It Was a Very Bad Year

FIFTY-THREE

I tried Danny at home first. When he didn’t answer I called his office, not really expecting to find him there. I was surprised when he answered.

‘I have some info,’ he said. ‘Let’s meet.’

‘OK,’ I said. ‘The Horseshoe. Fifteen minutes.’

Since he was down the street, he got there before us. We slid into the booth across from him.

‘You fellas wanna order?’ the waitress asked.

‘Burger and fries,’ Danny said. He looked at us. ‘I haven’t eaten today.’

‘Burger and fries sounds good,’ I said.

‘Two,’ Jerry said.

‘Don’t you mean three?’ the waitress asked.

‘No,’ Jerry said, ‘I mean I want two burgers, and a double order of fries.’

‘OK,’ she said, ‘four hamburgers, four fries. Drinks?’

We all ordered Cokes. What was a burger without a Coke?

‘Here’s what I got-’

‘Before you tell us, let me tell you what we got,’ I said. ‘Frank Jr. is home, the cops and the FBI are still looking for the kidnappers.’

‘Frank Sr. must be relieved.’

‘He is,’ I said, ‘but we rushed back here because of this.’

I pushed the crumpled piece of paper over to his side of the table. He smoothed it, read it.

‘What’s this?’

‘Frankie says he was held in Canoga Park.’

Danny looked down at the note paper.

‘Canoga Park,’ he said. ‘Sinatra. November twenty-second?’

‘Mr G. thinks that might be the original date of the kidnapping.’

‘And they called it off when JFK got shot,’ Danny said, nodding. ‘Makes sense. Amsler amp; Keenan? You know those names?’

‘I don’t,’ I said.

‘What about Barry, Joe, or Johnny?’

‘Irwin’s name is Barney, but I doubt he would’ve misspelled his own name.’

‘Wait a minute,’ Danny said. He took his note pad from his pocket, flipped a few pages. ‘Here it is. Barney Irwin has a brother.’ He looked at both of us. ‘His name’s John.’

‘Johnny,’ Jerry said.

If one of the kidnappers was John Irwin, then the others were either Barry Keenan and Joe Amsler, or Barry Amsler and Joe Keenan.

‘Danny, do you have a lead on Barney Irwin’s whereabouts?’

‘I’ve checked his studio and his house again,’ Danny said. ‘He ain’t been back.’

‘Maybe he was with his brother and these other guys in Canoga Park,’ I said.

‘We’ve got to call somebody,’ Danny said.

‘Not that prick Raggio, the Washoe County DA,’ I said.

‘What about Hargrove?’ Danny asked.

‘That asshole!’ Jerry said.

‘Who’s that leave?’ Danny asked. ‘The FBI?’

‘If I could find the guy who saved my ass in Reno I’d give the info to him,’ I said. ‘Agent Kent.’

‘What about the LA County DA?’ Danny asked.

‘Not as much of an ass,’ I said.

‘What about Frank?’ Danny asked. ‘We could give the info to him.’

‘Frank’s carryin’ a gun, Danny,’ I said. ‘He might go off the deep end if he found these guys.’

‘OK, not Frank. What about Entratter? What would he do with the information?’

We sat silent for a moment, then Jerry said, ‘He might call Mo Mo.’

‘And then those guys turn up dead,’ Danny said.

‘There’s Frank’s lawyer, Mickey Rudin,’ I said. ‘He seems on the level.’

‘He does work for Frank, though.’

‘I don’t think he wants Frank on trial for murder,’ I said.

‘OK,’ Danny said, ‘OK, so you give the names to Mickey Rudin. He’ll probably give them to the DA, or the FBI.’

‘But the decision will be his,’ I said.

‘Frank’s gonna be pissed you didn’t tell him, Mr G.,’ Jerry said.

‘I’ll have to take that chance, Jerry,’ I said. ‘I can’t let Frank find these guys.’

‘Eddie,’ Danny said, ‘we got names now. I could try and track these guys. We could pick them up ourselves.’

‘It’ll take a while,’ I said. ‘They might get away in the meantime. We need to plant this info somewhere it’ll do the most good, so the cops and FBI can set up roadblocks and catch these guys. I’m not lookin’ to play hero, Danny.’

‘Then let’s back track,’ Danny said. ‘Evans, the FBI, or Rudin. The decision is yours.’

I thought a moment, then said, ‘OK, I’ll go with Evans. He can mobilize both the LA cops and the FBI.’

‘OK,’ Danny said.

The waitress came with our food.

‘I better get going,’ I said.

‘Mr G.,’ Jerry whined, ‘the food’s here.’

‘Take a half hour to eat, Eddie,’ Danny said. ‘You can call Evans after you finish.’

‘Yeah, OK,’ I said. ‘Suddenly, I’m starvin’.’

‘Me, too.’ Jerry picked up one of his burgers.

‘You?’ Danny said. ‘You’re always starvin’.’

‘I burn lots of calories.’

Danny and I stared at him.

‘It’s true,’ he said. ‘I learned about it from the Joe Franklin Show.’