weâre on the job now, Mr Gianelli,â Crider said. âWe need you to come now. Iâm sure your friend, Miss Johnson, wonât mind.â
It seemed they didnât know that Lucy Johnson was Ava Gardner. That was good.
âWould you mind if I tell her where Iâm going?â I asked. âSheâs in the, uh, bedroom.â
The two men exchanged a glance that wasnât hard to read.
âSure,â Reasoner said, âgo ahead.â
âCan I tell her when Iâll be back?â
âBefore morning,â Crider said, then added, âprobably.â
âProbably,â I said, nodding. âThanks. Iâll be right back.â
âWouldnât be another way out in that bedroom, would there, Mr Gianelli?â
âActually, there isnât,â I said, âbut why would that thought occur to you, Detective? I havenât done anything I should be running away from.â
âThatâs good to hear,â Reasoner said. âWeâll just wait here, sir.â
Those detectives were being a little too nice, for my taste. Not what I was used to from the Vegas cops.
I backed away into the bungalow, but left the front door wide open. I walked into the bedroom, kept that door closed. Ava rushed up to me.
âWho is it, Eddie?â
âItâs the police,â I said, âthey want to talk to me about what happened outside earlier tonight.â
âThat man who was beat up?â
âI think so,â I said, âbut Iâll have to go with them to find out for sure. Iâll be back in a little while.â
âAre you sure?â she asked. âI mean, are you sure you should go with them?â
âI donât think theyâre asking, Ava,â I said.
âDo they know about me?â
âNo,â I said, âthey referred to you as Lucy Johnson. They donât know who you really are, and I think we should keep it that way.â
âI think so too, Eddie.â
âUnless you want the police to help you find out what happened, Ava.â
âNo!â she said, eyes wide. âNo, Eddie. For all I know . . . I hurt somebody. Or . . . or killed somebody. I canât go to the police. Thereâd be publicity!â
âOK, Ava, OK,â I said. âIâve got to get goinâ before they come lookinâ for me.â
âEddieââ she said, and abruptly gave me a big hug. I held her tight and breathed in her scent. I found out later that she wore Acqua di Parma.
âIâll be back as soon as I can.â
I left her standing in the middle of the bedroom.
NINETEEN
T hey didnât take me to their headquarters, as Iâd thought they would. They took me to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
âThis is where the cab driver, Larry Carver, was taken after somebody worked him over,â Reasoner said, as we got out of their car. âWe understand he was waiting for you in the lounge?â
âThatâs right.â
âWhy?â Crider asked.
âHe drove me there from the airport,â I said. âI thought Iâd need him, so I asked him to wait.â
âCabbies usually wait in the cab,â Reasoner said, âwith the meter running.â
âI made a deal with him to come inside and wait,â I said. âI was gonna use him for the rest of my errands.â
âYour errands,â Crider said, âweâll get to those later, Mr Gianelli.â
âLetâs go inside,â Reasoner said.
We entered the hospital through the front door, not the emergency entrance. Just inside we stopped.
âThis is as good a place as any,â Reasoner said. âYou took the cab from the airport?â
âThatâs right.â
âYou mind tellinâ us where you came in from, Mr Gianelli?â
âLas Vegas.â
âNow we can get to your errands,â Crider said. âWhat brought you
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