I'm a fool to kill you

SEVENTY-THREE

Jack had to call the cops.

I had no choice but to stay and wait for them. Napolitano was sure to tell Hargrove I was there, and then he’d be looking for me — again.

Jack took his girl out to her desk, made her sit down and gave her a small brandy. She insisted she was fine and he told her she was a trooper.

I kept Napolitano company until Hargrove arrived with three uniforms and they took him into custody.

‘What is all this?’ Hargrove asked, looking at the orange stains on Napolitano and the floor. ‘It doesn’t look like blood.’

‘Marinara,’ I said.

‘How the hell-’

‘We’ll tell you the whole story,’ Entratter said, coming back into the room.

‘You two?’ Hargrove asked, folding his arms. ‘That will be a switch.’

‘Where’s Ava Gardner?’ Hargrove asked.

‘She’s someplace safe.’

‘With your buddy Jerry?’

‘No, with my buddy Danny.’

‘Hmph, Bardini.’ He was almost less of a fan of Danny’s than he was of me. ‘Well, I’m going to have to talk to her.’

‘Have to, or want to, Detective?’ I asked.

‘I ain’t a starry eyed movie fan, Eddie,’ he said. ‘I’m just tryin’ to do my job.’

‘OK, but I can’t tell you where she is. I’ll bring her to your office.’

He was about to object, but I’m sure what went through his mind at that moment was having Ava Gardner show up at the police station, asking for him.

‘OK,’ he said. ‘Today.’

‘Sure.’

‘I got a statement from your secretary, Mr Entratter,’ Hargrove said. ‘She’s pretty shook up. You might want to send her home.’

‘Yeah, I’ll do that,’ Jack said.

‘And I’ll need you to come to headquarters with me,’ he said. ‘As long as you’re stickin’ to the story that you pulled the trigger.’

‘I did pull the trigger,’ Jack said.

Hargrove looked at me.

‘I threw the sauce,’ I told him.

When I picked Jerry up he said, ‘You got sauce on your sleeve.’

Leave it to him to immediately recognize the red stuff for what it was.

‘Come on, I’ll tell you about it in the car.’

By the time we arrived at Penny’s I had filled him in. Now I was going to have to repeat it for Danny, Ava and Penny.

‘That was pretty smart,’ Jerry said, as we got out. ‘And lucky.’

‘I know,’ I said. ‘About the lucky part, I mean.’

We went up to Penny’s place and she opened the door.

‘Thank God,’ she said. ‘We’re losing all our money in gin.’

‘I shoulda warned ya not to play with her,’ Jerry said.

‘Hey, look who’s back!’ Danny said, from the kitchen table.

‘How did everything go?’ Ava asked.

‘Actually, it went pretty good,’ I said. ‘We got Napolitano.’

‘How’d you manage that?’ Danny asked.

I told them the story. Ava actually laughed when I got to the part about throwing the jar of sauce.

‘So that’s what’s on your sleeve,’ Danny said.

‘I spotted it right away,’ Jerry said, proudly.

‘You would,’ Danny said.

‘So it’s over?’ Ava asked. ‘Napolitano is the one who’s been trying to have me killed?’

‘He’s the one,’ I said, ‘but we still don’t know who killed his son.’

‘How about Giancana?’ Danny asked.

I frowned.

‘That would mean he was willing to let Ava take the blame,’ I said. ‘Since Frank’s his friend, would he do that?’

‘That animal always hated me,’ she said. ‘Probably because I hated him. I can believe he’d let me take the rap.’

‘I guess that makes sense,’ I said.

‘Can’t prove it, though,’ Danny said. ‘Maybe you can get Giancana to admit it to you, but you still wouldn’t be able to prove it.’

‘You could tell Mr S.,’ Jerry said.

They all looked at him.

‘I mean, then he’d have to explain himself to Mr S.,’ the big guy said.

We all thought that over for a few moments, and then Ava broke the silence.

‘As much as I used to try to get Frank to dump Momo,’ she said, ‘I don’t like that idea.’

‘Why not?’ I asked.

‘It would hurt Frank to know what Momo did,’ she said. ‘And like Danny says, we don’t have proof.’

‘OK’ I said, ‘nobody says anything to Frank.’

‘So what do we do now?’ Penny asked.

‘The cops want to talk to you, Ava,’ I said. ‘They want me to bring you to headquarters.’

‘What should I tell them?’

‘Almost the truth,’ I said.

‘How much is almost?’ she asked.

‘I’ll coach you on the way.’