You Make Me Feel So Dead Read online

  ‘We can take care of that,’ Frank said. ‘We’ve got connections in LA.’

  ‘What about here in town?’ Dino asked.

  ‘Jerry and I are going to split up. He’ll see if he can track down Reynolds’ movements in Vegas.’

  ‘And you?’ Frank asked.

  ‘I’m going the other way,’ I said. ‘Check out if Danny pissed off anyone who might have wanted to frame him for murder.’

  ‘What about Elvis?’ Frank asked. Of course he had to be concerned with that, because he’d offered me up to the Colonel as a favor.

  ‘I’ll talk with him,’ I said. ‘I have to tell you he’s not as dumb or as simple as his country act makes him appear to be.’

  ‘I never thought he was dumb,’ Frank said, ‘but simple …’

  ‘Not that, either,’ I said. ‘He told me he knew that you and the Colonel cooked this up so I could babysit him.’

  Frank looked surprised. ‘OK, I see what you mean. Was he pissed?’

  ‘Not at all,’ I said. ‘He used the leverage to get me to tell him about the murder.’

  ‘So he’s interested,’ Dino said.

  ‘Very.’

  ‘Then maybe you can use that to keep him in line,’ Dean said. ‘You know, tell him you’ll keep him informed.’

  ‘I’ll try that,’ I said. ‘In fact, I’ll go from here to the Riv to talk to him. I’m sure I can get him to cooperate by stayin’ out of trouble.’

  ‘OK,’ Frank said, ‘Dean and I will get on the phone to LA and put some people on this guy. You wanna write down his particulars?’

  I took out a Sands notepad and passed him the notes I’d made in Jerry’s room.

  ‘Already done.’

  ‘Good.’

  ‘Guys, I gotta thank you for pitchin’ in, here,’ I said. ‘Danny’s ass is really in a sling. I’m sure he’s gonna appreciate it, too.’

  ‘Forget it, Eddie,’ Frank said.

  ‘It’s nice to be the ones helping for once,’ Dean said, ‘rather than the ones asking for help.’

  We agreed that I would get in touch with them later in the day, and then Jerry and I left.

  In the lobby Jerry asked, ‘Who gets the Caddy?’

  I answered by tossing him the keys.

  THIRTY-NINE

  I got a car from the Sands motor pool. All I had to do was clear it with Jack Entratter. As soon as he heard what was going on he gave his consent. He also asked me to keep him updated.

  I drove to the Riviera, braved the crowds once again to get inside and announced myself at the front desk.

  ‘Mr Presley is rehearsing in the Versailles showroom.’

  ‘That’s fine,’ I said. ‘I’ll just go—’

  ‘I’ll need to announce you, sir.’

  ‘Sure.’

  He called ahead to the showroom and said someone would be out momentarily. Of course, it was Red.

  ‘Hey Red!’ I said. ‘Great to see you.’

  He didn’t speak, just turned and started walking. I followed him through the lobby, down a hall that led to the showrooms. As we neared the Versailles I could hear music, and Elvis singing. When we got inside it started to feel surreal.

  Here he was, Elvis the King, with a guitar around his neck, performing. It was almost like a private show for me because the room was empty except for those on stage with him and a few members of his Mafia in the seats.

  He finished up a version of ‘Viva Las Vegas’ and stared out at his crew.

  ‘How was that?’

  ‘Great!’

  ‘Cool, man!’

  ‘Wonderful.’

  I followed Red down the aisle and Elvis spotted us.

  ‘Eddie, how did it sound to you?’ he asked.

  ‘I couldn’t really hear it that well in the back, Elvis,’ I said. ‘I think you might need to adjust your volume.’

  Elvis stared at his boys, who were scattered throughout the theater.

  ‘Why didn’t one of you guys notice that?’ he demanded. ‘Thanks, Eddie.’ He turned to his band and said, ‘Take five, boys.’ He lifted his guitar from around his neck and set it down, then dropped down from the stage to give me a hug.

  ‘What’s up?’ he asked. ‘I thought we were gonna meet this afternoon?’

  ‘Can we talk?’ I asked. ‘Alone?’

  ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘Come on, we’ll go sit in the back. If you couldn’t hear me, nobody’ll be able to hear us.’

  We walked into the back while Red and the boys moved to the front. This time instead of Red glaring at me, I got it from all of them. I did notice that Sonny wasn’t there.

  We sat in the back row with a seat between us. His brow was damp with sweat and he used a handkerchief that looked like silk to wipe it.

  ‘What’s up?’ he asked.

  ‘I have a problem,’ I said, and told him about Danny being arrested and me being asked to investigate.

  ‘That’s great!’ he said excitedly, when I finished.

  ‘Well …’

  ‘No,’ he said, ‘I don’t mean it’s great that your friend got arrested again, I just mean it’s great that you’re the guy who’s gonna help him.’

  ‘OK,’ I said, ‘but this means I won’t be able to spend as much time with you as I wanted to.’

  ‘You mean as much time as the Colonel wanted you to.’

  ‘Well, yeah.’

  ‘You said Frank and Dean are helpin’?’

  ‘That’s right,’ I said. ‘They offered and I needed to accept.

  ‘OK, then,’ he said, ‘that’s the answer.’

  ‘What’s the answer?’

  ‘I’m gonna be part of your team,’ he said. ‘I’m goin’ out with you.’

  When I gave Kaminsky Elvis’ name as part of my team I admit I was showing off. I never expected that Elvis would actually want to help.

  ‘Now wait a minute,’ I said. ‘I’m supposed to keep you out of trouble, not take you into a murder investigation.’

  ‘What’s a better way to keep an eye on me than to take me with you?’ he asked.

  ‘You have that thing this afternoon, remember,’ I said.

  ‘We can go together, and after that we can get to work,’ he proposed.

  ‘Elvis, the Colonel would kill me—’

  ‘He’ll kill you if I tell him you blew me off.’

  ‘You wouldn’t.’

  ‘Well,’ he said, ‘I wouldn’t want to … come on, Eddie. I want in. I’ve never done anything like this before.’

  ‘You’re gonna be recognized …’

  ‘I’ll wear a hat and sunglasses,’ he said. ‘I swear, nobody’ll know it’s me.’

  I wondered how he was gonna cover up those sideburns.

  FORTY

  I spoke to Kaminsky just before lunch that morning. The arraignment hadn’t gone well. The judge had set bail for Danny at two million dollars.

  ‘What?’

  ‘And he considered it charitable for a charge of murder,’ Kaminsky said. ‘Don’t worry, Kaminsky’s looking for a bondsman that will put up the ten per cent.’

  ‘OK,’ I said. ‘Let me know how it goes.’

  The afternoon thing was a meet and greet with the press. They had it in the Versailles. I stood in the back of the room while the reporters fired questions at Elvis, Ann-Margret and another actor, Cesare Danova. Poor Danova, he was virtually ignored while Elvis and Ann-Margret answered most of the questions. Despite the fact that he was an actor with many roles under his belt, he took it all in good humor, recognizing the fact that Elvis was the star.

  When it was over a limo took Ann-Margret and Cesare Danova to their hotels. Elvis came to the back of the theater and sat

  next to me.

  ‘I’m all yours,’ he said. ‘What do we do first?’

  I looked at him and said, ‘We get you a hat.’

  In the lobby of the hotel, I bought Elvis a baseball cap with LAS VEGAS written on it. If I had the chance I’d replace it with something more innocuous
. He put on a pair of sunglasses and, to me, he looked like Elvis Presley with glasses and a hat. Maybe it would work on others, though.

  We went out the back door to the rear parking lot of the Riviera, where I had left the car.

  ‘This is yours?’ he asked, looking at the 1960 Ford Falcon.

  ‘No, I got it from the Sands,’ I said. ‘I’m lettin’ Jerry use my Caddy.’

  ‘Jerry,’ Elvis said. ‘Where is he? Isn’t he workin’ with us?’

  ‘He’s workin’ on the other aspect of the case,’ I said, as we got in the car. ‘He’s checking on what Reynolds was doing in town. We’re gonna check up on what Danny’s been workin’ on.’ I’d given Jerry a location to meet us at in about three hours, hoping that was enough time for all of us to find out something.

  ‘You think he’s workin’ on a case where somebody wants to kill him?’

  ‘Frame him, is more likely.’

  ‘But to frame him, wouldn’t somebody need to know about this guy Reynolds?’

  ‘You’re right,’ I said. ‘That’s a good point, Elvis.’

  I pulled the car out of the parking lot.

  ‘Where we headed?’ he asked.

  ‘Fremont Street,’ I said. ‘I’m gonna take another look at Danny’s office.

  When we got to Fremont Street the downstairs door was open. I remembered locking it, so either Danny or Penny had left it open. Or Penny was upstairs.

  We went up, found that door unlocked, too. When we entered, Penny was sitting at her desk.

  ‘What are you doin’ here?’ I asked.

  ‘I couldn’t just sit home. Did Kaminsky tell you about the arraignment?’

  ‘Yes, he did.’

  ‘I was making some calls, trying to find someone who would put up the bail.’

  ‘Any luck?’

  ‘No,’ she said. ‘I guess you find out who your friends are when you’re asking them for money.’

  ‘How much money?’ Elvis asked.

  Penny looked up and I could see that she didn’t recognize him.

  ‘Who’s he?’ she asked me.

  ‘Him? That’s … Buzz.’

  ‘Buzz?’

  ‘Yeah, he’s helpin’ out.’

  ‘Where’s Jerry?’

  ‘He’s doin’ somethin’ else.’

  ‘How much money is needed, ma’am?’ Elvis asked.

  ‘Well … Buzz … the bail is two million dollars,’ she said. ‘A bondsman only needs to put up two hundred thousand dollars. Do you think you have two hundred thousand dollars?’

  ‘As a matter of fact, I do,’ Elvis said.

  She stared at him.

  ‘You mean it?’ I asked him.

  ‘Well, sure,’ he said. ‘What good’s money if you can’t use it to help your friends?’

  ‘Is he serious?’ Penny asked.

  ‘I think he is,’ I said.

  ‘But—’

  ‘Take off your hat … Buzz,’ I said.

  FORTY-ONE

  ‘Buzz?’ Penny asked, moments later.

  ‘Best I could come up with on short notice.’

  Elvis looked at her sheepishly.

  ‘Elvis Presley?’ she said, for the third time.

  ‘Are you serious about putting up the bail money for Danny?’ I asked, again.

  ‘Well, sure,’ he said. ‘I told you I’d help, didn’t I?’

  ‘Oh, Mr Presley …’ Penny said.

  ‘Ma’am, I’d appreciate it if you’d just call me Elvis.’

  ‘All right, Elvis.’

  ‘Penny, call Kaminsky,’ I said. ‘He’ll have a bondsman we can use. Tell him we’ve got the money. But don’t tell him where from.’

  ‘OK, Eddie.’

  ‘Why not tell ’im?’ Elvis asked.

  ‘We don’t want it getting out that you’re involved,’ I said. ‘If that happened the Colonel would really have my head.’

  ‘You’re probably right.’

  ‘We’ll have to go to a bank to get cash,’ I said, ‘but we don’t want a check floating around with your name on it.’

  ‘We can do that later,’ Elvis said. ‘What about the reason we came?’

  ‘When Penny gets off the phone I’ll have her show me Danny’s active files.’

  ‘Why just active?’ Elvis asked.

  ‘We have to start somewhere.’

  ‘Eddie?’ Penny held the phone out to me. ‘Kaminsky wants to talk to you.’

  I grabbed the phone.

  ‘Eddie, here.’

  ‘Where did you find two hundred grand?’ Kaminsky asked.

  ‘I work in a casino, remember?’ I said. ‘I know people with money.’

  ‘One of your show business friends?’

  ‘I’m not gonna say, Kaminsky,’ I said. ‘Just know that I’ve got it.’

  ‘OK,’ he said, ‘just bring it to my office later today.’

  ‘Your office, or—’

  ‘Grabstein’s,’ he said, and hung up.

  ‘Is it OK?’ Penny asked.

  ‘It will be,’ I assured her. ‘I’ll bring him the money later, but first we need to take a look at Danny’s active cases.’

  ‘That’s easy,’ she replied. ‘He was only working on one.’

  She walked to her file cabinet, looked inside, then closed it. ‘He must have it on his desk.’

  She thought Danny was working on one case. What she didn’t know was that she was the second one. I still hadn’t gotten a good explanation from Danny as to why he had asked me to help with following Penny, but that was going to have to come later.

  Penny went into Danny’s office with Elvis and me following. She walked around behind the desk, and came up with a file.

  ‘This is it,’ she said, handing it to me.

  ‘I’ll read this,’ I said. ‘But first break it down for me, Penny.’

  Albert Kroner was missing.

  Kroner was a lawyer with a practice in Chicago. He had apparently absconded with the fortunes of several of his high profile clients. Danny was hired to try and locate him in Las Vegas.

  ‘Why Las Vegas?’ I asked Penny.

  ‘It’s just one place his clients think he may have run to. They got together and hired several private investigators here, and in a few European countries he might have gone.’

  ‘What has Danny found out?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Penny said. ‘Whatever he’s found will be in that file. He hasn’t discussed it with me, but then I haven’t exactly been … accessible.’

  ‘I understand.’

  ‘So you think this fella Kroner framed him for murder?’ Elvis asked.

  ‘How could he?’ Penny asked. ‘How would he know anything about Billy Reynolds and me?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘I’ll ask him when we find him.’

  ‘How are you going to do that?’ she asked.

  ‘By getting some help from Chicago.’

  FORTY-TWO

  Jerry pulled the Caddy to a stop in front of the house and got out. It was a two-story A-frame in a middle class residential neighborhood far off the strip. From what Jerry and I had heard, Reynolds had rented the house, but we didn’t know who from.

  Jerry approached the front door, which had been sealed with police tape. He knew he could break the tape, but he was sure I didn’t want the cops to know we’d been there. He decided to find another way in.

  He walked around to the side of the house, along a hedge that stood about six feet tall. When he looked over the hedge he stopped short at what he saw. A woman was sun bathing in her back yard, lying on a chaise lounge face down, nude. The hedge was supposed to offer her privacy, but Jerry was tall enough to see over it.

  Her skin was white, as if she’d just started the tanning process. In Jerry’s opinion, she had a great ass, plump as a fresh pear, and although she was lying on them, he could tell she had a top drawer pair of tits.

  ‘Mr G.,’ he told me later, ‘it was like I was nailed to the floor.’

  I told
him I couldn’t blame him if she was the babe he said she was.

  She turned her head and saw him, staring at her over the hedge.

  ‘What are you standing on?’ she asked.

  ‘Wha … uh, nothing. Just my feet.’

  ‘You’re that tall?’

  ‘I guess so.’

  She pushed herself up on one elbow, so he could see one large breast with a cherry nipple.

  ‘It wasn’t really a cherry, Mr G.,’ he said, ‘it just reminded me of one.’

  I told him I got it.

  ‘You a cop?’ she asked, looking amused. Jerry said she was no kid, maybe thirty-six or so, but still a dish.

  ‘No, ma’am.’

  ‘“No ma’am”?’ she repeated. ‘But you are interested in the murder that took place in that house, right?’

  ‘Yes, ma … uh, yes.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘I’m, uh, an investigator for a lawyer.’

  ‘You don’t look like an investigator,’ she said.

  ‘What do I look like?’

  She studied him for a moment, cocking her head to one side, then said, ‘Muscle.’

  ‘That, too.’

  ‘What’s your name?’

  ‘Jerry.’

  ‘Hi, Jerry, I’m Amanda. Come on around and we’ll talk.’

  ‘You know somethin’ about the murder?’ he asked.

  ‘I know something,’ she said. ‘Come on.’ She sat up straighter, so he could clearly see her pendulous breasts. He said they swayed when she moved. ‘I won’t bite.’

  Jerry said by the time he found his way around the hedge to her back yard she had put on a two-piece bathing suit that hardly covered her.

  ‘You didn’t think I was gonna stay naked and talk to you, did ya?’ she asked.

  ‘I was hopin’,’ he answered, honestly.

  She laughed. ‘You’re cute. Come inside where it’s cool. I’ll give you a drink.’

  She led the way into her house, which was a split level rather than a real two floor. They stepped down as she led him into a dining room.

  ‘What’ll you have?’ she asked. ‘Lemonade or ice tea?’

  ‘No booze?’ he asked.

  ‘I don’t drink,’ she said. She turned and looked at him. ‘Just because I sun bathe in the raw don’t make me a bad girl, mister.’