Read Online I'm a Fool to Kill You by Robert Randisi - Free Book Online Page B

we’re on the job now, Mr Gianelli,’ Crider said. ‘We need you to come now. I’m sure your friend, Miss Johnson, won’t mind.’
    It seemed they didn’t know that Lucy Johnson was Ava Gardner. That was good.
    â€˜Would you mind if I tell her where I’m going?’ I asked. ‘She’s in the, uh, bedroom.’
    The two men exchanged a glance that wasn’t hard to read.
    â€˜Sure,’ Reasoner said, ‘go ahead.’
    â€˜Can I tell her when I’ll be back?’
    â€˜Before morning,’ Crider said, then added, ‘probably.’
    â€˜Probably,’ I said, nodding. ‘Thanks. I’ll be right back.’
    â€˜Wouldn’t be another way out in that bedroom, would there, Mr Gianelli?’
    â€˜Actually, there isn’t,’ I said, ‘but why would that thought occur to you, Detective? I haven’t done anything I should be running away from.’
    â€˜That’s good to hear,’ Reasoner said. ‘We’ll just wait here, sir.’
    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.
    â€˜Who is it, Eddie?’
    â€˜It’s the police,’ I said, ‘they want to talk to me about what happened outside earlier tonight.’
    â€˜That man who was beat up?’
    â€˜I think so,’ I said, ‘but I’ll have to go with them to find out for sure. I’ll be back in a little while.’
    â€˜Are you sure?’ she asked. ‘I mean, are you sure you should go with them?’
    â€˜I don’t think they’re asking, Ava,’ I said.
    â€˜Do they know about me?’
    â€˜No,’ I said, ‘they referred to you as Lucy Johnson. They don’t know who you really are, and I think we should keep it that way.’
    â€˜I think so too, Eddie.’
    â€˜Unless you want the police to help you find out what happened, Ava.’
    â€˜No!’ she said, eyes wide. ‘No, Eddie. For all I know . . . I hurt somebody. Or . . . or killed somebody. I can’t go to the police. There’d be publicity!’
    â€˜OK, Ava, OK,’ I said. ‘I’ve got to get goin’ before they come lookin’ for me.’
    â€˜Eddie—’ 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.
    â€˜I’ll be back as soon as I can.’
    I left her standing in the middle of the bedroom.

NINETEEN
    T hey didn’t take me to their headquarters, as I’d thought they would. They took me to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
    â€˜This is where the cab driver, Larry Carver, was taken after somebody worked him over,’ Reasoner said, as we got out of their car. ‘We understand he was waiting for you in the lounge?’
    â€˜That’s right.’
    â€˜Why?’ Crider asked.
    â€˜He drove me there from the airport,’ I said. ‘I thought I’d need him, so I asked him to wait.’
    â€˜Cabbies usually wait in the cab,’ Reasoner said, ‘with the meter running.’
    â€˜I made a deal with him to come inside and wait,’ I said. ‘I was gonna use him for the rest of my errands.’
    â€˜Your errands,’ Crider said, ‘we’ll get to those later, Mr Gianelli.’
    â€˜Let’s go inside,’ Reasoner said.
    We entered the hospital through the front door, not the emergency entrance. Just inside we stopped.
    â€˜This is as good a place as any,’ Reasoner said. ‘You took the cab from the airport?’
    â€˜That’s right.’
    â€˜You mind tellin’ us where you came in from, Mr Gianelli?’
    â€˜Las Vegas.’
    â€˜Now we can get to your errands,’ Crider said. ‘What brought you