I'm a fool to kill you

SIXTY-EIGHT

There was no other way to do it. Jerry carried two of the bodies — one over his shoulder and one under his arm — and I carried the other, smallest one. We walked as far as we could into the forest and then dug one big hole to bury them in. Tony had a couple of shovels in a shed behind the house, so we used them to go down at least three feet.

But before I shoved my guy into the mass grave I noticed something.

‘Jerry, this guy’s got the same ring.’

‘With the snake?’

I nodded, leaned over and took it off him.

‘This must be somethin’ Napolitano’s guys get from him,’ I said. It was the only explanation I could think of. ‘They don’t all have it,’ Jerry said, ‘but maybe you gotta make your bones first.’ He shook his head. ‘Tacky.’

I rolled my guy into the grave.

We covered them up.

We couldn’t call the police, even though Jerry had killed them in self defense, Hargrove would have used the incident to try to put him away — and probably me, too. There was no way we’d get an even break from the cops. Not when almost everybody involved was a wise guy.

When we got back we were, indeed, hungry. We washed up and sat and had a kind of grim lunch with Ava, who surprised herself by having an appetite as well.

‘Man, this roast was great, Jerry,’ I said. ‘I’m sorry I missed the whole meal last night.’

‘Maybe you shouldn’t be,’ Ava said. ‘If you were here you might’ve got shot.’

‘Yeah, well. .’

‘You gotta tell us how Chicago went, Mr G.,’ Jerry said.

So I did. .

‘Napolitano,’ Jerry said. ‘That’s the name I got.’

‘When?’

‘Yesterday,’ the big guy said. ‘I didn’t have a chance to tell you.’

‘What did you hear?’

‘Just that the two guys I wasted worked for Napolitano.’

‘And what do you know about Mr Napolitano?’

‘That he ain’t as big as he thinks he is, and won’t ever be,’ Jerry said. ‘Eventually, Mr Giancana’s gonna have him taken care of.’

‘Well,’ I said, ‘now may be the time.’ I looked at Ava. ‘What do you know about Vito Napolitano?’

‘I’ve been trying to remember ever since you said the name,’ she said. ‘I remember a handsome young man — but I remember a lot of handsome young men. Oh, I can’t believe this!’ She held her head in her hands.

‘Take it easy, Ava,’ I said. ‘I don’t think you killed him.’

‘That’s not what I mean,’ she said. ‘I spent so much of the time I was married to Frank trying to get him away from those men. I can’t believe that I did something to get myself involved with them.’

‘Don’t be hard on yourself,’ I said. ‘If you were so drunk you lost forty hours, you can’t be held responsible-’

‘Oh, but I do hold myself responsible,’ she said. ‘After all, I’m the one who apparently went on a goddamned bender. Sex, booze and, who knows, maybe drugs, and I get involved in the murder of some would-be Mafioso’s son? What the fuck is wrong with me?’

I looked at Jerry, who seemed about to speak, and shook my head. Then I jerked my head to indicate I wanted him to walk outside with me.

‘Jerry and I are just gonna have a look outside, Ava,’ I said.

‘I’ll do these dishes,’ she said. ‘Might as well make myself useful.’

Jerry and I went out on to the deck.

‘What are we gonna do?’ he asked.

‘We can spend the night here,’ I said. ‘If Napolitano doesn’t hear from his men by tomorrow night he might send more. We should be safe tonight.’

‘What about the window?’

‘I’ll have Jack Entratter send someone out here to replace it. Maybe even dig out these bullets and fill the holes. But I’ll tell Tony what happened, anyway. He has a right to know.’

‘About the bodies we buried?’

‘No,’ I said, ‘I don’t want anybody to know about that. That’s between you and me.’

‘I agree.’

We were both raking the landscape with our eyes while we were out there.

‘Just to be sure,’ I said, ‘maybe one of us should stay awake tonight. We can go four hours on, four off.’

‘Suits me, but where are we gonna take Miss Ava tomorrow?’ he asked.

‘I hate to do it,’ I said, ‘but maybe the Sands will be the safest place. According to Jack Entratter, we just have to wait for Momo to take care of things for us.’

‘What’s that mean?’ Ava asked. We hadn’t seen her come to the door.

I looked at her. ‘Apparently, Giancana is gonna take care of Napolitano.’

She came out on to the deck.

‘But that wouldn’t help me,’ she said. ‘I want to know if I killed that man.’

‘Ava-’ I said.

‘I know you don’t think I did, Eddie,’ she said, ‘but that doesn’t mean I didn’t.’ She put her hands on my chest. ‘I still need to know what happened!’

I put my hands on her upper arms and rubbed them.

‘OK, Ava,’ I said. ‘We’ll find out for you.’