The Way You Die Tonight

by Robert Randisi

  ‘That I know,’ the man said. ‘Why?’

  ‘It’s my job,’ Danny said. ‘It’s what I do.’

  ‘For who?’

  ‘Ah, now that I can’t answer,’ Danny said. ‘Ask me another one.’

  The manager nodded to the first bouncer, who stepped in front of Danny and backhanded him. Danny’s head rocked back and his lip split.

  ‘Who are you asking questions for?’ the manager demanded.

  Danny licked his lip, said, ‘Can’t tell you that, no matter how much you beat on me. Ask me something else.’

  The bouncer looked at the manager, who thought a moment, then shook his head.

  ‘OK,’ he said, ‘let’s try this. Who or what are you asking questions about?’

  ‘That I can answer,’ Danny said. ‘Helen Simms.’

  ‘Helen,’ the man said. ‘She’s a member.’

  ‘Right. I found that out.’

  ‘What about her?’

  ‘She’s dead.’

  ‘What? How?’

  ‘Either she hanged herself in a ladies’ room,’ Danny said, ‘or somebody did it and tried to make it look like suicide.’

  The manager thought again, then shook his head as if to shake off some cobwebs and said, ‘OK, so what’s that got to do with me and my club?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Danny said. ‘That’s what I’m trying to find out. I found your matchbooks in her home and office, decided to check it out.’

  ‘What about the cops. Why aren’t they here?’

  ‘Apparently,’ Danny said, ‘they think it was suicide.’

  ‘And you don’t.’

  ‘No.’

  The manager finally sat down, the leather of his chair creaking beneath his weight, which was considerable. Not tall, he was a wide man of considerable girth.

  ‘What do we do, boss?’ the first bouncer asked.

  ‘I’m thinking,’ the boss said. Up to this point no one had said his name.

  ‘While you’re thinking,’ Danny said, ‘can somebody tell me what happened here last week?’

  ‘Last week?’ the first bouncer asked.

  ‘Or about a week ago?’ Danny asked. ‘I heard somebody mention it, and was wondering if it involved Helen?’

  The three bouncers froze and the manager looked at him.

  ‘Get him out of here,’ he said.

  ‘Where?’

  ‘The alley.’

  ‘What do you want us to do with him, boss?’

  ‘Make sure he never wants to come back here.’ He looked at Danny. ‘We had you spotted the minute you came in, smart guy. You used Helen’s real name. That’s a no-no in our club.’ He looked at his men again. ‘Take him out and teach him a lesson.’

  The first bouncer looked at the other two and said, ‘We can do that,’ with a smile that chilled Danny.

  They half-walked half-dragged him back down the hall to another door, and then out into the alley that ran alongside the club. He could see the street, and wondered if he could break away and make it.

  ‘Put him against the wall,’ the first bouncer said.

  The other two obeyed in spades. They slammed him so hard against the brick wall of the other building they knocked the air from his lungs. He wouldn’t have a chance to defend himself if he couldn’t breathe.

  ‘Wait, wait, wait …’ he squeaked out, trying to get a breath.

  ‘Wait for what, Shamus?’ the first man asked.

  ‘This,’ Danny said, and kicked him in the balls as hard as he could.

  After that punches began to rain down on him until they drove him to his knees, and then the kicks came.

  And then they suddenly stopped.

  He looked up and, through a haze, saw Jerry tossing the bouncers around like rag dolls. One of them landed a lucky punch to his face, but it didn’t seem to phase the big guy.

  The first bouncer, still trying to recover from the kick in the balls, picked up a trash can lid and charged Jerry from behind.

  ‘Jer—’ Danny tried to warn him, but the word wouldn’t come. He launched himself from the ground and tackled the man with the lid, taking him to the ground. He rolled away from him, still not really able to breathe.

  Jerry came across and kicked the bouncer in the head. Now all three were down, out of the game.

  ‘Come on, dick,’ Jerry said, grabbing Danny. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

  FORTY-ONE

  Jerry pointed to the side of his face and said, ‘One of those bouncers had a fist like a ham, and got a lucky shot in.’

  ‘Sounds to me like you saved each other’s bacon,’ I said.

  ‘OK, sure,’ Jerry said.

  ‘No, Jerry saved my ass,’ Danny said. ‘And I thanked him profusely.’

  ‘So let me get this straight,’ I said. ‘Something happened at the club sometime in the last week, week-and-a-half, that may or may not have involved Helen.’

  ‘That’s what I got,’ Danny said.

  ‘And nobody wanted to talk about it.’

  ‘If I’d had a little more time I might have gotten something, but three apes came over and interrupted.’

  ‘And took you to the manager’s office. Do we know his name?’

  ‘No,’ Danny said, ‘but we can find out.’

  ‘Do you think those bouncers were just trying to persuade you not to come back, or were they gonna kill you?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I think they might have gotten carried away and killed me. Thanks to Jerry, we didn’t get that far.’

  ‘Did you go to the hospital? See a doctor?’

  ‘No, and no,’ Danny said. ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘I wanted to take him to the hospital, but he wouldn’t let me,’ Jerry said.

  ‘I’ve been beat up enough times to know when I’m seriously hurt,’ Danny said. ‘I’ve just got some bumps and bruises.’

  ‘And a split lip,’ I said.

  Danny touched his bottom lip with his tongue and said, ‘Yeah.’

  ‘You really should be—’

  ‘I get enough of that from Penny, Eddie,’ Danny said. ‘I don’t need another mother hen.’

  ‘OK, OK,’ I said. ‘I’m backing off.’

  The waitress came and refilled our coffee cups without being asked.

  ‘You know the thing I really can’t accept?’ I said. ‘Or I guess process is the better word. Helen Simms being a member of a sex club.’

  ‘Wasn’t she attractive?’ Danny asked.

  ‘I suppose, to some men, she was.’

  ‘Well, in that club, I don’t think looks are even the most important thing,’ Danny said. ‘It’s … the availability, I guess.’

  ‘So what did you see in there?’ Jerry asked. ‘Good-lookin’ broads, or available broads?’

  ‘Both,’ Danny said.

  ‘Are you OK to go on with this?’ I asked.

  ‘After a day or two I should be fine,’ Danny said, sitting up straight and wincing, ‘but I wouldn’t want to go back to that club just yet.’

  ‘And we have to go back, right?’ I asked. ‘We have to find out what happened.’

  ‘That’s right,’ Danny said.

  ‘But you can’t go back there,’ Jerry said. ‘They already know you.’

  ‘He’s got a point,’ I said.

  ‘Well,’ Danny said, ‘I still have to check into Walter Spires.’

  ‘That leaves either me or Mr G. to go back to the club,’ Jerry said.

  ‘Those bouncers might know you, Jerry,’ Danny told him. ‘I mean, before you put their lights out one of them might have seen you.’

  ‘Well, then,’ I said, ‘I guess that leaves me.’

  ‘It might be smart,’ Danny said, ‘if you didn’t do it the way I did.’

  ‘You mean just walk in and start asking questions?’ I said.

  ‘Exactly.’

  ‘Guess I could walk in and just listen.’

  ‘And you’ll have to have somebody’s club name to get in.’


  ‘We’ll have to figure that out,’ I said.

  ‘And remember, a man alone in there is fair game,’ Danny said. ‘They were on me like locusts. Of course, I’m better lookin’ than you are.’

  I looked at his lumpy and bruised face and said, ‘Not today.’

  FORTY-TWO

  After breakfast we agreed that Danny would go and talk to Walter Spires, but would not do much more than that. I would figure out an approach and go to the Happy Devil club. Jerry would come along to cover me, but he’d have to stay outside.

  When we got in the Caddy Jerry asked, ‘When do you want to do this?’

  ‘Probably tonight,’ I said, ‘but I’ve got to check in with Eddie Robinson and see what he wants to do.’

  ‘What about Mr Hughes?’

  That surprised me.

  ‘What about him?’

  ‘You gonna talk to him again?’

  ‘I figure talking to his man, Maheu, is pretty much the same as talking to him,’ I said. ‘And I told Maheu I wasn’t interested in Hughes’ offer.’

  ‘You think he’s gonna accept that?’

  ‘He doesn’t have that much of a choice, Jerry.’

  ‘He’s a rich man, Mr G.,’ Jerry said. ‘They always got another choice.’

  We went back to the Sands and split up.

  ‘You sure you don’t want me to stay with you, Mr G.?’ Jerry asked.

  ‘No, it’s OK, Jerry,’ I said. ‘I just have some things to do here. I’m not gonna go out. Why don’t you go into the casino?’

  Jerry was a horse player, but recently had become interested in blackjack.

  ‘I can do that,’ he said. ‘If you need me, I’ll be around.’

  ‘I appreciate it,’ I said.

  He nodded and went into the casino. I went up to the fourth floor to see Jack Entratter.

  I filled Jack in on everything Danny had found out, and finished up by telling him about the club.

  ‘Wait a minute,’ he said, raising his hands. ‘Hold the phone. Helen was a member of a sex club?’

  ‘Apparently.’

  ‘The … the what? Hungry Devil?’

  ‘Happy Devil.’

  ‘Wait,’ Jack said, ‘I know that name.’

  ‘Yeah, you do?’

  ‘Why haven’t the cops closed that place down?’

  ‘There’s no prostitution going on there.’

  ‘But there is sex.’

  ‘There’s sex going on everywhere in Vegas,’ I said. ‘You know that.’

  ‘Yeah, OK,’ Entratter said ‘Sin city. I get it. So what happens next?’

  ‘Danny talks to Walter, and I go back to the club to find out what happened. Maybe somebody there had something to do with killing Helen.’

  ‘Walter,’ Entratter said. ‘Walter … Spires?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  ‘Why don’t I remember him?’

  ‘He was a bookkeeper,’ I said. ‘Apparently, Helen dealt with him, not you.’

  ‘One of the little people,’ he said.

  ‘Maybe he didn’t like being one of “the little people”,’ I suggested.

  ‘Yeah, well,’ Entratter said, ‘they never do.’

  ‘Jack, did you have any idea how the other employees felt about Helen?’

  ‘I knew she kept to herself,’ he said. ‘I didn’t see anything wrong in that.’

  ‘Nobody ever complained to you about her?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘They were probably afraid to,’ I said. ‘She used the fact that she worked for you to her own advantage. Maybe to have a little power.’

  ‘What kind of power?’ he scoffed.

  ‘Well, she got you to fire Walter, right?’

  He pointed and said, ‘That was him? She said he sexually assaulted one of the girls. She didn’t want to press charges, but I fired him.’

  ‘She probably lied.’

  ‘Helen?’ he asked. ‘Lied?’

  ‘Maybe more than once.’

  He rubbed his face vigorously with both hands.

  ‘I wonder what else she was lying about?’ he said. ‘Or if she was workin’ for somebody.’

  ‘I guess we’re gonna find all that out,’ I said, ‘when we nail the guy who killed her.’

  ‘Yeah,’ he said nodding, ‘yeah …’

  ‘I’ll continue to keep you updated, Jack,’ I said, standing.

  ‘Yeah, you do that,’ he said.

  I don’t think he even noticed when I walked out of his office.

  FORTY-THREE

  I walked past the ladies’ room on my way to the elevator, stopped and went in. There was yellow police tape hanging uselessly from the doorway.

  Inside it was clean, and why not? Hanging is a clean death. No blood. I stood beneath the pipe that Helen had been found hanging from. From the looks of the pipe, it certainly would not have held Jerry, or Danny, or me. Probably not any man. But it held Helen. However, if she had stood on the edge of the sink and leaped into that noose – and she would have had to have leaped – the pipe would have come down. However, if someone had simply hanged her from it, it would have held. She probably weighed 110 or 120 pounds.

  Somebody killed her.

  She didn’t like me, I didn’t like her much, but she didn’t deserve what she got. (I’m not nice enough to say nobody deserved that, because I knew a few people who did. But she didn’t.)

  I left the ladies’ room and took the elevator down to the lobby. As soon as I got out, two men stepped up to me, one on either side. They were big; big as bouncers.

  I thought, oh, no, not in my house.

  ‘Take it easy, boys. Nobody needs to get hurt.’

  ‘Our boss wants to talk to you.’

  ‘Just talk?’

  ‘That’s what we were told.’

  ‘So we’re not goin’ out back to pound on the smaller guy?’ I asked.

  They looked puzzled.

  ‘Why would we do that?’ the spokesman asked.

  Hmm, I thought.

  ‘OK. How we goin’?’

  ‘We got a limo out front.’

  ‘A limo?’ I said, surprised. ‘Wow.’

  ‘Shall we go?’ the spokesman asked.

  These two seemed a step up from the three bouncers who had ‘bounced’ Danny around in the alley.

  I couldn’t tell if they were armed, and I didn’t want to start anything in the lobby of the hotel. Maybe I could make a break for it outside.

  ‘OK,’ I said, ‘let’s go.’

  We walked across the lobby to the front door, three abreast.

  ‘Eddie—’ one of the bellboys said, approaching, but I waved him away.

  ‘Not now, Andy.’

  Andy froze and frowned, but I’d apologize later for brushing him off.

  We went through the front door and I saw the limo out front. As we started toward it Joey, the head valet, came running up to me.

  ‘Eddie, you know anything about this limo? It’s blocking traffic and I can’t get anybody—’

  ‘Relax, Joe,’ I said. ‘We’re movin’ it now.’

  One of my escorts stepped to the back door and opened it for me. I was wondering when to make my break.

  ‘In you go, man,’ he said.

  ‘After you,’ I said.

  ‘Oh, we’re not getting in,’ he said. ‘Just you.’

  ‘Just me?’

  ‘That’s the way Mr Hughes wants it.’

  I froze.

  ‘Mr Hughes? You guys work for Howard Hughes?’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ the spokesman said. ‘Who did you think we worked for?’

  ‘Never mind,’ I said. ‘You wouldn’t like the answer.’

  He let that go.

  ‘Getting in?’ he asked.

  ‘Sure,’ I said, ‘why not.’

  I slid into the back seat and got my second shock of the day.

  Howard Hughes was there.

  FORTY-FOUR

  ‘I told you,’ Hughes said to me, ‘I clean up good.’r />
  And he did. The man in the back seat was impeccably dressed and styled. He bore no resemblance to the Hughes I had met in his hotel room at the Desert Inn.

  ‘Yes, sir, you did. You told me.’

  ‘Close the door, Eddie.’

  I did, and started to move next to him, but he lifted a handkerchief to his face and said, ‘No, not there. Across from me.’

  ‘OK.’

  ‘Drive on!’ he snapped to his driver. ‘And close that partition.’

  He held the handkerchief to his mouth as the partition slid closed.

  Hughes looked at me and lowered the cloth.

  ‘You made me leave my room, Eddie.’

  ‘And I did that … how?’

  ‘By turning me down,’ Hughes said. ‘Nobody turns me down. I’m not used to that.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said. ‘I’m sorry I turned you down, and that you had to leave your room and get all dressed up for me.’

  ‘And I had to overmedicate to do it,’ he pointed out. ‘This is not comfortable for me.’

  ‘Well, Mr Hughes, that was my problem, too,’ I said. ‘I’m just not comfortable with doing what you asked me to do. I can’t be your stalking horse.’

  ‘All I asked you to do was give me some advice, Eddie,’ Hughes said. ‘A way to go.’

  ‘It just seemed to me you were askin’ me to find a weakness in somebody and expose it to you. I can’t do that. I can’t help you with a takeover.’ I reached behind me and banged on the partition. ‘Let me out anywhere along here!’

  ‘Eddie,’ he said, from behind the cloth, ‘this doesn’t make me happy.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Mr Hughes. You have my answer.’

  ‘No,’ he said, ‘you don’t understand what I mean when I say I’m not happy.’ He paused, as if for effect, then added, ‘But you will.’

  ‘Is that a threat?’

  ‘Just know,’ Hughes said, ‘that I’m not leaving Vegas without getting what I want.’

  I banged on the partition again and the car pulled to the curb.

  ‘I’ll be seeing you, Eddie,’ Hughes said.

  I was tempted to grab that handkerchief from his hand and give him a stroke, but instead I just said, ‘No, you won’t,’ and got out.

  I had no sooner slammed the door than the limo pulled away from the curb, peeling rubber. Hughes had probably told the driver to get him back to the Desert Inn as quickly as possible.