Fly Me to the Morgue (9 page)
âMaybe,' Danny said. âDid you see which way the sedan went?'
âIt just pulled away from the curb and kept going.'
âToward town?'
âThat's what it looked like.'
Danny handed the man a fiver and said, âThanks. Could you pass the word to other drivers? Maybe somebody saw the sedan arrive at its destination, saw the two men get out? Funny lookin' little guy with big ears? Fiver in it for them, too.'
âI'll pass the word,' the driver said. âYou ain't a cop, are ya? You're private.'
âThat's right.'
âI'll pass the word.'
âIf I get somethin' today, there'll be a ten in it for them and for you.'
âRight, boss.'
Danny gave the cab driver his number, then drove to his office to tell Penny not to leave.
âWe've got cab drivers all over the city lookin' for this guy,' he told her. âIf he went to a hotel â willingly or unwillingly â we'll find out.'
âYou think he was taken?'
âYeah,' he said. âThe Sands didn't send a car for him. And he's a stranger in town. The only reason he wouldn't take a cab is if he couldn't.'
âWhat if he's a regular at one of the other casinos and they sent a car for him? Do you know for certain he's a stranger to Vegas?'
Danny stared at Penny and said, âShut up.'
She laughed.
âYou didn't think of that?'
âI thought of it,' he said. âIf he gets dropped at another casino some cab driver there will see him.'
âSo what are you going to do in the meantime?' she asked.
âPaperwork,' he said. âI want lunch at my desk.'
âThe usual?'
âYes.'
TWENTY
Danny was at his desk eating his usual lunch â a burger platter from the Horseshoe Coffee Shop â when the phone rang.
âThis Danny Bardini?' a voice asked.
âThat's right.' Stupid question, he thought. Penny would have already told the caller that this was the office of Bardini Investigations.
âYeah, this is Frankie? The cab driver you talked to at the airport, this morning?'
âYeah, Frankie, whataya got?'
âOne of my drivers saw your guy.'
âWhere?'
âTen for me and ten for him, right?'
âRight.'
âIf this is the right guy, could you make it twenty?' the driver asked.
âFor you or for him?'
âWell, me.'
âLet's see if it pans out.'
âOK. My guy saw him gettin' out of a dark sedan in front of the Hotel Raleigh. You know where that is?'
âI do,' Danny said. It was a rundown hotel in a seedy part of town. This didn't bode well.
âI'll get back to you, Frankie.'
âTwenty would be a big help,' Frankie said.
Danny hung up.
When he passed through the outer office Penny said, âAre you going down there?'
âYes,' he said, on the way to the door.
âAlone?'
âYes.'
âWithout backup?'
He stopped, turned and looked at her. âYou want me to give you a forty-five and let you come with me?'
âWould you?' she asked, excited.
âNo,' he said. âStay 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.
âHey!'
The guy's head jerked up off the desk.
âWelcome to the Hotel Raleigh,' he mumbled. âCan I get you a room?'
âJesus, no,' Danny said. âI'm lookin' for a man who was brought here by a dark sedan. Short, thick, big earsâ'
âNo, manâ'
âDon't interrupt me!' Danny snapped. âWe 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.'
âTake it easy, man,' the young clerk said, leaning back.
âWhich way you wanna go?'
The clerk reached behind him, taking a key off the wall.
âUpstairs, room five, man.'
Danny took the key, then pointed his finger at the clerk.
âYou call ahead and I'll come down and provide that dental work. Get me?'
âI gotcha, man.'
âGo back to sleep,' Danny told him. âIt'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 . . .
â. . . and there he was, lyin' on the bed,' Danny said. âThe sheets were a bloody mess.'
âShot? Stabbed?'
Danny shook his head and said, âBeaten.'
âDamn.'
âWhy?'
âArnold was beaten, too.'
âYou're thinkin' the same person killed them both?' he asked.
âWe don't know who was killed first, right?' I asked. âWe don't even know if Arnold was killed yesterday or today. So we don't know if one person could've done it.'
âI can get the autopsy results from the coroner here in Vegas,' Danny said. âThe county might be a little harder.'
âHow did it go with the police?'
âTwo detectives from Homicide responded.'
âHargrove?'
âNot this time.'
âWell, that's good,' I said. âWe won't have to deal with his . . .'
âPrejudices?'
âYeah, I guess that's the word.'
âWhat's gonna happen when the Sheriff's detectives look up your history? And Jerry's?'
âThey'll probably want to talk to us both again,' I said. âWe'll deal with that when the time comes. Right now, we need to figure out what's goin' on.'
âWhy?'
âWhat do you mean?'
âWhy do we need to figure it out?' Danny asked. âLet 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?
âI better talk to Bing,' I said. âHe'll want to know about Stanley's death.'
âCan I come?'
âSure, why not?' I said. âAfter 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.
âWell?' Danny asked.
âHe said to come right up,' I said, getting off my stool. âBoth of us.'
TWENTY-ONE
When we knocked on the door Bing answered.
âCome on in, boys,' he said, backing away. âKaty's out getting her hair done.'
âHave you told herâ' I started to ask.
âNot yet,' he said. âI thought I'd . . . wait. For what, I don't know. A better time?'
âWhat'd you tell her about the horse?'
âThat I was thinking about it.'
âBing, this is Danny Bardini, the private detective I told you about.'
They shook hands.
âDid you find Red Stanley?' Bing asked him.
âI did, Mr Crosby,' Danny said. âHe's dead.'
Bing looked shocked, then said, âDamn. You fellas want a drink? I'm gonna have one.'
âSure,' Danny said.
âBourbon,' I said.
âAll around,' Bing said, and poured out three bourbons.
We sat at the bar, with him behind it.
âSo what do we do now?' he asked.
âWe were just talkin' about that downstairs in the bar,' I said.
âWhat did you come up with?' Bing asked.
âWell, the police in both jurisdictions are workin' on the murders,' Danny said. âDo we need to do anything?'
Bing looked at me and I shrugged.
âThe cops are still gonna come lookin' for us, aren't they?' Bing asked. âTo question us some more?'
âYes,' I said, âbut they'll have to make the connection between Arnold and Stanley.'
âI'm the connection,' Bing reminded us. âThe detectives from this morning already know about Red Stanley.'
âHe's right,' I said to Danny. âHe had to tell them why he was there.'
âThen unless Mr Crosbyâ'
âJust Bing, Danny.'
Danny smiled at Bing and said, âIf Bing doesn't tell them that Red Stanley is dead, they're gonna wanna know why.'
âThen I better call them,' Bing said. âThat one detective, Lewis, gave me his number.'
âOK,' I said. âCall him. Tell him you just found out that your trainer is dead.'
âThey'll wanna know how he found out,' Danny said.
âHe can tell them you told him,' I said.
âThen 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.
âHello?' Bing said. âOh, really? Well, yes, I suppose you'd better. Thank you.' He hung up.
âWhat?' I asked.
âI think the question just got answered for us,' he said. âThat was the front desk. They said the police are here to talk to me. They asked if they should let them come up.'
âAnd you said yes,' Danny said.
Bing nodded.
âOK,' I said, âlook, none of us has done anything wrong. Why should we be worried about talking to the police?'
âWhat about Jerry?' Danny asked.
âJerry doesn't have to be here,' I said. âHe had nothing to do with Red Stanley. All he did was ride out to that ranch with Bing to look at a horse.'
âRight,' Bing said.
âSo there aren't even any questions we have to avoid,' Danny said.
âIs this an unusual situation for you two boys to be in?' Bing asked.
âActually,' I said, âit 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.
âMr Crosby, we're here about a man named Fred Stanley. I believe you know him as Red?'
âYes,' Bing said. âAnd I also know that he's dead.'
âYes,' Freeman said. He looked at Danny. âI 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.
âAnd who are you?' Freeman asked me.
âMy name's Eddie Gianelli,' I said. âI'm a pit boss in the casino.'
âAnd you're here because . . . ?'
âHe's a friend of mine,' Bing said. âHe 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.'
âA horse?' Moore asked.
âA race horse,' Bing said.
âLet me see if I understand this,' Freeman said. âYou called Mr Gianelli when your trainer didn't show up.' He looked at me. âYou, then, called Mr Bardini and put him together with Mr Crosby.' He looked at Bing. âYou, 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, âThat's right.'
âIt didn't occur to you to call the police?'
Bing spread his hands. âFor 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.'
âSo you found him in that hotel, dead,' Moore said to Danny.
âAnd called the police right away.'
âHow did you find him?' Moore asked.
âLegwork.'
âThat's it?'
âGood detective work,' Danny said. âContacts.'
âMr Gianelli,' Freeman said, âwe 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.'
âI'd like them to stay,' Bing said.
Freeman looked at Bing curiously.
âAnd why is that?'
âWell . . . something happened when Eddie and I drove out to Red Rock Canyon.'
âRed Rock,' Moore said. âThat's where the guy with the race horse was?'
âYes.'
âAnd you went without your trainer?'
âI did.'
âBut 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.
âSo why is that important?' Moore asked.
Bing looked at me.
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