Danny stared at Penny and said, ‘Shut up.’
She laughed.
‘You didn’t think of that?’
‘I thought of it,’ he said. ‘If he gets dropped at another casino some cab driver there will see him.’
‘So what are you going to do in the meantime?’ she asked.
‘Paperwork,’ he said. ‘I want lunch at my desk.’
‘The usual?’
‘Yes.’
TWENTY
Danny was at his desk eating his usual lunch – a burger platter from the Horseshoe Coffee Shop – when the phone rang.
‘This Danny Bardini?’ a voice asked.
‘That’s right.’ Stupid question, he thought. Penny would have already told the caller that this was the office of Bardini Investigations.
‘Yeah, this is Frankie? The cab driver you talked to at the airport, this morning?’
‘Yeah, Frankie, whataya got?’
‘One of my drivers saw your guy.’
‘Where?’
‘Ten for me and ten for him, right?’
‘Right.’
‘If this is the right guy, could you make it twenty?’ the driver asked.
‘For you or for him?’
‘Well, me.’
‘Let’s see if it pans out.’
‘OK. My guy saw him gettin’ out of a dark sedan in front of the Hotel Raleigh. You know where that is?’
‘I do,’ Danny said. It was a rundown hotel in a seedy part of town. This didn’t bode well.
‘I’ll get back to you, Frankie.’
‘Twenty would be a big help,’ Frankie said.
Danny hung up.
When he passed through the outer office Penny said, ‘Are you going down there?’
‘Yes,’ he said, on the way to the door.
‘Alone?’
‘Yes.’
‘Without backup?’
He stopped, turned and looked at her. ‘You want me to give you a forty-five and let you come with me?’
‘Would you?’ she asked, excited.
‘No,’ he said. ‘Stay by the phone.’
When Danny got to the Hotel Raleigh it was even worse than he remembered. There was a homeless guy out front, a drunk sleeping on the steps. There were two more guys sleeping in the lobby, and one of them was the desk clerk.
‘Hey!’
The guy’s head jerked up off the desk.
‘Welcome to the Hotel Raleigh,’ he mumbled. ‘Can I get you a room?’
‘Jesus, no,’ Danny said. ‘I’m lookin’ for a man who was brought here by a dark sedan. Short, thick, big ears—’
‘No, man—’
‘Don’t interrupt me!’ Danny snapped. ‘We can do this the easy way or the hard way. The easy way you make five bucks. The hard way costs you more than five bucks’ worth of dental work.’
‘Take it easy, man,’ the young clerk said, leaning back.
‘Which way you wanna go?’
The clerk reached behind him, taking a key off the wall.
‘Upstairs, room five, man.’
Danny took the key, then pointed his finger at the clerk.
‘You call ahead and I’ll come down and provide that dental work. Get me?’
‘I gotcha, man.’
‘Go back to sleep,’ Danny told him. ‘It’s safer.’
He went up the stairs and down the hall to room five. He listened at the door, heard nothing. He knocked. Still nothing. Then he used the key and opened the door . . .
‘. . . and there he was, lyin’ on the bed,’ Danny said. ‘The sheets were a bloody mess.’
‘Shot? Stabbed?’
Danny shook his head and said, ‘Beaten.’
‘Damn.’
‘Why?’
‘Arnold was beaten, too.’
‘You’re thinkin’ the same person killed them both?’ he asked.
‘We don’t know who was killed first, right?’ I asked. ‘We don’t even know if Arnold was killed yesterday or today. So we don’t know if one person could’ve done it.’
‘I can get the autopsy results from the coroner here in Vegas,’ Danny said. ‘The county might be a little harder.’
‘How did it go with the police?’
‘Two detectives from Homicide responded.’
‘Hargrove?’
‘Not this time.’
‘Well, that’s good,’ I said. ‘We won’t have to deal with his . . .’
‘Prejudices?’
‘Yeah, I guess that’s the word.’
‘What’s gonna happen when the Sheriff’s detectives look up your history? And Jerry’s?’
‘They’ll probably want to talk to us both again,’ I said. ‘We’ll deal with that when the time comes. Right now, we need to figure out what’s goin’ on.’
‘Why?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Why do we need to figure it out?’ Danny asked. ‘Let the county dicks work on the Arnold murder and the city dicks work on Stanley’s murder. Why do we have to be involved, at all?’
I opened my mouth to answer then realized he was right. Did we really have to get involved, at all?
‘I better talk to Bing,’ I said. ‘He’ll want to know about Stanley’s death.’
‘Can I come?’
‘Sure, why not?’ I said. ‘After all, you found him. But I better call and ask.’
I asked the bartender for a phone and called Bing’s room. We talked for a few seconds.
‘Well?’ Danny asked.
‘He said to come right up,’ I said, getting off my stool. ‘Both of us.’
TWENTY-ONE
When we knocked on the door Bing answered.
‘Come on in, boys,’ he said, backing away. ‘Katy’s out getting her hair done.’
‘Have you told her—’ I started to ask.
‘Not yet,’ he said. ‘I thought I’d . . . wait. For what, I don’t know. A better time?’
‘What’d you tell her about the horse?’
‘That I was thinking about it.’
‘Bing, this is Danny Bardini, the private detective I told you about.’
They shook hands.
‘Did you find Red Stanley?’ Bing asked him.
‘I did, Mr Crosby,’ Danny said. ‘He’s dead.’
Bing looked shocked, then said, ‘Damn. You fellas want a drink? I’m gonna have one.’
‘Sure,’ Danny said.
‘Bourbon,’ I said.
‘All around,’ Bing said, and poured out three bourbons.
We sat at the bar, with him behind it.
‘So what do we do now?’ he asked.
‘We were just talkin’ about that downstairs in the bar,’ I said.
‘What did you come up with?’ Bing asked.
‘Well, the police in both jurisdictions are workin’ on the murders,’ Danny said. ‘Do we need to do anything?’
Bing looked at me and I shrugged.
‘The cops are still gonna come lookin’ for us, aren’t they?’ Bing asked. ‘To question us some more?’
‘Yes,’ I said, ‘but they’ll have to make the connection between Arnold and Stanley.’
‘I’m the connection,’ Bing reminded us. ‘The detectives from this morning already know about Red Stanley.’
‘He’s right,’ I said to Danny. ‘He had to tell them why he was there.’
‘Then unless Mr Crosby—’
‘Just Bing, Danny.’
Danny smiled at Bing and said, ‘If Bing doesn’t tell them that Red Stanley is dead, they’re gonna wanna know why.’
‘Then I better call them,’ Bing said. ‘That one detective, Lewis, gave me his number.’
‘OK,’ I said. ‘Call him. Tell him you just found out that your trainer is dead.’
‘They’ll wanna know how he found out,’ Danny said.
‘He can tell them you told him,’ I said.
‘Then do we tell them that you hired me on Bing’s behalf to look for him? Or should
we just say that Bing hired me and keep you and Jerry out of it?’
The three of us were staring at each other, trying to figure out the best course of action, when the phone rang.
‘Hello?’ Bing said. ‘Oh, really? Well, yes, I suppose you’d better. Thank you.’ He hung up.
‘What?’ I asked.
‘I think the question just got answered for us,’ he said. ‘That was the front desk. They said the police are here to talk to me. They asked if they should let them come up.’
‘And you said yes,’ Danny said.
Bing nodded.
‘OK,’ I said, ‘look, none of us has done anything wrong. Why should we be worried about talking to the police?’
‘What about Jerry?’ Danny asked.
‘Jerry doesn’t have to be here,’ I said. ‘He had nothing to do with Red Stanley. All he did was ride out to that ranch with Bing to look at a horse.’
‘Right,’ Bing said.
‘So there aren’t even any questions we have to avoid,’ Danny said.
‘Is this an unusual situation for you two boys to be in?’ Bing asked.
‘Actually,’ I said, ‘it is.’
TWENTY-TWO
I’m not a hood, or a member of the Mafia; although Detective Hargrove of the Las Vegas Police would probably argue against it. Still, I have, on occasion, had to lie to the police.
In Danny’s job he has to lie to the cops, a lot.
On this day, neither one of us had to lie.
So yeah, it was kind of unusual when Bing let the detectives in that we were able to relax and tell the truth.
They introduced themselves as Detectives Freeman and Moore.
‘Mr Crosby, we’re here about a man named Fred Stanley. I believe you know him as Red?’
‘Yes,’ Bing said. ‘And I also know that he’s dead.’
‘Yes,’ Freeman said. He looked at Danny. ‘I assumed that when I saw Mr Bardini here.’
Freeman had a Marine crew cut, and the bearing of a military man. He was respectful enough to all of us that I thought he had probably been an officer.
Moore was silent, but I got a feeling of impatience from him. Like he didn’t want to be as polite as his partner when he saw Danny there.
‘And who are you?’ Freeman asked me.
‘My name’s Eddie Gianelli,’ I said. ‘I’m a pit boss in the casino.’
‘And you’re here because . . . ?’
‘He’s a friend of mine,’ Bing said. ‘He was helping me try to find my trainer by introducing me to Mr Bardini. Also, he drove me out to meet with the man my trainer and I were supposed to see about buying a horse.’
‘A horse?’ Moore asked.
‘A race horse,’ Bing said.
‘Let me see if I understand this,’ Freeman said. ‘You called Mr Gianelli when your trainer didn’t show up.’ He looked at me. ‘You, then, called Mr Bardini and put him together with Mr Crosby.’ He looked at Bing. ‘You, then, hired Mr Bardini to try to find out what happened to your trainer, Mr Stanley.’
That wasn’t exactly the right progression, but Bing said, ‘That’s right.’
‘It didn’t occur to you to call the police?’
Bing spread his hands. ‘For all I knew Fred Stanley decided not to make the trip. When I couldn’t get him on the phone, I asked Danny to find him for me. If he hadn’t found him, then I would have called the police.’
‘So you found him in that hotel, dead,’ Moore said to Danny.
‘And called the police right away.’
‘How did you find him?’ Moore asked.
‘Legwork.’
‘That’s it?’
‘Good detective work,’ Danny said. ‘Contacts.’
‘Mr Gianelli,’ Freeman said, ‘we don’t need to talk to you, so you can leave. And Mr Bardini, we’ve already talked with you, so there’s no need for you to stay. We just need to interview Mr Crosby.’
‘I’d like them to stay,’ Bing said.
Freeman looked at Bing curiously.
‘And why is that?’
‘Well . . . something happened when Eddie and I drove out to Red Rock Canyon.’
‘Red Rock,’ Moore said. ‘That’s where the guy with the race horse was?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you went without your trainer?’
‘I did.’
‘But with this guy,’ Moore said, indicating me. His lack of respect was starting to show. Maybe he was getting frustrated. He was about to become even more frustrated.
‘So why is that important?’ Moore asked.
Bing looked at me.
‘Because, detective,’ I said, ‘when we got to the place, we found the horse owner, Chris Arnold, dead.’
‘Dead?’ Freeman asked. ‘How?’
‘He had been beaten to death.’
Both detectives turned to face me.
‘Did you call the police?’
‘Of course we did,’ I said. ‘Two Sheriff’s detectives responded.’
‘You have their names?’
‘I do,’ Bing said. ‘I wrote them down.’
He took a slip of paper from his pocket, walked up to Freeman and handed it to him.
‘I don’t know these guys,’ Freeman said, ‘but we’ll get in touch.’
‘But we do know you, Gianelli,’ Moore said.
‘Well, I don’t know you guys.’
‘We know a friend of yours,’ Moore said. ‘Detective Hargrove?’
‘Hargrove’s no friend of mine.’
‘We heard,’ Moore said. ‘So you just happened to find a dead body, huh?’
‘Hey, hey, what’s this about?’ Bing asked. ‘The only reason Eddie was even out there was as a favor to me. So why’s he being badgered?’
‘You don’t know who you’re dealin’ with, Mr Crosby,’ Freeman said. ‘Gianelli’s got a history here in Vegas with the police, and it’s not a good one.’
‘I don’t care about that,’ Crosby said. ‘Eddie’s a friend of mine, has been for some time. I certainly do know who I’m dealing with. And I think any further dealings I have with you guys will be through my lawyer.’
‘That’s the way you wanna play it?’ Moore asked Bing.
‘Easy, Ray,’ Freeman said to his partner. ‘If Mr Crosby wants us to talk to his lawyer, that’s his privilege.’
‘I’ll have him get in touch with you, Detective Freeman,’ Bing said. ‘Today.’
‘That’ll be fine, sir,’ Freeman said. ‘Let’s go, Ray.’
They headed for the door, but before he could leave, Moore decided to get in my face. He got almost nose to nose with me.
‘This ain’t over for you, boyo.’
‘Boyo?’ I repeated. ‘That’s the best you got?’
‘Why you—’
‘We’re leavin’ Ray,’ Freeman said, grabbing his partner’s arm, ‘now!’
As they headed for the door Bing’s wife, Katy, decided to use her key to enter. She stopped short as the two men almost bowled her over.
‘Oh, excuse us, Ma’am,’ Freeman said. ‘We’re so sorry.’
‘Sorry, Ma’am,’ Moore said.
Kathryn Crosby’s beauty drained the two men of all their animosity.
‘That’s quite all right,’ she said to them. ‘Good day.’
‘Good day, Ma’am,’ Freeman said, closing the door behind them.
Kathryn, holding several shopping bags, looked at the three of us and said, ‘Would anybody like to tell me who the men were who almost trampled me?’
‘Katy, this gent is Danny Bardini, a friend of Eddie’s.’
‘The detective who’s looking for Red Stanley?’ she asked.
‘That’s right, honey. Why don’t you take your bags into the bedroom,’ Bing suggested. ‘I’ll be right in to explain everything to you.’
‘Did you find him?’ she asked Danny.
‘Ma’am—’ Danny said, somewhat tongue-tied.
‘Katy?’ Bing said. ‘Honestly, I’ll expl
ain everything. Just let me finish with Eddie and Danny.’
TWENTY-THREE
‘They never asked about Jerry,’ Bing said, when Kathryn had gone into the bedroom.
‘So you didn’t have to lie,’ Danny said.
‘But once they talk to the Sheriff’s detectives,’ I said, ‘they’ll know about Jerry. And when they talk to Hargrove, they’ll come lookin’ for him.’
‘I can fly him back to New York,’ Bing offered.
‘Probably not a good idea,’ Danny said. ‘They’d make him come back, even if they had to call the NYPD to do it.’
‘And Jerry probably wouldn’t go back,’ I said to Bing.
‘Why not?’
‘It’s not his style,’ I said. ‘He’d feel like he was runnin’ out on both of us.’
‘So what do we do?’ Bing asked.
‘We wait and see what happens,’ I said. ‘Meanwhile, you better stick to your guns and have your lawyer contact all the detectives involved.’
‘I’ll call him as soon as you gents leave,’ Bing said, ‘and I finish explaining everything to Katy. I don’t know if you fellas noticed, but she ain’t happy.’
‘We’ll leave you to it, then,’ Danny said. He shook hands with Bing.
‘Thanks for everything, Danny,’ Bing said. ‘You’ll send me the bill, huh?’
‘Not a chance,’ Danny said. ‘This one’s on Eddie. He owes me.’
‘Well, if you’re ever in Palm Springs give me a call. We’ll have you out to the house.’
‘I’ll take you up on that,’ Danny said. ‘You comin’?’ he asked me.
‘In a minute.’
‘I’m headin’ back to the office. See you later.’
I nodded, and he left.
‘This is a mess,’ Bing said.
‘It’ll take some cleanin’ up, that’s for sure,’ I said.
‘Can you stay with it?’ Bing asked. ‘I mean, the cops’ll be back.’
‘You’ll have your lawyer.’
‘I want you, Eddie.’
‘You’ll have to clear it with Jack, Bing.’
‘Jack won’t be a problem,’ he assured me.
‘As long as you’re in Vegas, Bing, you can count on me.’
‘Good man!’ He grabbed my hand and pumped it warmly. ‘Why don’t you plan on having dinner with me and Katy tonight.’
‘Oh,’ I said, ‘will that go over OK with her?’
‘Sure, sure,’ Bing said. ‘She likes you. And bring Jerry. She’s real interested in him.’
Fly Me to the Morgue Page 7
