“That’s right. But if you can’t help yourself, do it on the sly, and be goddamn careful.”
“Really?” Anger bubbling.
“Really. That cunt is capable of murder, you know.”
For a moment I’d thought she was going to slap me; but she just glared at me, tightly, and stalked off. We hadn’t talked since, except occasional polite, meaningless dinner table conversation, when Siegel held court nightly at the Last Frontier’s restaurant and, in these last pre-opening days, at the Flamingo dining room, where we had a few trial meals. Pretty good, too. Siegel’s French chef knew his stuff.
“Look,” I said. “I know it hasn’t been easy having me around. Anyway, I know it hasn’t been easy for me to be around…”
She looked at me and her expression softened; I could see in it the ghost of her love for me. And I wondered if it haunted her like it did me, at all.
“I’ll be going home soon,” I said. “Probably Monday, after this grand opening weekend’s dead and gone.”
“Why did you take the job, Nate?”
“Money.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Come on, baby. You know me better than that. Name something that matters to me more than money.”
She turned away and looked out at the pool. I thought maybe her lower lip was quivering. Maybe not.
I stood.
I was just going when she said, “I think you stayed to keep an eye on me.”
I couldn’t think of anything to say.
“You…you think you’re protecting me, don’t you?”
“Don’t be silly.”
“You’ve been keeping an eye on me. I know you have.”
I didn’t say anything.
She looked at me. “You really think Ginny’s dangerous, don’t you?”
“Don’t
“No. She’s all mouth. Big mouth. Ben can’t stand her.”
“Oh, really?”
“He’s just putting up with her.”
“Why’s he doing that?”
“She has her hooks into him. Monetarily. She has money in this place, you know.”
“So does George Raft, but Siegel isn’t sleeping with him.”
She looked away again. At the pool. “You know how tight she is with Ben’s people back East.”
“You mean gangsters? Is that what you think, he’s putting up with her, because she’s the darling of the syndicate? Maybe he keeps her around because he knows that she’s spying on him for them-and that lets him control what she reports back.”
“Well, doesn’t that make sense?”
“It’s bullshit. She was a courier for those guys; they trusted her. And they used to lay her, most of them, but now she’s Ben’s girl, and that’s all she is. You’re kidding yourself. Why don’t you go back to Chicago where you got family and friends?”
“Nate. Don’t…”
“I’m not talking about us. I’m talking about you. About putting a life together for yourself, a real life that isn’t the ersatz Hollywood your dreamboat’s trying to turn this desert into.”
She gestured around us with one hand, smiling wryly. “I think he’s done pretty well.”
“Tonight it looks like it. Looking at these palms and terraces and this swimming pool, sure. But you know better than I how wrong this is going.”
She swallowed. “I don’t know what you mean.”
I pointed over to the hotel building. “He didn’t make it, did he? His personal deadline. That hotel isn’t going to be open for weeks-maybe months. He had to book rooms at hotels all over town, when people called for reservations.”
“So what? You saw those crowds in there. The casino’s open. The restaurant. The showroom.”
“He’s not going to make any money on the restaurant; like he says, it’s strictly a come-on. Nor the showroom-he’s spending thirty-five grand a week on Cugat and Durante and the rest. Top-name talent don’t come cheap. So it’s all riding on the casino-and these opening-night type crowds aren’t going to hold up. Not even on opening night.”
“And why not?”
“Aren’t you listening? Aren’t you paying attention? He didn’t get the hotel open in time-the Flamingo drew people in, but those people are staying at other hotels, most of them at the Last Frontier and the El Rancho Vegas, which have their own casinos. The other hotels are close to all those open-door casinos downtown. People gamble where they’re staying, Peg. They may come to the Flamingo for an hour or two every day while they’re in town, but they’re going to do most of their gambling where they’re staying. That’s basic.”
She was shaking her head no. “He’ll make a go of it. You wait and see.”
“I don’t know. You notice that little guy he’s been talking to?”
“Mr. Lieberman?”
“That’s right, only it’s Lansky. Meyer Lansky.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Isn’t he…a gangster?”
“Isn’t Rita Hayworth a woman? I don’t think his being here is a good sign.”
“Maybe it’s a show of support.”
“I don’t think so. I don’t think Ben has much time left to make a go of this place. He’s sunk six million bucks of mostly mob money into the Flamingo, and I have a hunch the boys want some results, fast. They want to see that Ben’s running this place to their satisfaction.”
“You think that’s why this…what is his name?”
“Lansky.”
“You think that’s why this Lansky is here. Checking up on Ben.”
“Possibly. Possibly warning him. They’re partners. They go way back.”
“You almost seem…worried about Ben.”
“I like the guy. Don’t ask me why. By all accounts, he’s a murderer and a narcotics trafficker, among other niceties, including he’s in my ex-fiancee’s pants. I oughta hate him.”
She winced at my remark about her pants, but was expressionless when she said, “But you don’t.”
“No. I kind of admire his chutzpah. And maybe he’ll pull this stunt off. Maybe. But I’m not waiting around to see. I’ll be in Chicago before you know it.”
“I love him, Nate.”
“You fall in love a lot, don’t you, kid? Me, it doesn’t come quite so easy.”
“I’m not going back to Chicago with you.”
“Well, here’s my advice, then. Stay out of Siegel’s bed. Tell him you’ll get back in, when Virginia Hill’s out of his life. Tell him you aren’t prepared to play side dish to her main course.”
“You’re cruel.”
“Not as cruel as you, and you aren’t even trying. Do what I said, and maybe you can hang on to your job here. Siegel does seem to respect you for your mind as well as your body. Be a career girl, if you want. You just might be in on the ground floor of something.”
“Why do you…why do you still care about me?”
“I haven’t the faintest fucking idea,” I said, and I went back into the casino.
Where Ben was in his element. He was shaking hands with guests (those who weren’t in plaid jackets, anyway), and on his arm was Virginia Hill, looking resplendent in her thirty-five-hundred dollar flaming orange-red gown; a diamond necklace caressed her bosom, and who could blame the lucky rocks? She seemed in
