Fly Me to the Morgue

We drove around. I didn’t want to get a drink, and I didn’t want something to eat. Neither did I want to sit and watch Jerry eat. So we compromised. I stopped where he could jump out and grab a hot dog.

Here,’ he said, getting back in the car. He handed me a container of coffee.

‘I don’t want you takin’ out a bunch of tourists with my car,’ I said. Then, on the spur of the moment, I said, ‘Pull in here!’

He pulled into the parking lot of a two story building that had just recently been completed, but wasn’t open yet. We were at the northern end of the Strip, not exactly considered prime real estate.

‘This is gonna be The Westward Ho Casino and Motel,’ I said. ‘They’re gonna call it The Friendliest Casino in Las Vegas.’

‘It’s gonna be the only casino motel on the Strip,’ I said. ‘Also, they’re supposed to have some really cheap food specials.’

I knew the Westward Ho was owned by brother and sister, Dean and Murray Peterson, as well as Faye Johnson. They had hired Hans Dorweiller to manage it. I didn’t know him, but I’d heard some good things. He would go on to manage the place for forty years.

Jerry ate his hot dog and studied the two-story motel building.

‘Not gonna be very big, is it?’ He looked around. ‘Pretty deserted here. When’s it supposed to open?’

‘You thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?’ I asked.

‘Yeah,’ Jerry said, ‘but who says we get to pick the place? What if DeStefano tells Adrienne where he wants to meet her?’

‘Well, she got him to agree to the meet,’ I said. ‘We’ll have to hope she can get him to agree on the place.’

We drove back to Adrienne’s with a half-hour to spare, decided to park down the block, across the street, and watch.

‘She may have called somebody as soon as we left,’ Jerry said.

‘Maybe,’ I said. ‘Let’s just sit here for about twenty minutes and see what happens.’

‘Let’s go up,’ I said. I opened the glove compartment, took out Frank’s gun and stuck it in my belt. I knew Jerry had his .45 on him.

We entered the building and the doorman smiled at us.

‘Hey, guys,’ he said. ‘You’re gettin’ to be regulars.’

‘The lady get any visitors while we were out?’ I asked.

‘Nope,’ he said. ‘She’s all alone up there.’

‘Freight elevator, but I can tell from here that nobody used it while you were away. Nope, the lady is alone.’

Jerry took the twenty from me and stuffed it into the doorman’s breast pocket forcefully, then kept his hand there.

‘If she ain’t,’ he said, ‘I’ll be back.’

‘Oh my God, I didn’t think you were going to make it. What do I do?’

‘Call Vince,’ I said, ‘and here’s what I want you to tell him.’

She was on the phone for fifteen minutes, then came back out from her bedroom.

‘He agreed,’ she said. ‘He’ll meet us there tomorrow morning at nine a.m.’

‘No,’ she replied. ‘He said he didn’t want to meet in the dark.’

‘Well, OK,’ I said. ‘Daylight’s good. At least we’ll be able to see who he brings with him.’

‘B-but . . . when will you be here? We’re going together, right?’ she asked.

‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I’ll be here at eight thirty.’

‘Don’t worry about Jerry,’ I said. ‘He’ll have his own job to do.’

Out in the hall, as we left, Jerry said, ‘What’s my job gonna be, Mr G?’

‘What it always is, big man,’ I said. ‘To keep us alive.’