You're nobody 'til somebody kills you

Twenty-eight

Frank was spending thousands. He was building an additional wing of guest suites, installing extra telephones and-as Dean had told me earlier-had put in a helipad. Somehow Frank had gotten it into his head that his house would become the Western White House.

As we turned into the drive an expensive red sports car coming the other way almost hit us. Only Jerry’s reflexes avoided the collision. I saw a woman driving, thought I recognized her.

We drove up through the construction and saw George waving to us. Jerry pulled up right in front of George, who made a stopping gesture with both hands. Then he ran over and opened the back door for Marilyn.

“Hello, Miss Monroe. Welcome back.” He spoke loudly because of the jackhammering that was going on. The air was thick with dust.

“Hello, Georgie,” she said, kissing him on the cheek.

I guess I should have figured that she’d been there before, but this was the first time I was sure of it.

“I have a room ready for you,” George said. “Your suitcase?”

“In the trunk,” she said. “I have three.”

And that was only because I wouldn’t let her bring two others.

“I’ll get the bags,” Jerry said.

I hung back so I could carry one. By the time we caught up, Frank was embracing Marilyn rather awkwardly.

“Hey, kid,” Frank said, “how ya doin’?”

“I’m okay, Frank.”

“George fixed up a room,” he said. “Why don’t you go and freshen up? Then we’ll eat.”

“Okay.”

“I can take that,” George said, grabbing the bag I was holding. He led Marilyn into the house and Jerry followed with the other two bags.

Behind me the hammering suddenly stopped. Up here by the main house the dust wasn’t as thick.

“What a mess, huh?” Frank asked. “I had to cover the pool to keep the dust outta the water. Whataya think of the place?”

“It looks great, Frank.”

“Come ‘ere,” he said, pulling me over to the other side of the deck. “See it?”

From there I could see the concrete helipad.

“Impressive. Hey, was that Ava Gardner I saw tearin’ out of here in a red sports car?”

“Oh, yeah,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Ava was here when you called.”

“She looked pretty mad,” I said. “She almost hit us. Are you … gettin’ back together? What happened to Juliet?”

“Juliet is still in the picture,” Frank said, “but me and Ava, we’re always gonna be in each other’s lives. We can’t live without each other, but we also can’t live together.”

“So what was she so mad about?”

“Marilyn,” Frank said. “I told her you were bringin’ Marilyn. She flipped.”

“I didn’t know, Frank,” I said. “I’m sorry. You should’ve told me on the phone.”

“Don’t sweat it, Eddie. The kid needs help and I’m gonna give it to her. Ava’ll have to get over it.”

“And Juliet?”

He laughed.

“What Juliet don’t know won’t hurt her. Now, come on. We got spaghetti to eat.”