Fly Me to the Morgue

Danny went his way, we went ours. We agreed to use Penny to pass messages, and if we were going to meet, it would be at her place.

I decided to see Adrienne before I saw Bing. She was the one whose life might be in danger because of a key.

‘What if there ain’t no key?’ Jerry asked.

‘What?’

He kept his eyes on the road.

‘I said, what if there ain’t no key? We’re wrong, and they’re lookin’ for somethin’ else.’

‘Something else that would fit in a cookie jar?’ I asked.

Jerry shrugged.

‘A piece of jewelry?’

‘All this for . . . what? A ring? A watch?’

Jerry shrugged again.

‘I’m just sayin’ what if?’

‘You’re right,’ I said. ‘It could be somethin’ else. Let’s see what Adrienne has to say about it.’

‘Where we gonna find her? She’s probably gonna be casino hoppin’ again.’

‘If she is we’ll track her down,’ I said, ‘but let’s start at her apartment.’

‘OK, Mr G.’

‘Hey, you’re back,’ he said. ‘She’s in. She ain’t gone to the casino today. What’d you do, cure her?’

‘I don’t think so,’ I said. ‘We’re gonna go up.’

‘Well, I—’

I gave him a ten and he waved us to the elevator.

When she answered her door she looked worried, and scared.

‘I’ve been trying to find you,’ she said.

‘Why?’

‘Somebody broke into my house.’

‘This place?’ I asked.

‘No, my house,’ she said. ‘In Henderson. My cleaning lady called. The place is a mess. It’s like they were . . .’

‘Lookin’ for something?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘like the place was searched.’

‘They searched my house, too. Nobody’s been here?’ I asked. ‘Maybe while you were out?’

‘It’s not generally known that I own this place,’ she said. ‘I use it . . . I only use it . . .’

‘I know,’ I said. ‘When you need to get to the casinos.’

‘Yes.’ She averted her eyes. Her gambling made her ashamed.

‘Well then, that’s good,’ I said. ‘Means the three of us are safe here.’

‘Safe?’ she asked. ‘From who?’

‘Let’s sit down, and we’ll explain . . .’

‘That’s what we think,’ I confirmed. ‘Unless you can think of something else that small, someone might be looking for.’

‘Like what?’

‘Well, Jerry suggested a piece of jewelry.’

‘I don’t know of a piece of jewelry worth killing for that I own, or Phil owned.’

‘What about Eric?’

‘Forget it. He’s the worst gambler of all of us. He’s got nothing.’

‘There’s one more person I can think of,’ I said.

‘Who?’

‘Your sister Elizabeth.’

‘What? Elizabeth? She‘s in her own little world, but—’

‘Phil might’ve mailed the key to her, that’s all I’m sayin’,’ I told her. She really couldn’t accept the idea that her sister might be involved. ‘She probably has no idea what’s goin’ on.’

‘W-what do you want me to do?’

‘Just call her and ask.’

‘But what do I tell her?’

‘Nothing,’ I said. ‘As little or as much as you want, Adrienne. Just ask her if Phil mailed her a key.’

‘A-all right.’

‘Did you ever tell her that Chris was dead?’

‘Yes, I called and told her . . .’

She paused, her words catching in her throat.

‘Jerry, get her somethin’ to drink, will ya?’

‘Sure, Mr G.’

I was surprised when, out of everything she had available, he chose to bring her a glass of brandy. We got her seated with the glass.

‘What’s happening to my family?’ she asked. ‘What did they get themselves into?’

‘Whatever it is,’ I said, ‘I feel it has to involve Vince DeStefano.’

‘Oh, God.’ She put the glass down and buried her face in her hands. ‘I did it,’ she said, her voice muffled.

‘What?’

She raised her tear-streaked face to us and said, ‘I did it. I brought Vince into our lives.’

Up to that point I had been under the impression that Phil had brought Vince into their lives.

‘I met him in a casino and started to . . . to see him. It was exciting at first, and I introduced him to Phil. By the time Vince and I were done with each other, he and Phil were . . . friends.’

‘What about Eric?’ I asked.

‘Phil introduced them.’

‘Well, if I was you, Adrienne, I’d call Eric and warn him to stay out of sight until this is all over. That is, if you know where he is.’

‘A-all right,’ she said. ‘I’ll call Elizabeth and Eric.’

‘And Vince,’ I added. ‘We still wanna have that meeting.’

‘OK. I’ll do it in the bedroom, and then fix my face.’

‘Fine,’ I said. ‘If your sister has the key have her send it to you as quickly as possible.’

‘All right.’

She stood and took the glass of brandy with her, heading for her bedroom.

‘Oh, and one other thing.’

She turned to look at me.

‘You were gonna get me some other names of people Phil might’ve been in business with. Somebody else who might have had a reason to want him dead.’

‘I know that Phil – and Eric, too – had borrowed money from a man named Lenny Markwell.’

‘Markwell,’ I said. ‘OK. I’ll look into that.’

We both kept our eyes on the doorway, even after she went through.

‘Mr G. . . .’ Jerry said.

‘I know.’

‘If I was Vince DeStefano, I wouldn’t be done with somethin’ like that for a long time.’

‘Well, maybe she was done with him.’

‘Still, I don’t see him just lettin’ her go.’

‘I know what you mean.’

We looked at each other.

‘You know that name she gave you? Markwell?’

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘He’s a local loan shark.’

‘Sharks break bones,’ Jerry said, because he was an expert on the subject. ‘They don’t kill people who owe them money.’

‘I know that,’ I said.

‘Well, what do we do now?’ he asked. ‘No matter how fast Elizabeth sends the key we ain’t gonna have it for a couple of days.’

‘Depending on where Elizabeth is.’

‘We don’t know?’

‘She just said she’s in Europe with her husband.’

‘It’ll be days before we see that key,’ Jerry said, shaking his head. ‘We just gonna wait?’

‘No,’ I said, ‘we’ve got to do somethin’. We can’t just wait for somebody else to die. We’ll take our meeting with Vince.’

‘We? You think he’s gonna agree to see you alone. And let you bring me along?’

‘How about we don’t tell him?’