“Yeah, okay,” I said. “So I’ll see you later.”
“In the lounge,” he said. “You need me before the two hours, that’s probably where I’ll be.”
So just as we’d done with Danny a little while before, we split up and went our separate ways.
There was two ways I could go about what needed to be done. I could go to Jack Entratter and have him get me the list. Or I could go to the source itself. Marcia Clarkson worked in employment, kept the records of everyone who worked in the Sands. Without Marcia nobody at the Sands would get paid. Next to Jack Entratter, she was probably the most important person in the place. Hell, maybe she was the most important. I didn’t know Jack’s deal with Frank Costello, so maybe Marcia controlled his paycheck as well.
I went to the second floor, where the Sands’ business offices were. I walked past Jack’s office and headed down the hall to Marcia’s inner sanctum. When I entered she looked up from her desk and smiled at me.
Marcia was pretty, there was no two ways about it. Her brown hair was kind of frizzy, and her glasses were so thick they magnified the beautiful blue of her eyes. She was in her mid-thirties and one might have called her mousy, but I knew her better than most. We’d gone out a few times. Nothing had developed romantically; now we were friends.
“Hello, Eddie,” she said. “What can I do for you?”
“I need a big favor, Marcy.” Yeah, I knew her well enough to call her by her nickname, the one family members usually used.
“Is this gonna get me in trouble?” she asked, raising one eyebrow.
“I don’t think so.”
“Is it something I’m gonna have to check with Mr. Entratter about?”
“Definitely not,” I said. “I’ve got carte blanche from Jack. Access to anything I need.”
“For what?”
“A favor I’m doing.”
“For Mr. Entratter?”
I shook my head.
“For Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.”
Her eyes widened and for a moment I thought they’d leap right through her glasses at me.
“Is this on the level?”
“Cross my heart.”
She looked around her small office, even though it was just her and me in the little room, and lowered her voice.
“Can you get me in to meet him?”
“Meet who?”
“Frank Sinatra, of course.”
“Well …”
I almost felt bad now that I had taken Bev to see the Rat Pack show and not Marcia.
“We might be able to take in their show and then go back stage.”
“Might?”
I nodded.
“First I have to do this favor for you?”
“Right.”
“And I have to do it without asking any questions?”
“Right again.”
“I’d feel better if you let me clear this with Mr. Entratter.”
“Sweetie,” I said, “I want you to feel better, so call him.”
“Really?”
“Go ahead. I’ll wait.”
She picked up her phone, dialed three numbers, spoke to Jack’s girl and then got put through to him. They talked for only about a minute and then she hung up.
“He says I’m to give you whatever you want.”
“Why am I not surprised.”
“And,” she added, “he says for you to get your ass into his office the minute you’re done here.”
Still not surprised.
Forty-three
You want what?”
I hadn’t expected her reaction to be so violent.
A list of-”
“I know,” she said, cutting me off. “A list of all of the employees hired by the Sands in the past six months.”
“How many could there be?” I asked.
“Hundreds!” she said. “Do you have any idea how many people work in the casino and the hotel?”
“Oh.” I hadn’t thought of that. “Okay, try this. How about a list of the hotel employees?”
That calmed her slightly.
“Well … the hotel doesn’t have as quick a turnover of personnel as the casino does. Mostly the dealers, you know? They come and go.”
“I know.” As a pit boss I saw them come and go.
“Not to mention the waitresses.”
“So, can you do it?”
“Oh, it was never a question of can I do it,” she said. “Just how long it will take.”
“How long will it take?” I asked.
“A few days.”
“I need it faster than that, Marcia.”
“Boy, you don’t ask for much, do you?”
“I also need you to have it ready for Danny Bardini to pick up.”
“Bardini?” she asked. “That good-looking private eye friend of yours?”
“That’s the one.”
“Hmm,” she said. “How about this? I’ll work late tonight and have the list ready by morning.”
“So far, so good. What’s the catch?”
“That he takes me to see the Rat Pack show, and then we go back stage to meet Frank Sinatra.”
“Deal,” I said. Danny had never met Frank. He might enjoy that, and he might enjoy Marcia, too. They were two of my favorite people, why not put them together?
“Then get out of here and let me get to work.”
I was almost out the door when she shouted, “Wait!”
“What?”
“Maids, too?”
“Oh, definitely,” I said. “Maids, too.”
“What the fuck?” Entratter said when I walked into his office. He looked as if he was about to explode-literally. It wasn’t anger, really, more puzzlement, but his big shoulders and deep chest looked as if they were going to burst from his jacket, and his tie seemed to be strangling him. As if on cue he reached up to pull it away from his neck.
“Sorry?”
“Two girls are dead?”
“And one man,” I added. “Mike Borraco.”
“From the Riviera?”
“That’s right.”
“The fuck is goin’ on, Eddie.”
“I wish I knew.”
“Why the hell are you gettin’ involved in this when you have another job to do?”
“Well,” I said, “I didn’t know it when I found the first girl, Jack, but it seems to be all the same job.”
“What?”
Briefly-quickly-I explained what was going on, and what had transpired out at the warehouse they were using for an Ocean’s 11 set.
“So you’re tellin’ me that you’ve found out that the threats against Dino are real?”
“With three people dead already, I would say so.” I left out the part about Jerry shooting Buzz Ravisi, and Ravisi accidentally killing his own partner.
“And what do the police think?”
“Apparently,” I said, “they’re lookin’ for Lou Terazzo.”
“Unlucky Lou? They wanna pin this on him?”
“You don’t think he could’ve done it, Jack?’ I asked.”Out of jealousy, maybe.”
“Jealous of Mikey Borraco?” Entratter made a rude noise.
“Jack,” I said, carefully, “do you know something I don’t know?”
“About what?”
“What the fuck, Jack-”
“You know, Eddie,” he said, suddenly calm, “your Brooklyn comes and goes. Did you know that?”
“Yeah, Jack,” I said, “I know that. Look, I’ve got to talk to everybody in the Rat Pack, and that includes hangers-on-”
“Hangers-on?”
“You know, Henry Silva, Richard Conte-”
“Don’t let those guys hear you call them that,” Entratter warned.
“Angie Dickinson,” I went on. “But before I do that is there somethin’ you wanna tell me?”
“No, Eddie,” Entratter said. “I don’t know what’s goin’ on anymore than you do. Go ahead and talk to everybody. Do your job.”
“When did this become my job?” I asked. “And not a favor for a friend?”
Before he could answer the phone rang. He picked it up, listened for the second, then said, “What the fuck do they want? They’re what? In my casino?”
He slammed the phone down.
“You know a guy named Jerry?”
“Yeah,” I said. “Frank sent him to watch my back.”
“Yeah well, Entratter said,”I guess somebody shoulda been watchin’ his.”
“What are you talkin’ about?”
“The cops are in the casino right now,” he said.
“What for?”