Fly Me to the Morgue

‘A safety deposit box, I think.’

We’d gone down the block from me and around the corner to a bar I’d been in once or twice.

‘Hey, Eddie, long time,’ the bartender said.

OK, so more than once or twice.

‘Two beers, Arnie.’

He set us up and we got back to the business at hand.

I told Danny about getting into Philip Arnold’s house, finding him dead, and then discovering the bank statement mentioning the safety deposit box.

‘Whoa, back up,’ he said. ‘Don’t skip over the part about the dead guy. What did you and Jerry do when you found him?’

‘We wiped the place down, got out of there, and called it in to the police anonymously.’

‘You know, sooner or later, Hargrove’s gonna get on to that.’

‘Yeah, I know,’ I said. ‘Jerry figured he’d been dead since last night, but we set ourselves up with alibis for this afternoon, anyway.’

‘What else did you do today?’

I started from the beginning, told him about DeStefano.

‘Wait, wait, you took Frank Sinatra with you to see the mob guy?’

‘Frank loves mob guys,’ I said. ‘Plus he got us the meet through Giancana.’

‘OK,’ he said, ‘go ahead.’

I gave him the rest of the story, and then accounted for the remainder of the day.

‘Sounds to me like the dead guy and DeStefano have got some bad enemies,’ he said. ‘Maybe DeStefano’s next.’

‘Well he’s got guys around him all the time,’ I said, ‘although I am using Adrienne to try to set up a meeting without them.’

‘You really think he’s gonna go for that?’

‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘It depends on just how tight he used to be with Adrienne.’

‘Adrienne,’ he said. ‘She wanted to meet me, right?’

‘Yeah,’ I said, ‘we’ll work that out.’

‘Well, when is she settin’ up this meet?’

‘Hopefully tomorrow.’

‘Yeah, well, let’s hope you can keep that meeting and you’re not in jail.’

We finished our beer, ordered two more.

‘OK, so tell me what you think is in the safe deposit box?’

‘I don’t know. Something worth killin’ three people for.’

‘I thought this was all about a horse.’

‘So did I. But what if it’s not?’

‘Go on.’

‘What if the whole horse thing is just a coincidence?’ I asked.

‘Or, better yet, a smokescreen.’

‘To hide what’s really goin’ on.’

He looked at me. ‘So what’s really goin’ on, Eddie?’

‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘Maybe Vince knows. Maybe I’ll get the chance to ask him. So, what’ve you been doin’ since yesterday?’ I asked.

‘Lookin’ for witnesses,’ he said. ‘First in the hotel itself, and then outside. I’ve been goin’ door-to-door.’

‘That sounds boring.’

‘It’s called legwork, my friend. It’s what bein’ a detective is all about.’

‘OK, so what has your legwork gotten for you?’ I asked.

‘It’s gotten me nobody who saw the trainer, Red Stanley, get to the hotel.’

‘Not even a cab driver from the hotel?’

Danny spun around on his stool a couple of times, looking annoyed.

‘There are two cab drivers I haven’t been able to get to yet,’ he said, finally. ‘One’s a family man, apparently, henpecked like hell. His wife got him to take a few days off, take her and the kids away. I’m waitin’ for him to get back.’

‘And where’d they go?’ I asked. ‘Can’t you go to them?’

‘Florida.’

‘Who goes from Las Vegas to Florida for vacation?’ I asked.

‘You got me.’

‘What about the other one?’

‘Him,’ Danny said, as if he hated the guy. ‘He got fired. I’m still lookin’ for him.’

‘So you’ve pretty much been chasing two cabbies around for two days?’

He pointed his finger at me.

‘This is the dirty part of the job, Eddie,’ he said. ‘Believe me, I’ve been in places that have never seen soap.’

‘OK, OK,’ I said, ‘I’m just pokin’ at ya. Findin’ a body is no bed of roses either, you know.’

‘Yeah, I know,’ he said.

‘Besides, don’t we already have a cabbie who saw Stanley hustled into a dark car?’

‘We do, but he didn’t see any faces. I’m still lookin’ for somebody who can describe these two jamokes. I’m hopin’ that’s one of these missin’ cab drivers.’

‘I hope you’re right.’

‘You’re gonna have to deal with Hargrove sooner or later.’

‘Hopefully I can give him a killer.’

‘Before another body shows up.’

‘I just hope if the fired cabby did see somethin’, he’s not in hidin’. That’d just make him that much more trouble to find. He probably found a hole and pulled it in behind him.’

‘Yeah, but you’re good at findin’ holes, Danny,’ I said. ‘Nobody can hide from you in Las Vegas. Not for very long, anyway.’

We finished our drinks and I settled up with the bartender.

‘You know,’ I said, when we got outside, ‘if the next victim is DeStefano it might get the cops off my back and lookin’ at the mob.’

‘So you just wanna hope he’s next,’ he asked, ‘or set it up? Jerry can make the hit.’

‘You know, Jerry likes you,’ I said. ‘He’d never make a remark like that about you.’

‘Hey, I like the big buy, too. I was just kiddin’. I mean . . . you don’t wanna kill DeStefano, do you?’

‘Of course not.’

‘OK.’

We started back to my house, where our cars were.

‘I’m just sayin’ if somebody did kill him, it would take some heat off us. That’s all.’

He looked at me.

‘I’m just sayin’,’ I said.

‘So what kind of alibis did you and Jerry set up? Do you need my help?’

I looked at him and smiled. ‘Here’s the part you’re gonna find funny.’