SIXTY-ONE

Everything started and ended at the Sands.

It was late afternoon when we got back there. We’d started out very early going to see Vince DeStefano, even though it felt like days ago to me.

We had stopped along the way at a pay phone. I had disguised my voice and called in a disturbance report at Philip Arnold’s address. Even said I thought I’d heard breaking glass.

We sat parked in the lot for a few minutes.

‘I hate finding bodies.’ I looked at my shaking hands.

‘I know how you feel, Mr G.,’ Jerry said. ‘Ain‘t my favorite thing, neither.’

We sat quietly for a few moments.

‘What do we do now?’

‘I’d still like to talk to Adrienne some more,’ I said, ‘but think we need to spend some time around people.’

‘Alibis?’

I nodded.

‘We’ll need an alibi for last night—’

‘We got alibis for last night, Mr G. We wuz at the Flamingo for Frank Junior’s Show, and then we went out with Mr S.’

‘That’s right,’ I said. ‘Jesus, that seems like days ago to me. OK, but we still need ’em for the rest of the afternoon. We don’t know when the cops will find him, or when Hargrove will get called in, but when he does he’ll come after us. That much I’m sure of; and he’ll try to place us here today.’

‘We can’t alibi each other,’ Jerry said. ‘Believe me, I know that never works.’

‘We’ve got some people we can ask,’ I said. ‘Let me work out the details. You go to the horse book and make sure you’re seen.’

‘Have you seen me, Mr G?’ he asked, spreading his hands.

‘Yeah, you’re right. Mount Rushmore would have more trouble bein’ seen.’

We got out of the car and started toward the casino, but I put my hand on his arm.

‘Not the front door,’ I said. ‘We don’t want some valet or bell boy tellin’ the cops when we came walkin’ in.’

‘Good thinkin’.’

We went behind the casino and entered that way. In fact, Jerry was able to veer off and go right to the horse book with a ‘See ya later.’

‘Stay there until I come for you,’ I said. ‘We don’t wanna talk to anybody until we have alibis for today.’

He nodded and I went into the casino.

I had a few choices for alibis. I could ask Bing, Frank, Dean or Jack Entratter. However, first I had to find out who was still around. Even if Frank had left, it would take the cops a while to check with him, because he’d be in Palm Springs.

When I got to Jack’s office, like the day before, he wasn’t there. The girl looked at me.

‘Still trying to catch that slot granny at it,’ she said, with a shrug.

‘Got it,’ I said. ‘Thanks.’

Probably the most civil exchange of words we’d ever had. We were practically dating.

Jack saw me coming, but then frowned at the old lady.

‘Back today?’ I asked.

‘She’s been at it for days,’ he said. ‘I know it’s only nickels, but it’s the principal of the thing. I know she’s cheatin’.’

‘Well, I need to talk to you. It’s important.’

‘Where?’ he asked.

‘Someplace where it’s just the two of us.’

‘There’s no game in the VIP room,’ he said. ‘Let’s go there.’

The Sands had a room in the back that was reserved for big money private games. This was where Jack Entratter treated his ‘whales’ to whatever kind of game they wanted.

The silence in the room fell over us like a blanket. That was good. I had the feeling if he could hear the nickels striking the tray I’d lose him.

I told him about finding Philip Arnold’s body. Told him how, when, where, and what we did. I’ll give him credit. He could have blown his top, but he listened intently.

‘So where’s Jerry?’

‘In the horse book.’

‘You both need alibis for today.’

‘Right.’

‘You didn’t do nothin,’ he said, ‘but you need alibis. Well, you did break into the man’s house. That broken glass is gonna be blamed on the killer.’

‘Hopefully. We wiped away any fingerprints.’

‘All right,’ he said, scratching his head. ‘Who’d you have in mind? Me?’

‘Well, I work for you. I was thinkin’ maybe Frank or Dean.’

‘Frank left with Junior today,’ he said. ‘Dean’s leavin’ tomorrow.’

‘Bing?’

‘He can’t leave until the police tell him,’ he said, thoughtfully. ‘We need two people, one for you, one for Jerry.’

‘I could ask Dean.’

‘What about your P.I. buddy? That wouldn’t surprise anybody.’

‘I haven’t talked to him since yesterday when we split up. He’s been working the trainer’s death, but we could work somethin’ out, I guess.’

‘You and Jerry can’t alibi each other,’ he said. ‘Hargrove wouldn’t go for that.’

‘No, he wouldn’t.’

‘What about Mack Gray? You could talk to Dino about using Mack for Jerry.’

‘That’s good,’ I said.

‘No,’ he said, ‘they’d wanna know where they went, they’d expect people to remember two guys like them.’

‘They can say they stayed in and watched some movies, had some beers.’

‘Movies?’

‘Jerry likes them, and Mack’s been in some.’

He thought a moment, then said, ‘OK. That’d take care of Jerry for last night. What about today?’

‘Horse book,’ I said. ‘Casino. He and I were in the Dunes earlier.’

‘OK, that’s good. Somebody there will remember seein’ him. Now how about you?’

‘I’ll use Dino or Danny, whoever it works better with.’

‘You need a girlfriend, Eddie,’ Jack said.

‘Yeah, Hargrove would buy that in a minute.’

‘Well,’ Jack said, ‘get busy tonight, maybe even work your pit. It’d be good if you were working when the cops came to talk to you.’

‘Yeah, OK,’ I said. ‘I’ve been gettin’ itchy to work, anyway.’

‘Or maybe you can help me catch this slot granny at her game,’ he said.

‘I’ll give it a try.’