The Way You Die Tonight (26 page)

While Frank was ‘The Chairman of the Board', Dean was known as ‘The King of Cool'. All of those endeavors would make him even cooler.

I told him stories of murder, sex, Edward G. Robinson and Howard Hughes.

‘You have such an exciting life, Eddie,' he said. ‘And a full one. Sometimes I think I'd trade with you.'

‘You're kiddin'.'

‘I'm not,' he said. ‘Being me is hectic, and not always exciting or full.'

‘You have a great family and a fabulous career,' I said. ‘Jesus, you're Dean Martin.'

‘Yes, I am.' He picked up his soft drink. ‘I'll drink to that.'

I picked up my beer and drank with him.

‘Tell me more about the murder.'

I did. I laid it all out for him. Maybe he'd have some insight, or a suggestion. Maybe I just needed to hear it all out loud …

Earlier Danny had come by the Sands and we had gone over the case again. We talked about the women who worked there and came up with a list of nine suspects. Since I had agreed to have dinner with Dean, Danny said he'd once again talk to them, and look into their lives.

I wanted Jerry to go with him, but he insisted on trailing Dean and me to the Bootlegger. I told him to eat with us, that Dino wouldn't mind, but he said no. He'd be outside, making sure we weren't disturbed. I told him I'd take him for something to eat after.

‘I know you will, Mr G.'

So I listened to myself talk to Dean and in the end he asked, ‘Would a woman alone have been able to lift her up and hang her from a pipe?'

Good point. That was why the cops thought there might be two of them.

But think about it, I told myself. What kind of a woman would it take to be able to do that alone?

‘It could have been a strong, pissed off woman,' I said. ‘Or a desperate one.'

‘Desperate people can do amazing things, sometimes,' Dean said. ‘Feats of strength they wouldn't ordinarily be able to accomplish.'

‘That's true.'

‘Well,' Dean said, ‘I had something I wanted to talk to you about, but it seems like your time is well accounted for.'

‘I'm never too busy for you, Dino,' I said. ‘What's up?'

‘It's not about me, really,' he said. ‘It's Jerry.'

‘Jerry … Lewis?'

He nodded.

‘I thought you two weren't speaking?'

‘Well, not every day.'

The animosity of their split had been played up in the press, but I knew that the two had briefly reunited on stage at the Sands in 1960, and later that year when Jerry was too exhausted from his schedule while filming
The Bellboy
to perform his act, Dean stood in for him.

‘So what's up?'

‘Jerry's got a problem he needs help with, and I think you're the guy,' he said. ‘But finish up what you're working on – get things worked out with Eddie Robinson and Hughes – and then we can talk again. OK?'

‘Sure, Dean,' I said. ‘Whenever you say.'

After dinner we took the limo back to the Sands. Dean was quiet, and I realized I still had to call Eddie Robinson and set up a poker game for him.

I knew Big Jerry was on our tail – probably with the Caddy – but I didn't spot him. Jerry was good at that.

In the lobby Dean gave me a hug and said we'd see each other again before he finished his run at the Sahara and left Vegas. That suited me just fine.

It wasn't that late – Dean liked to turn in early when he could – so I called Eddie Robinson's room and was invited to come up.

When I knocked, the door was opened by Madge, who grinned crookedly at me and said, ‘Hiya, Eddie.'

‘Madge.'

‘Come on in.'

Robinson was sitting at the bar on a stool, and Madge moved around behind it. There were cards on the bar, so I knew she was dealing from there.

‘Hey, Eddie G.!' Robinson said, enthusiastically. ‘I think I've got it!'

‘It?' I asked, coming up alongside him.

‘Actually, I should say I've got “him”. Lancey Howard. Thanks to Madge I've got the character. Now all I need to do is try him out in a real game.'

I looked at Madge and she shrugged. She was wearing her work clothes – black trousers, a white shirt and tie.

‘He's as ready as he'll ever be.'

‘For a high-stakes game?'

‘I have the money,' Eddie said, ‘but I think I can get the studio to back me so I don't have to use my own. It's all part of my research.'

‘Well, always a good idea if you can get somebody else to back your play.'

‘Can you set it up?' Robinson asked, excitedly. ‘Maybe tonight?'

‘That's cutting it a bit close,' I said. ‘I think tomorrow night would work better.'

‘All right,' Robinson said. ‘I'll just keep on working with Madge tonight – that is, if you can stay?' He directed his question to her.

‘As long as I'm still off the clock,' she answered, looking at me.

‘You are.'

She smiled at the charming actor and said, ‘Then I can stay.'

‘Excellent!'

‘I gotta go, Eddie,' I said, ‘but I'll talk to you tomorrow.'

‘I'll be waiting for your call, Eddie G.'

‘I'll see you out.'

Madge walked me to the door, and when I stepped into the hall I found out why.

‘Eddie, Mr Robinson insists on payin' me somethin' for these lessons,' she said. ‘I know I'm still on salary, but … is it OK?'

‘That's fine, Madge,' I said. ‘No problem with you making a little extra cash.'

‘Thanks, Eddie,' she said, ‘and thanks for thinkin' of me. He's really a helluva nice guy.'

‘Yeah, he is,' I said.

She smiled, backed up and closed the door. With my commitment to Eddie Robinson fulfilled, and my dinner with Dean finished, I could relax and turn my mind back to murder.

I
got off the elevator on the fourth floor. The office staff had long since gone home, and it was dark and quiet. I went into Jack's outer office and turned on the lights, sat behind Helen's desk. I thought about what Detective Martin had told me about the belt that had been used to hang her. It was too big to have been hers, so it had to have belonged to the killer. That made the killer a woman. But a woman alone? Certainly a large enough woman could have lifted the slight Helen up to hang her. And Helen was light enough for that belt not to have snapped.

How many of the female staff in the Sands were large enough and strong enough to have done it? I knew of a few right off the top of my head, including Marcy, who had found the body.

Marcy. She had run into Jack's office in a panic. What had she been wearing? I couldn't remember. I hated to think of her as a suspect. She had been working at the Sands for a long time. We had dated a few times, and she had even gone out with Danny.

For want of something better to do I got up and walked down the hall to the office where Marcy worked. I turned on the lights and sat behind her desk. There were other women I could think of who the belt might have fit, but they were a little older than she was, and heavier. Big women, for sure, but not fit. Even with Marcy's weight gain, she was fit and strong.

I started to sweat.

Could Marcy have killed Helen, hung her up, and then come running into Jack's office, playacting at being in a panic? Was she that cold? In my experience, that didn't fit her character at all.

But look at how much we didn't know about Helen's character.

I started going through Marcy's drawers. One was filled with chocolate, and hard candies. Another with envelopes and paper. A third was stuffed with photos. I went through them. Most were of celebrities, and some with Marcy posing with celebrities. There was one of her and Dean, another of her and Sammy. A few of her and Jack Jones, who I knew she liked a lot.

The top center drawer had paper clips, various types of bulletin board pins, pens, pencils, a pack of cookies, some keys … I paused, and looked at the key. I knew that the ladies' room was kept locked and anyone needing to use it had to get a key, either from Marcy or Helen. The keys in the desk were loose. Marcy probably knew the restroom key on sight, but I didn't. I took the keys and went to the ladies' room door.

I had five keys in my hand. As I tried them the third key opened the door. I almost went back to the office at that point, but decided to try the other two keys, anyway. The last key opened the door, also.

What was Marcy doing with two keys to the ladies' room?

Was the other one Helen's missing key?

Why would Marcy have Helen's key?

My heart sank, I got a sick feeling in my stomach. Had all the investigating, all the surmise and effort been for nothing? The killer was right there the whole time?

I went back to the office and sat behind her desk again. I put the other keys back in the desk, held the two ladies' room keys in my hand. The fact that Marcy had two keys did not make her a killer. It wasn't even a sure thing that the second key had been Helen's. Maybe Marcy had had a second key made since the murder.

I jingled the keys in my hand for a few more minutes, then put them back in the drawer. If Marcy had killed Helen I needed to prove it, needed to draw her out, somehow.

An extra key, and a belt that would probably have fit Marcy. Not a lot to hang a theory on. And it really wasn't worth mentioning to anyone else – not Danny, not Jerry or Jack, and certainly not the cops.

I had to do this myself, because if I was wrong I was going to feel like a fool, and I was going to owe Marcy a huge apology.

I
went home and spent a fitful night. I wasn't feeling good about what I was going to do, and hoped I was wrong – dead wrong.

I got two calls that morning. The first was from Jerry.

‘Where are ya, Mr G.?'

‘I'm home, Jerry.'

‘Well, I know that. Why didn't ya tell me where you were goin'?'

‘I was tired,' I said. ‘I just decided to drive home and go to bed.'

‘You remember what happened the last time?'

‘I do,' I said. ‘I'm gonna get dressed and come right back to the Sands this morning.'

‘OK, then I'll wait for you to have breakfast.'

‘I'll meet you in the café.'

I hung up, and it rang again even before I got my hand off of it.

‘Eddie? Where you been?' Danny asked.

‘I came home to go to sleep, Danny.'

‘Jerry with you?'

‘No.'

‘Remember what happened last t—'

‘I remember,' I said. ‘I'm heading back to the Sands. What have you got?'

‘Nothin',' he said. ‘I checked out the female staff, there's a few women big enough to have done the job – even Marcy fits – but I don't see a motive. No secret lives for these women, either.'

Good, that meant Marcy wasn't a member of the Happy Devil club.

‘OK, Danny,' I said.

‘I figured I'd check out some of the male staff today, unless you got something else for me.'

‘No, go ahead – but wait. Yeah. Maybe check out Walter Spires again.'

‘The wimp?'

‘Being a wimp doesn't mean he can't be a killer, Danny,' I said. ‘Maybe he flipped out.'

‘I'll take a look, Eddie,' he said.

‘Good. I'll talk to you later. I should be at the Sands all day. I've got to set up a poker game for Edward G. Robinson tonight.'

‘High stakes?'

‘Yep.'

‘Is he ready?'

‘He and Madge say he is. I guess we'll find out.'

‘I hope he does OK,' Danny said. ‘See you later.'

I hung up, took my hand off the receiver quick, but it didn't ring again. I went to shower and get dressed.

Jerry was staring into a cup of coffee when I got to the café.

‘You look like you lost your best friend,' I said, sitting across the booth from him.

‘Huh? Oh, no, I'm OK.'

I looked around, didn't see Lily working. I figured that was what had Jerry down in the dumps.

The waitress who came over was Nell. Jerry and I both ordered bacon and eggs.

‘What's the idea of goin' home without me, Mr G.?' he asked.

‘I'm not gonna let anyone make me afraid to go to my own house, Jerry,' I said. ‘Besides, I think we handled the Howard Hughes problem.'

‘I hope you're right.'

‘And I'm settin' Robinson up in a poker game tonight,' I went on. ‘That leaves us only with the murder.'

‘What's the shamus doin'?'

‘Checking into some of the male employees who might have wanted Helen dead, but I don't think he's going to find anything.'

‘So we're thinkin' it was a woman? Alone? Because of that belt?'

‘It would seem so.'

‘She'd have to be big, and strong – not like me, but bigger than the dead woman.'

‘Right.'

He studied me for a minute then said, ‘You got somebody in mind.'

‘Am I that easy to read?'

‘I know you pretty well, Mr G.'

‘Yeah, I guess you do,' I said. ‘OK, I wasn't going to share this with anyone, Jerry, but I'll share it with you. Not a word to Danny or Jack Entratter. Agreed?'

‘Sure, Mr G., whatever you say.'

I told him about finding the second ladies' room door key in Marcy's desk.

‘And the belt,' I said, ‘it would fit her.'

‘What about the clothes she was wearin' that day?' Jerry asked. ‘Would they match the belt?'

‘I don't know. To tell you the truth, I can't remember what she was wearing. But if it did match she's probably gotten rid of it by now.'

‘If she's smart.'

‘I think Marcy's kind of smart.'

‘Then what is she doin' with the second key in her desk?' Jerry asked.