CHAPTER 13
Julius Ventura didn't like it much that I was going to Vegas to look for Anthony. He wanted me to find Anthony in East Boston, or maybe Scituate at the outmost.
'You sure you ain't holding me up for a trip to Vegas?' he said.
We were in his office, in the back of a bar room called Cutter's on Atlantic Ave.' near Quincy Market. Shirley was there too, sober, in a flowered dress with puffy sleeves and a very narrow skirt with a flared hem.
'Sure,' I said.
'Me and Hawk. The dream of a lifetime. Vegas!
Who could blame us?'
'I ain't paying for you two clowns to go on no joy ride,' Ventura said.
'But, Daddy, if Mr. Spenser thinks he's there…'
'Mr. Spenser thinks there's a good time there,' Ventura said.
He was going to okay the trip and we all knew it. This was just foreplay to Julius, who felt like being a hard- nosed guy. I didn't mind. Julius needed to feel like a hard-nosed guy, and I had plenty of time.
'I could have said he was in Paris.'
'He wouldn't go to Paris,' Shirley said.
'Did he go to Las Vegas with anyone?'
'Don't know,' I said.
'Got anyone in mind?'
'No. Not at all, I was just wondering.'
'You and Hawk both got to go?' Ventura said.
'We'll find him quicker,' I said.
'With two of us looking.'
'Just why is it you think he's there?'
'I'm told he's always dreamed of it. That he's got a system and as soon as he could get the dough together he was going to go out and bust Vegas.'
'And where you think he got the dough?'
'From you,' I said, 'or Gino Fish, or both.'
'You think we give it to him?' Ventura asked.
'No, I think he took it.'
Shirley stood up as if there was a spring in her chair.
'That is absolutely not so,' she said. She had her fists resting on her hips.
'Anthony made a very good salary and he was as honest as the day is long.'
'That honest?' I said.
'And besides, if he was going anywhere because he had a dream he'd take me with him. He wouldn't go anywhere without me unless he was forced to.'
'So you think he's been kidnapped and taken to Vegas?' I said.
'I don't know where he is. You said he was in Las Vegas, mister smart-ass detective.'
She almost stamped her foot. It was as if she'd learned how to be mad by watching old Doris Day movies.
Ventura said, 'Shut up, Shirley. What makes you think he lifted money from me or Gino?'
'He's got a gambling problem. He collected money for you. Now he's gone and you're looking for him, but you don't want people to know and Gino seems to be trying to find out what I find out.'
I shrugged and spread my hands.
'He doesn't have a gambling problem,' Shirley said. She was sitting again' her knees tight together, her fists clamped together in her lap. Her top teeth were on her lower lip again.
'Shirley, I tole you shut up,' Ventura said.
'This is business, you unnerstan? I'm trying to think about business here.'
Shirley looked down at her folded hands. She spoke very softly, as if to herself.
'He wouldn't go without me.'
Ventura stared at me hard for a while. I waited.
'Gino's been trying to find out what you're doing?'
'Marty Anaheim,' I said.
'Same thing,' Ventura said.
