by Mario Puzo
Gronevelt was glad to hear from me. His voice sounded very strong, very healthy. I told him the story and asked him where Cully might be and I told him that in any case I thought I should notify him. “It’s not something I can talk about over the phone,” Gronevelt said. “But why don’t you come out for a few days and be my guest here at the hotel and I’ll put your mind to rest?”
Chapter 52
When Cully received a summons to Gronevelt’s executive suite, he put in a call to Merlyn.
Cully knew what Gronevelt wanted to see him about and he knew he had to start thinking about an escape hatch. On the phone he told Merlyn he would be taking the next morning’s plane to New York and asked Merlyn to meet him. He told Merlyn that it was important, that he needed his help.
When Cully finally went into Gronevelt’s suite, he tried to “read” Gronevelt, but all he could see was how much the man changed in the ten years he had worked for him. The stroke Gronevelt had suffered had left tiny red veins in the whites of his eyes, through his cheeks and even in his forehead. The cold blue eyes seemed frosted. He seemed not so tall, and he was much trailer. Despite all this, Cully was still afraid of him.
As usual, Gronevelt had Cully make them both drinks, the usual scotch. Then Gronevelt said, “Johnny Santadio is flying in tomorrow. He wants to know just one thing. Is the Gaming Commission going to approve his license as an owner of this hotel or are they not?’
“You know the answer,” Cully said.
“I think I know it,” Gronevelt said. “I know what you told Johnny, that it was a sure thing. That it was all locked up. That’s all I know.”
Cully said, “He’s not going to get it. I couldn’t fix it.”
Gronevelt nodded. “It was a very tough proposition from the word ‘go,’ what with Johnny’s background. What about his hundred grand?”
“I have it for him in the cage,” Cully said. “He can pick it up whenever he wants it.”
“Good,” Gronevelt said. “Good. He’ll be pleased about that.”
They both leaned back and sipped their drinks. Both preparing for the real battle, the real question. Then Gronevelt said slowly, “You and I know why Johnny’s making a special trip here to Vegas. You promised him you could fix it so that Judge Brianca would give his nephew a suspended sentence on that fraud and income tax rap. Yesterday his nephew got sentenced to five years. I hope you have an answer for that one.”
“I haven’t got an answer,” Cully said. “I paid Judge Brianca the forty grand that Mr. Santadio gave me. That’s all I could do. This is the first time Judge Brianca ever disappointed me. Maybe I can get the money back from him. I don’t know. I’ve been trying to get in touch with him, but I guess he’s ducking me.”
Gronevelt said, “You know that Johnny has a lot to say about what goes on in this hotel, and if he says it’s important that I let you go, I have to let you go. Cully, you know that I’m not in my old power position ever since I’ve had that stroke. I had to give away pieces of the hotel. I’m really just an errand boy now, a front. I can’t help you.”
Cully laughed. “Hell, I’m not even worried about getting fired. I’m just worried about getting killed.”
“Oh,” Gronevelt said, “no, no. It’s not that serious.” He smiled at Cully as a father might smile at his son. “Did you really think it was that serious?”
For the first time Cully relaxed and took a big swig of scotch. He felt enormously relieved. “I’ll settle for that deal right now,” Cully said, “just getting fired.”
Gronevelt slapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t settle so fast,” he said. “Johnny knows the great work you’ve done for this hotel in the last two years since my stroke. You’ve done a marvelous job. You’ve added millions of dollars to the revenue coming in here. Now that’s important. Not only to me but to guys like Johnny. So you’ve made a couple of mistakes. Now, I have to admit they are very pissed off, especially about the nephew going to jail and especially because you told them not to worry. That you had the full fix on Judge Brianca. They couldn’t understand how you could say such a thing and then not come through for them.”
Cully shook his head. “I really can’t figure it,” he said. “I’ve had Brianca in my pocket for the last five years, especially when I had that little blond Charlie working him over.”
Gronevelt laughed. “Yeah, I remember her. Pretty girl. Good heart.”
“Yeah,” Cully said. “The judge was crazy for her. He used to take her on his boat down to Mexico fishing for a week at a time. He said she was always great company. Great little girl.”
What Cully didn’t tell Gronevelt was how Charlie used to tell him stories about the judge. How she used to go into the judge’s chambers and, while he was still in his robes, go down on him before he went out to conduct a trial. She also told him how on the boat fishing she had made the sixty-year-old judge go down on her and how the judge had immediately rushed into the stateroom, grabbed a bottle of whiskey and gargled to get all the germs out. It was the first time the old judge had ever done this to a woman. But, Charlie Brown said, after that he was like a kid eating ice cream. Cully smiled a little bit, remembering, and then he was aware of Gronevelt going on.
“I think I have a way for you to square yourself,” Gronevelt said. “I have to admit Santadio is hot. He’s steaming, but I can cool him off. All you have to do is come through for him with a big coup, right now, and I think I have it. There’s another three million waiting in Japan. Johnny’s share of that is a million bucks. If you can bring that out, as you did once before, I think for a million dollars Johnny Santadio will forgive you. But just remember this: It’s more dangerous now.”
Cully was surprised and then very alert. The first question he asked was: “Will Mr. Santadio know I’m going?” And if Gronevelt had said yes, then Cully would have turned down the deal. But Gronevelt, looking him right in the eye, said, “It’s my idea, and my suggestion to you is that you tell nobody, not anyone, that you are going. Take the afternoon flight to LA, hook up to the Japanese flight and you’ll be in Japan before Johnny Santadio gets here and then I’ll just tell him that you’re out of town. While you’re en route, I’ll make all the arrangements for the money to be delivered to you. Don’t worry about strangers because we are going through our old friend Fummiro.”
It was the mention of Fummiro’s name that dissolved all of Cully’s suspicions. “OK,” he said. “I’ll do it. The only thing is
I was going to New York to see Merlyn and he’s meeting me at the plane, so I’ll have to call him.”
“No,” Gronevelt said. “You just never know who may be listening on the phone or who he may tell. Let me take care of it. I’ll let him know not to meet you at the plane. Don’t even cancel your reservation. That will throw people off the track. I’ll tell Johnny you went to New York. You’ll have a great cover. OK?”
“OK,” Cully said.
Gronevelt shook his hand and clapped him on the shoulder. “Get in and out as fast as you can,” Gronevelt said. “If you make it back here, I promise you that you will be squared away with Johnny Santadio. You’ll have nothing to worry about.”
On the night before Cully left for Japan he called up two girls he knew. Soft hookers both. One was the wife of a pit boss in a hotel down the Strip. Her name was Crystin Lesso.
“Crystin,” he said, “do you feel in the mood to get thrashed?”
“Sure,” Crystin said. “How much will you knock off my markers?”
Cully usually doubled the price for a thrashing, which would mean two hundred dollars. What the hell, he thought, I’m going to Japan, who knows what will happen?
“I’ll knock five hundred off,” Cully said.
There was a little gasp at the other end of the wire.
“Jesus,” Crystin said. “This must be some thrashing. Who do I have to go in the ring with, a gorilla?”
“Don’t worry,” Cully said. “You always have a good time, don’t you?”
&nb
sp; Crystin said, “When?”
“Let’s make it early,” Cully said. “I have to catch a plane tomorrow morning. OK with you?’
“Sure,” Crystin said. “I assume you’re not giving me dinner?”
“No,” Cully said. “I have too many things to do. I won’t have time.”
After hanging up the phone, Cully opened the desk drawer and took out a little packet of white slips. They were Crystin’s markers, totaling three thousand dollars.
Cully pondered on the mysteries of women. Crystin was a good-looking girl of about twenty-eight. But a really degenerate gambler. Two years she had gone down the drain for over twenty grand. She had called Cully for an appointment at his office, and when she came in, she had given him a proposition that she would work off the twenty grand as a soft hustler. But she would take dates only directly from Cully with the utmost secrecy because of her husband.
Cully had tried to talk her out of it. “If your husband knows, he’ll kill you,” Cully said.
“If he finds out about my twenty-grand markers, he’ll kill me,” Crystin said. “So what’s the difference? And besides, you know I can’t stop gambling and I figure that over and above the fee I can get some of these guys to give me a stake or at least put down a bet for me.”
So Cully had agreed. In addition, he had given her a job as a secretary for the food and beverages officer of the Xanadu Hotel. He was attracted to her and at least once a week they went to bed together afternoons in his hotel suite. After a while he introduced her to thrashing and she had loved it.
Cully took out one of the five-hundred-dollar markers and tore it up. Then on a sudden impulse he tore up all Crystin’s markers and threw them in his wastebasket. When he came back from Japan, he would have to cover for it with some paperwork, but he would think about that later. Crystin was a good kid. If something happened to him, he wanted her to be in the clear.
He passed the time cleaning up details on his desk and then went down to his suite. He ordered up some chilled champagne and made a call to Charlie Brown.
Then he took a shower and got into his pajamas. They were very fancy pajamas. White silk, edged with red, with his initials on the jacket pocket.
Charlie Brown came first and he gave her some champagne and then Crystin came. They sat around talking and he made them drink the whole bottle before he led them into the bedroom.
The two girls were a little shy of each other, though they bad met before around town. Cully told them to undress and he stripped off his pajamas.
The three of them got into bed together naked and he talked to them awhile. Kidding them, making jokes, kissing them occasionally and playing with their breasts. And then with an arm around their necks he pressed their faces close together. They knew what was expected of them. The two women kissed each other tentatively on the lips.
Cully lifted the more slender Charlie Brown, slid underneath her so that the two women were next to each other. He felt the quick surge of sexual excitement.
“Come on,” he said. “You’ll love it. You know you’ll love it.”
He ran his hand between Charlie Brown’s legs and let it rest there. At the same time he leaned over and kissed Crystin on the mouth and then he pressed the two women together.
It took a little time for them to get started. They were very tentative, a little shy. It was always like this. Gradually Cully edged away from them until he was seated at the foot of the bed.
He felt a sudden tranquility as he watched the two women make love to each other. To him, with all his cynicism about women and love, it was the most beautiful thing he could ever hope to see. They both had lush bodies and lovely faces, and they were both truly passionate as they could never be with him. He could watch it forever.
As they went on, Cully rose from the bed and sat in one of the chairs. The two women were becoming more and more passionate. He watched their bodies flow around and up and down each other until there was a final climaxing of violent thrashing and the two women lay in each other’s arms quiet and still.
Cully went over to the bed and kissed them each gently. Then he lay down between them and he said, “Don’t do anything. Let’s just sleep a little.”
***
He dozed off, and when he awoke, the two women were in his living room, dressed and chatting together.
He took five one-hundred-dollar bills, five Honeybees, out of his wallet and gave them to Charlie Brown.
She kissed him good-night and left him alone with Crystin.
He sat down on the sofa and put his arm around Crystin. He gave her a gentle kiss.
“I tore up your markers,” he said. “You don’t have to worry about them anymore, and I’m telling the cage to give you five hundred dollars’ worth of chips so you can do a little gambling tonight.”
Crystin laughed and said, “Cully, I can’t believe it. You’ve finally become a mark.”
“Everybody’s a mark,” Cully said. “But what the hell. You’ve been a good sport these last two years. I want to get you off the hook.”
Crystin gave him a hug and rested against his shoulder and then she said quietly, “Cully, why do you call it thrashing? You know, when you put me together with a girl?”
Cully laughed. “I just like the idea of the word. It just describes it someway.”
“You don’t put me down for that, do you?” Crystin said.
“No,” Cully said. “To me it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
When Crystin left, Cully couldn’t sleep. Finally he went down into the casino. He spotted Crystin at the blackjack table. She had a stack of black one-hundred-dollar chips in front of her.
She waved him toward her. She gave him a delighted smile. “Cully, this is my lucky night,” she said. “I’m ahead twelve grand.”
She picked up a stack of chips and placed them in his hand. “This is for you,” she said. “I want you to have them.”
Cully counted the chips. There were ten of them. A thousand dollars.
He laughed and said, “OK. I’ll hold them for you, someday you’ll need gambling money.” And he left her and went up to his office and threw the chips into one of his desk drawers. He thought again of calling Merlyn but decided against it.
He looked around the office. There was nothing left for him to do, but he felt as if he were forgetting something. As if he had counted down the shoe in which some important cards were missing. But it was too late now. In a few hours be would be in Los Angeles and boarding a plane for Tokyo.
In Tokyo Cully took a taxi to Fummiro’s office. The Tokyo streets were crowded, many of the people wearing white surgical gauze masks as a guard against the germ-laden air. Even the construction workers with their shiny red coats and white helmets wore the surgical masks. For some reason the sight of them gave Cully a queasy feeling. But he realized that this was because he was nervous about the whole trip.
Fummiro greeted him with a hearty handshake and a wide smile.
“So good to see you, Mr. Cross,” Fummiro said. “We’ll make sure you have a good trip, a good time in our country. Just let my assistant know what you require.”
They were in Fummiro’s modern American-style office and could speak safely.
Cully said, “I have my suitcase at the hotel and I just want to know when I should bring it to your office.”
“Monday,” Fummiro said. “On the weekend, nothing can be done. But there is a party at my house tomorrow night at which I am sure you will enjoy yourself.”
“Thank you very much,” Cully said. “But I just want to rest. I’m not feeling too good and it’s been a long trip.”
“Ah, yes. I understand,” Fummiro said. “I have a good idea. There is a country inn in Yogawara. It’s only an hour’s drive from here. I will send you in my limousine. It’s the most beautiful spot in Japan. Quiet and restful. You have masseuse girls and I will arrange for other girls to meet you there. The food is superb. Japanese food, of course. It is where all the great men
of Japan bring their mistresses for a little holiday and it’s discreet. You can relax there without any worries and you can come back Monday completely refreshed and I will have the money for you.”
Cully thought it over. He would be in no danger until he got the money, and the idea of relaxing in the country inn appealed to him.
“That sounds great,” he said to Fummiro. “When can you have the limousine pick me up?”
“The Friday-night traffic is terrible,” Fummiro said. “Go tomorrow morning. Have a good rest tonight and on the weekend and I will see you on Monday.”
As a special mark of honor Fummiro walked him out of the office to the elevator.
It was longer than a hour by limousine to Yogawara. But when he got there, Cully was delighted that he had made the trip. It was a beautiful country inn, Japanese style.
His suite of rooms was magnificent. The servants floated through the halls like ghosts, nearly invisible. And there was no sign of any other guests.
In one of his rooms there was a huge redwood tub. The bathroom itself was equipped with all different makes of razors and shaving lotions and women’s cosmetics. Anything anyone could need.
Two tiny young girls, barely nubile, filled his tub and washed him clean before he got into the fragrant hot water. The tub was so huge that he could almost swim in it. And so deep that the water almost rose above his head. He felt the tiredness and tension go out of his bones, and then finally the two young girls lifted him out of the tub and led him to a mat in the other room. And stretched out, he let them massage him, finger by finger, toe by toe, limb by limb, what seemed each single strand of hair on his head. It was the greatest massage he’d ever had.
