Detective Iandolli stopped when he saw the maids giggling in the hallway on the twenty-second floor. Two of the hotel security guards stood outside room 2232. Both of the guards smiled at Iandolli when he approached the door.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
“You’ll see,” one of the guards said as he opened the door. He let Iandolli pass into the room and quickly shut the door when the maids tried to peek inside.
Iandolli stopped dead in his tracks. Two men were tied together on a double bed. One man appeared to be unconscious. He lay on his back with his two legs wrapped and tied around the other man. Both men were dressed in Bellagio T-shirts and hats.
“Jesus Christ,” Iandolli said as he shook his head.
The man who was still conscious was tied on his knees between the unconscious man’s legs. A pair of white sweat socks had been jammed inside his mouth for a gag. A flesh-colored dildo jutted from his rectum.
Two emergency service workers waited while the hotel security guard untied the series of belts that seemed to hold the men in place.
“You two are mobsters?” Iandolli asked.
The conscious man spoke as soon as the pair of socks was pulled from his mouth. “Vincent Lano!” he yelled at Iandolli. “He did this! Lano! He’s registered in this room with me. Vincent Lano, the motherfucker!”
“You really want to press charges?”
“Fuck!” the conscious man said.
Iandolli pulled out a notepad. “Well?”
The conscious man remained silent.
The security guard brought a paper bag to Iandolli. “This was left here,” the guard said. He held it up so Iandolli could read the writing on the bag. “They wrote ‘FBI’ on it. See?” the guard said.
Iandolli took the bag and looked inside. When he saw the camera, he chuckled. “Right,” he said.
“Should we secure the area?” the guard asked.
Iandolli winked at the guard. “That or sell tickets.”
Minh Quan had circled around the neighborhood a few times before he spotted the commotion with the ambulance and police. Then he saw Charlie Pellecchia get inside the ambulance.
“Shit,” Minh said.
He waited for the crowed to disperse before he drove by the address where the police were now investigating. Minh wrote the address on an extra delivery menu and turned his car around to follow Charlie Pellecchia yet again.
“What’s going on?” Thomas asked Iandolli outside Francone’s room. He had come off the elevator with a contingent of hotel security.
The detective smirked as he thumbed at the room. “In there? A lovefest.”
Thomas pointed to the bag Iandolli was holding. “What’s that?”
“Lunch.”
Thomas saw the writing. “It says ‘FBI.’”
“Yeah, it does. Not ‘DEA,’ though. Too bad.”
Thomas motioned at Iandolli to hand over the bag. “I’ll pass it on,” he said.
Iandolli sneered. “Yeah, right. I don’t think so.”
Thomas stood his ground. “Then we both will.”
“Not anytime soon,” Iandolli said as he pointed to Francone’s room. “I’m heading to the hospital. From the look of things in there, so’s your boy.” He held the bag up. “I’ll have one of my guys bring this to Walsh, the FBI honcho in Vegas.”
Thomas scowled. “And I’ll go with him.”
Iandolli shrugged. “That’d be up to you, but he isn’t handing this bag to anyone but Walsh, so get used to the idea. It says ‘FBI,’ it goes to the FBI.”
Thomas clenched his teeth and motioned at Francone’s room. “Is Charlie Pellecchia in there?”
“Not exactly,” Iandolli said
“Cuccia?” Thomas asked as he crossed the hall to the door.
“Bingo.”
Chapter 46
“Are you guys kidding me?” Charlie said. “I haven’t even seen my girlfriend yet. She was shot in the leg, for Christ sakes.”
“You can see her later,” the detective named Gold said. “After you answer some questions.”
Charlie shook his head. &lquo;I already told the cops in the emergency room,” he said. “I found her on the walk outside her apartment. She was bleeding from the leg, and her head was all banged up. There’s a guy did that to her driving around someplace. The police have a description. They know his fucking name.”
The detective named Iandolli showed Charlie a set of pictures. “What about these?” he asked.
Charlie shrugged at the pictures. “What about them?”
“Fucking wiseass,” Gold said.
“Fuck you,” Charlie said.
Gold stepped chest to chest with Charlie. “Fuck me?” he said.
Iandolli pulled Gold back as he spoke to Charlie. “You and Mr. Denton and Mr. Lano are on Bellagio hotel cameras,” he said. “We kind of know what happened. We want you to fill in the blanks. It might save your life.”
“Save my life?” Charlie said as his face turned red. “That’s what that asshole DEA agent told me, how he was going to make sure this punk stayed away from me. That was about an hour before some Asian kids tried to cut me in my hotel. I tell you what, I’ll save my own life.”
Iandolli looked to Gold. “What Asian kids?”
“Forget about it,” Charlie said. “I’m not pressing charges against them either.”
Gold pushed Iandolli out of his way. “Who the fuck do you think you are?” he asked Charlie.
Charlie glared from Gold to Iandolli. “He’s close if he’s trying to get me to take a swing,” he said.
Gold reached for his handcuffs. Iandolli stopped him.
“What were you doing at the Bellagio?” Iandolli asked.
“I took a room at the Bellagio. I checked out of Harrah’s, and I needed a room. I decided to stay in Las Vegas a few extra days. To be with my girlfriend.”
“You trying to get her killed, too?” Gold asked.
“Enough,” Iandolli told Gold. “What happened at Harrah’s?” he asked Charlie.
Charlie was still glaring at Gold.
“Mr. Pellecchia?” Iandolli said.
“No way,” Charlie said. “I’m not going there.”
“Take him in,” Gold said as he made another attempt at Charlie.
“Hold it!” Iandolli said, pulling Gold back a second time. “Damn it, Abe.”
“Take me in for what?” Charlie asked Iandolli. “For getting beat up? For trying to protect myself?”
Gold tugged at Iandolli’s arm. “I’m not in the mood for this bullshit,” he said. “Not with what happened to Gentry. I’m not listening to this now.”
“Look,” Charlie said, pointing his finger toward the elevators, “my girlfriend is upstairs. They just removed a bullet from her leg. I haven’t seen her yet.”
“One minute,” Iandolli said. He held on to Gold’s left arm as he walked the senior detective across the hallway. “Let me handle this for now,” he whispered. “You’re too upset. Go get a soda. Talk to the other one, the boyfriend. Let me talk to this one alone.”
Gold, clearly frustrated, pulled his arm from Iandolli’s grip and walked away.
