THIRTY-FOUR

It wasn’t that easy.

The three of them managed to get back to their car, a green sedan that apparently had something under the hood. They got behind me, but rather than chasing me, they seemed to be following. It looked like they were going to try to tail me to wherever I was going and brace me again there.

I had other ideas.

My neighborhood was full of small residential streets that you couldn’t very well speed through, but since I knew where they were I was able to get into them quicker. Each time I took a turn on one of those streets, I got a little more room between us.

I finally made my way to Industrial Drive, a large multi-lane street that pretty much ran parallel to Las Vegas Blvd, referred to by some as ‘The Strip.’ Once I got on that multi-lane road I put my foot down. My plan was to come at the Sands from the back, hopefully losing my tail along the way.

I entered the hotel from the rear, made my way down a hall to the front lobby. I went to the door and looked out, trying to see if there was a green sedan being parked.

I moved back through the lobby to the casino, where I felt safe. But now what would I do about going home? And what did Philip Arnold have against me, anyway? It was Bing who was buying the horse, and Jerry who had embarrassed him. All I’d done was get knocked on my ass by the muscle-head. Why was he coming after me?

I briefly went by my pit to see how my replacement was doing, and saw that I wasn’t being missed there.

I went into the bar for a beer and got the bartender to bring me a house phone.

‘What are you doin’?’ I asked Jerry when he answered.

‘Watchin’ TV.’

‘You order room service?’

‘I was thinkin’. Why, are you back?’

‘Yeah, I’m in the bar.’

‘You wanna go someplace to eat?’

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘Come on down. I’ll take you for a good burger.’

‘And fries?’

‘And fries.’

‘I’ll be down in a few minutes.’

‘I’ll be in the Silver Queen bar.’

I hung up, picked up my beer and saw my worst nightmare come through the door: Philip Arnold and his muscle boys.

I had no place to go, so I sat tight as they approached. At least there were a few people in the lounge at that time of the day, and the bartender.

‘Thought you got away from me, didn’t you?’ Philip Arnold said, accusingly.

‘I hoped.’

‘You must think I’m stupid,’ Arnold said. ‘Think I don’t know where you work?’

‘Mr Arnold,’ I said, ‘I have no idea how smart or dumb you really are. All I can say is, maybe you aren’t as dumb as I thought.’

‘Watch your mouth,’ Arnold said. ‘You don’t have your big friend here with you, this time.’

No, I thought, but if I could stall long enough . . .

‘What do you want, Mr Arnold?’ I asked. ‘What’s so important you had to come to my home, and my place of business?’

‘Maybe I just wanted to finish what we started.’

‘What did we start?’ I asked. ‘You knocked me on my ass. That didn’t satisfy you?’

‘You tried to get in my way,’ Arnold said. ‘If you know what’s good for you, you’ll convince your Hollywood friend, Bing Crosby, to back off.’

‘Why should he?’

‘That horse is not for sale.’

‘That’s not what your sister says.’

‘Look,’ Arnold said, ‘I ain’t gonna tell you again.’

‘You gonna beat me up in front of all these people?’ I asked.

‘We’ll do that,’ one of his friends said, ‘and wreck this place at the same time.’

The three of them stared at me with the same vacant eyes. I had the feeling that inside all their heads they were dismembering me.

‘Is there a problem here?’

The three men parted so they could see who was speaking behind them. Standing there were Dean Martin and Mack Grey. Dino had an easy going look on his face, while Mack was frowning. Both of them were ex-boxers, and Mack was almost as big as Jerry. Suddenly, my odds had more than evened up.

Arnold and his boys were trying to figure the odds when Jerry walked in and that was it, the odds swung firmly to my side.

‘Hey, Mr G.,’ Jerry said. ‘This a party?’

‘You were saying?’ I said to Philip Arnold.

All he had left were the same words he’d used out in the Red Rock Canyon.

‘This ain’t over.’

As he turned to leave Jerry got right in front of him, chest bumped him.

‘It better be over,’ he said to Arnold, ‘’cause I don’t care how many muscle-heads you got with you next time. I’ll take you apart.’

Arnold tried to brazen it out and hold Jerry’s look, but in the end he averted his eyes, moved around Jerry and skulked off to follow his friends who had gotten out of there quick.

‘What did we just walk into, Eddie?’ Dino asked.

‘You guys just saved somebody from a beatin’,’ I said, ‘and I think it was me.’

‘No chance, Mr G.,’ Jerry said. ‘You woulda held your own til I got here.’

‘Come on, guys,’ Dean said, ‘what’s goin’ on?’

‘Mr G.’s takin’ me for the best burger in town,’ Jerry said to Dino and Mack. ‘You guys wanna come along?’

‘I could use a big burger,’ Mack said to Dean.

‘Sure, why not?’ Dean said. ‘I got a limo. Let’s do it.’