opened, all right, the slapping hand of it sending the gatekeeper stumbling backward.
I shut the door quietly behind me and had a good look at what I was dealing with.
He was even burlier when you saw all of him, and both ears were cauliflower. He was well-groomed for a thug, clean-shaven and in a suit almost as nice as my tweeds. But he was still just a thug, with a punch-drunk patina and no discernible weapon, and when he started at me with both fists ready, I took out the. 45 the way I would a match to light a cigarette, and let him look down the barrel.
There was nothing down that dark hole that you could call comforting.
“See, I did have an invitation,” I said.
He started to say something, and I thought maybe he was going to yell a warning. He probably figured this was a robbery, and that made sense because there would be plenty of cash on hand. If not on the table, near it, where the dealer played banker with the chips.
But I clamped my hand over his mouth and shoved the. 45 snout in his belly and shook my head sternly, like a father to a misbehaving child.
Quietly I said, “It’s not a heist, friend. I really am here just to talk to Bill Evans or maybe Miami Bull, between hands. This is a friendly call… so far.”
We were in an entryway and beyond us was a marble-floored, white-throw-carpeted living room where two decorative dames sat on opposing couches over by a fireplace that this time of year was also strictly decorative. One doll was a bright-eyed blonde chewing gum and filing her nails, the other a redhead reading a fashion magazine. The redhead had her back to me and might have been naked, since all I could see was the well-coifed shoulder-length hair and bare freckled shoulders. The blonde had on a white halter top with matching bolero pants and little white heels, a creamy little cutie. Neither had picked up on the little melodrama at the entryway.
The poker game would be to the left of this tableau, in the dining room. I’d been in Waldorf suites before and the layout was always the same.
The ex-pug in the nice suit was backing up slow, his sausage-fingered mitts raised about chest high. I was pressing forward with the. 45 in my right hand and the forefinger of my left hand raised to my lips, shushing him. We were pretty deep into the living room before the two dames noticed us.
The blonde yiped like a puppy with its tail stepped on and I gave her a nasty glance that shut her up. The redhead, who had green eyes and a dress and heels to match, did not seem impressed. She barely looked up from her Vogue.
I motioned with a finger twirl for the ex-pug to turn around and he did. With my gun in his back, I walked him through the open archway into the dining room, which had been converted for poker play. Somehow the standard multi-leaf dining room table had gone away and a big, round, green-felt table with compartments for poker chips and drinks had taken its place.
The men around the table under the cut-glass chandelier had the look of expectant fathers in a waiting room when everybody’s wife was in her thirty-second hour of labor. There were six of them, serious-faced men with loosened ties and suspenders and faces that hadn’t been shaved lately. On the periphery several other bodyguard types sat, reacting to our entry with professional alarm but knowing enough to keep their butts planted. Another doll-nice-looking, in a French maid get-up-was there to provide drinks when asked. From the way she slumped in her chair, next to a buffet with a silver tray on it, she hadn’t been asked for a while.
The ex-pug and I just stood there till they finished the hand. I was behind him, so nobody knew about the. 45 except the poor bastard with its nose nudging his back, but I couldn’t see being impolite. No cash was on the table, though the pot was a couple shovelfuls of a pile of mostly blue chips.
I only made three of the faces, but one belonged to Bill Evans. Sitting across from him was Miami Bull, who I only knew by reputation, though I was confident that was him. The big slump-shouldered guy’s wide beezer and his massive neck explained his nickname, though he was pale enough to have never set foot in Miami.
Evans won the big pot with three tens. Nobody made a comment as he hauled the chips in with two hands. I doubted much talking had gone on for some time now.
The ex-pug cleared his throat and finally everybody noticed us. They weren’t any more impressed than the redhead. Of course, they couldn’t see the gun.
“This guy wants to talk to Mr. Evans or maybe Mr. Peters.”
Mr. Peters was Miami Bull.
“We’re not on a break,” the dealer said. He was a small mustached man who talked tough but looked like he’d break like a matchstick.
I edged out a little from behind the pug, still keeping the rod concealed. “Hiya, Bill. Been a while.”
Evans broke focus enough to smile a little. “Well, hi Mike.” He was stacking the chips he’d just won. That would take a while. “Guys, this is Mike Hammer. He’s that crazy private eye that makes the papers all the time.”
I touched the tip of my hat with my left hand. My right still had the. 45 in the ex-pug’s spine, which remained our little secret.
“I just need a couple of minutes with Bill,” I said. “And maybe Miami Bull.” To the latter, I added: “Excuse the informality. I know we’ve never met.”
Miami Bull replied in a nasal drone, “I ain’t much on formalities,” and scooted his chair back and stood. He stretched and buttons almost popped on a protuberant belly. “I could use a piss, anyhow. I’ll catch you on the way back, Mike.”
Everybody took that opportunity to do their own stretching, and several followed Miami Bull into the kitchen, which apparently provided passage to the nearest john.
I patted the doorman on the shoulder and said, “You can go now,” and he scooted, fast enough for most of the players to notice me shoving the. 45 back under my arm. No reaction from this bunch, just the poker faces you’d expect.
Bill walked over, working his neck, popping vertebrae. “I wish you’d gone into chiropractic and not policing, Mike. What can I do for you? You got more than one favor coming, after that night in Chicago you ran those Outfit wops off my tail.”
“I don’t need a favor, Bill. Just a word.”
“Lead the way.”
We left the dining room and went through the living room out onto the terrace with its view on the black- and-white checkerboard skyline where the Empire State Building hogged attention.
Bill was one of those medium guys-medium build, medium height, medium weight, with the kind of face they build crowds out of. But after hour upon hour of poker, he was way past medium into well-done-his eyes bloodshot, his stubble making his face look dirty, and his dark blond hair as greasy as bacon at a one-arm joint.
“You’re a mess, pal,” I said.
“No I’m not,” he said with a sly half grin. “I’m winning. Glad to have an excuse to slow things down. I want this game over with so I can gather my loot and get on with my life.”
“On to the next game, you mean.”
He shrugged, grinned bigger. “You live the life you choose, right, Mike?”
“Right. And I sure picked a doozy, huh? Have you heard about the Sharron Wesley killing?”
He had. He knew all about her gambling set-up, too, and had been out there several times. The stakes were high. Oh, there were smaller-stakes attractions for the suckers, from slots to faro. But the poker tables were for serious play.
I said, “Sharron Wesley was no Vassar girl. She was no dope, either, but we’re still talking a chorus-gal cupcake who parlayed a nice build into a rich husband.”
Bill smirked. “A rich husband they say she bumped.”
“I’ll lay odds that’s more than a rumor. But my point is, there is no way in hell that ocean-side casino was her private operation. She had to have a silent partner.”
He nodded. “You bet she did. Is that what you’re trying to find out? Don’t the cops know?”
“My in is with Captain Chambers of Homicide. I don’t know the vice boys that well.”
“Well, if you had a contact there, maybe you wouldn’t have to go around breaking up friendly card games slinging around Old Ironsides there.” He nodded to where I’d stowed the rod.
“I’ll keep that in mind. So illuminate me.”
“There are only a handful of really big-ticket gambling czars in this town. There’s a guy who is probably not
