, sniffed the air, smelled the coffee. Ava came into the room, also sniffing the air.
‘This must seem small to you,’ I said.
‘It’s nice.’
‘You’ve probably got a big villa in Spain.’
‘Big enough.’ She sat down beside me on the sofa, put her hand on my thigh. It was a sexual gesture that was decidedly non-sexual at the moment. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Just got off the phone with Jack Entratter at the Sands. The cops are lookin’ for me, but not Jerry.’
‘That sounds good and bad,’ she said.
‘Good for Jerry,’ I said. ‘Definitely.’
‘What about you?’
‘I’m gonna have to talk to Hargrove sooner or later and see what he’s got,’ I said. ‘I can’t run from him. He’s not the kind to give up.’
‘So what are you going to do?’
‘I’ll have to drive back to Vegas, leave you guys stranded here.’
Suddenly, her hand tightened on my thigh and the situation became very sexual. She also leaned over so that her shoulder was against mine, she lowered her voice.
‘I’m getting pretty horny, Eddie,’ she said. ‘If we don’t do something about that soon your friend Jerry might be in jeopardy.’
I turned my head and looked into her eyes. I almost said that I’d bet she could not get Jerry into bed, but I didn’t want to challenge her. But I was pretty sure Jerry’s loyalty to Frank would keep that from ever happening — unless, of course, Ava pulled out the big guns.
So I just gave her a stern look and said, ‘Behave,’ and slapped her hand away.
‘Fine,’ she said.