SEVENTY-FIVE
At eight twenty-nine the next morning I knocked on Adrienne’s door. Once again the doorman – the only one I’d ever seen on duty – said she was alone. I gave him another twenty.
She opened the door and gave me that phony look of relief, again. I realized she was probably sorry she’d ever laid eyes on me and Jerry the day we went out to Red Rock with Bing Crosby. She’d been forced to deal with us, so now she probably thought she was doing so for the last time.
‘Where’s Jerry?’
‘I told you yesterday. He has his own job to do. Come on, let’s go.’
On the way down in the elevator I asked, ‘Have you heard from Vince today?’
‘No, nothing.’
I didn’t believe her; but then we were at the point in our ‘relationship’ where I didn’t believe anything she said.
We left the building, got into my Caddy and drove to the northern end of the Strip, to the deserted site of the soon-to-be Westward Ho Motel and Casino.
We got out of the car and looked around.
‘Why are we so early?’ she asked. ‘Vince won’t be here till nine.’
‘Don’t kid yourself,’ I said. ‘He’s here now.’
As if to make a liar out of me a black limo pulled into the parking lot from the other end. It stopped about fifty feet away. I looked around. The only place a man with a rifle could have been was on the roof of the Motel building, unless he was so confident that he was positioned across the street on a higher building. An expert shot could probably have taken my head off from somewhere in the Riviera or the Stardust.
The limo stopped. The driver’s side door opened and a man got out. He walked to the back and opened the door. Two more men got out. They all had normal sized noses.
‘So much for meeting us alone,’ I said.
‘What do you want to do?’ she asked. ‘Run?’
It was almost as if she was baiting me.
‘No,’ I said, ‘we’ll see it through.’
The last person out of the car was Vince DeStefano. He was easily the shortest person in the parking lot. He and Adrienne together would have attracted a lot of curious eyes.
One of the men waved at us to walk over.
‘Wow,’ I said, ‘he’s really trying to call the shots after agreeing to meet when and where we said.’
‘Should we walk?’
‘Oh yeah, no point in playing hard to get now. But stay on my right.’ That put the Westward Ho on my left.
‘Why?’
‘If there’s a guy with a rifle, I’m thinking he’s on the roof of the motel. I don’t want you between him and me.’
‘How gallant.’
First she tried to bait me, then a little hint of sarcasm, and all a little too soon, I thought. I still could have jumped in my Caddy and gotten out of there. Then Vince would’ve given her hell.
I was tempted, just to screw with her.
As we got close I could see the smile on Vince’s face. A man only smiles like that at a woman.
‘Adrienne,’ he said.
‘Hello, Vince.’
‘Come stand beside me.’
She gave me a look then that was unmistakable. It said ‘sucker’ as she walked over to stand beside her man. He put his arm around her and kissed her cheek. She had to duck her head to make it easier for him.
‘Wow, you two make an odd couple.’
DeStefano laughed.
‘I know you had her, Eddie, but she’s mine. Make no mistake about that.’
‘Should we frisk him, boss?’ one of the men asked. It was the same guy who had searched me at the house.
‘Eddie doesn’t carry, but go ahead.’
The guy gave me the same kind of careless frisk he’d given me at the house. Armpits, waist, legs and ankles. Jerry had been right. They missed Frank’s gun, which I had tucked into my belt at the small of my back.
‘OK, Eddie,’ DeStefano said, ‘where’s Epstein?’
‘He’s around.’
‘I’ve got four other men spread around this place,’ he said. ‘You’ll never see him alive again.’
‘We’ll see.’
He looked at Adrienne.
‘What about the key?’
‘Eddie was right,’ she said. ‘Phil mailed it to Elizabeth. She’s sending it back to me.’
‘Good. Then we don’t need Eddie anymore, do we?’