FIFTY-FOUR

I woke the next morning with a raging headache and something strange in my mouth. When I reached in there to see what it was, it turned out to be my tongue.

Just as Frank had predicted, it had been a late night. Frankie had done his show, and then Frank went up and did a number, then invited Dino up for one. The Flamingo ended up hosting an impromptu meeting of the Summit, which didn’t make Jack very happy.

Entratter begged off the carousing after the show, so both Franks, Dino, Jerry and I piled into a limo and did the town. Somewhere along the way, we picked up three showgirls. They fawned all over Frank and Dean until Frank practically ordered them to make a fuss over Frank Junior. In the end Junior ended up with one girl, and Frank with two. Dean managed to give his to Frank. None of the girls had the slightest interest in me, although one of them seemed to find Jerry’s size interesting.

The phone rang and I grabbed my head with one hand, and the receiver with the other.

‘Stop it,’ I said. ‘No more ringing.’

‘Hey, Mr G.,’ Jerry said. ‘Look around your room will ya. And see if the top of my head is there.’

‘It might be under the bed, but I’m afraid if I lean over to look, the top of my head will fall off.’

‘What a night, huh?’

‘You said it.’

‘Ya wanna get some food?’

Shockingly, I did. Now that he mentioned it, I was starving.

‘Sure, but I need a shower. Gimme half an hour.’

‘When are we supposed to meet Mr S?’ he asked.

I frowned.

‘I don’t remember. Did we set a time?’

‘I think we did,’ he said. ‘I think when he took those two babes to his room he said, “See ya . . . sometime.” I can’t remember when or where.’

‘Crap,’ I said. ‘OK, we’ll have to eat in the building. Maybe it’ll come to one of us.’

‘Yeah, OK,’ he said. ‘Meet you in the Garden Room in thirty minutes.’

‘I’ll be the guy with the dark circles under my eyes,’ I said, and hung up.

Surprisingly, I beat Jerry down to the restaurant. I had a pot of coffee and some cups on the table when he arrived. We were looking at the menu, getting ready to order, when Frank walked in.

‘Hey,’ he said, ‘I didn’t think you guys would remember we said we’d meet here. Scooch over, big guy.’

He slid into the booth next to Jerry and grabbed a menu.

‘Coffee?’ I asked, since we had extra cups on the table.

‘Hell, yeah,’ he said. ‘How’s the Spanish omelet here?’

‘Really good,’ Jerry said. ‘I had one.’

‘Think I’ll have steak and eggs.’ He put the menu down and looked at me. ‘You look like you slept under a highway.’

‘I don’t know how you do it,’ I said. ‘The late night, the girls, the drinkin’ . . .’

‘Keeps me young,’ he said.

The waitress came over to take our order. Her eyes widened when she saw Frank.

‘Hey, sweetie. How about some steak and eggs?’

‘Certainly, Mr Sinatra.’

I asked for the same. I wasn’t sure she’d remember if I ordered something different than Frank. Jerry just ordered a couple of stacks of pancakes.

‘OK,’ Frank said, ‘so I talked with Mo Mo last night.’

We hadn’t discussed it at the Flamingo, or after the show. Frank had only been interested in Frankie’s performance and showing the kid a good time after. He was as proud as a Papa could be.

‘What did Mo Mo say?’ I asked.

‘Well, he wanted to know what the story was, so I told him everything you told me. He was really interested, especially when he heard Bing was involved.’

‘And?’

‘He went for it,’ Frank said. ‘DeStefano will be waitin’ for us.’

‘That’s what I’m afraid of,’ I said.

‘No, it’ll just be a meet and greet,’ Frank said. ‘Mo Mo’s gonna ask DeStefano to do it as a favor to him.’

‘That’s great, Frank. Did he, uh, tell you anything about the guy?’

‘He said to be careful, but he didn’t fill me in.’

I looked at Jerry.

‘We didn’t have a chance to talk yesterday,’ I said. ‘You made some calls?’

‘I heard the guy’s a hard ass,’ he said. ‘Everybody I talked to said so, and one guy says he’s crazy.’

‘Entratter said even Mo Mo doesn’t want to mess with him,’ I told them.

‘I got that impression,’ Frank said, ‘but I think it’s because Mo Mo doesn’t wanna have to kill him.’

The waitress came with breakfast, fawned all over Frank as she set his plate in front of him. His steak looked bigger than mine, and perfectly cooked.

‘Thanks, babe,’ he said to her, which sent her away tittering.

‘Jerry,’ Frank said, looking at his plate and not at the big guy, ‘Mo Mo suggested you stay behind, at the hotel.’

‘What?’ Jerry looked away from his pancakes. That meant he was really upset. ‘Why?’

‘He thinks taking you along might . . . cause something to happen.’

‘I can’t let you and Mr G. walk in there without me, Mr S.,’ he said. ‘This guy DeStefano’s gonna have some of his guys there.’

‘I know that, Jerry,’ Frank said. ‘I’m only passin’ along Mo Mo’s suggestion.’

Jerry looked at me. We knew what Mo Mo’s ‘suggestion’ meant.

‘Jerry,’ I said, ‘how about you come along, but wait outside the building?’

‘So I can come rushin’ in when I hear the shots?’ he asked. ‘And you’re already dead?’

‘He’s got a point, Frank,’ I said. ‘Two men have already been killed, and we’ve been shot at. But if you wanna go in without Jerry as backup—’

‘Hey,’ Frank said, ‘fuck Mo Mo. If he thinks we’re gonna walk into DeStefano’s world unarmed and unprotected, he can go fuck himself. And if DeStefano doesn’t like it, fuck him, too. How’s that?’

‘Suits me, Mr S.,’ Jerry said, happily.

‘That suggestion gets my vote,’ I said.

‘Just one thing,’ Frank said.

‘What’s that?’ I asked.

‘One of you two is gonna tell Mo Mo we didn’t take his suggestion,’ Frank said, ‘without tellin’ him that I said he should go fuck himself.’