The nurse had just gone out after taking Teddy’s vitals when the phone rang in his room.
He scooped it up. “Yes?”
“Billy?”
“I’m afraid you have the wrong number.”
“I’m sorry. It’s me, Marsha Quickly. I’m an actress. I worked with you on the film.”
“Oh?”
“Just one scene, it’s not important. But I knew you from before. My name is Bambi, I was a friend of Charmaine’s. I work for Pete Genaro at the New Desert Inn and Casino.”
“Give me a reason not to hang up the phone.”
“I heard what happened to you and I’m afraid it might be my fault. I’m back in Vegas, working for Pete like I said, and I told him I saw you. He’s in the middle of a casino war with a mobster out of New Jersey named Sammy Candelosi. I mentioned you’d be just the guy to handle that.”
“Oh, you did, did you?”
“Hey, I didn’t mean anything by it. We were just shooting the shit. Anyway, I think Sammy Candelosi heard somehow that I mentioned your name. At least that’s how I dope it out, because of what happened.”
“What happened?”
“After your house burned down and you escaped, everyone wanted to know where producer Billy Barnett was, only to be told he’s on vacation and can’t be reached. And that made a lot of people very nervous.
“The next thing I know this high roller is taking me out to dinner and plying me with wine and drinks, and before the son of a bitch ran out on me, he started talking about motion pictures, asking what work I’ve done lately, and somehow or other the conversation got around to me running into you on the set of that movie, and before the guy took off I think I may have mentioned you were working under the name Mark Weldon.”
“Oh, did you now?” Teddy said with wry irritation.
“Yeah, but that’s not the worst of it.”
“What happened?”
“I just found out the high roller who took me out is a hit man for Sammy Candelosi.”