to come out.'
'You drive in, drop me off. You take the new car and drive out with Velma. They won't follow you. I'll slip through the celebrity duck-out hole into Lucky's basement. I'll go up into the restaurant and out the front door. You pick me up there.'
'That's great, boss.'
'Nobody but Lucky and his celeb customers know about the hole. And Manny. And me, since I own half the joint. And Manny's employees.' Carney chuckled. 'Now that I think of it, it's not such a big secret. Still, it should work.'
'It's a little risky, but I like it,' Tony said. He shrugged. 'Hey, you gotta take a shot, you know what I'm sayin'?'
'You pays your money and you falls on your face.'
Tony laughed. 'Yeah, that's exactly what we're gonna do if they tail me, maybe thinkin' you're hidin' in the trunk or some stunt like that.'
'If they do split up to tail you, what you do is ?'
'Hey, boss, whaddya think, I'm some kinda mamaluke? If they tail me, I drive around until they get sick of it. I lose 'em and then I come back for you.'
'Hey, you gotta some brains.'
Tony cackled, then checked the rearview window. 'Hell, I see 'em already. That's Seamus Riordan's Durant Roadmaster. I can tell by the grille.'
'Seamus got first crack,' Carney said. 'But he won't have time.'
Tony turned right onto 43rd Street and went half a block before turning into a steep ramp under a sign that read MIDTOWN PARKING.
Down in the garage, Carney got out near the glassed-in office.
'Park it. Get the new car and get over there as fast as you can. If you're delayed, when you pull up in front of Lucky's, blink your lights. The doorman will let me know, so I don't have to stand out there waiting and maybe get spotted. Got it?'
'Got it, boss.'
'Manny will take care of you, or whoever's on tonight.'
'Check.'
He closed the door and went into the office. The night manager was Billy Pinsk. Carney ordered a nondescript rental car.
'Got just what you need, Mr. Carney. A Leland sedan, gray, no flashy stuff.'
'Tony Montanaro's out there. You fix him up. Right now I need you to let me through to Lucky's.'
'Door's unlocked, Mr. Carney. Always. You know where it is?'
'That door back there and to the right?'
'That's it, Mr. Carney. Straight to the end of the corridor, you can't miss it.'
'Okay, thanks.'
'Dark back there, Mr. Carney. Watch your step.'
'Right.'
He walked to the back of the garage, opened the steel door, and stepped through. It was quiet on the other side. He turned right and proceeded through gloom until he came to another door. It was ajar. He went through and followed a short corridor, came out among boilers and pipes, weaved through and around, then mounted a wooden staircase.
He pushed open the door at the top and let himself into Lucky's kitchen. It was big, full of men in white aprons and hats working furiously at counter and stove. Steam mushroomed to the ceiling. The odor of chopped onions stood out among myriad others.
Nobody gave him a look as he walked through. He thumped through swinging doors and passed the men's room. He gave a fleeting thought to relieving his bladder pro forma, not really needing to, giving Tony a little time. But he was anxious and in a hurry.
He went to the front door by way of the smaller of the restaurant's two rooms, not seeing anybody he knew.
Outside, he looked up and down the street. No Tony. The doorman asked if he needed a cab, and he shook his head. He stepped back under the sidewalk canopy and gave it three minutes, looking for signs of Tony's Leland or Riordan's Durant.
Neither showed. He beckoned to the doorman, spoke his instructions, and handed the man a fiver.
'Sure thing, Mr. Carney.'
'Just let Alphonse know. I'll be at my table.'
'Yes, sir.'
Inside, after he had checked his hat and coat, Alphonse greeted him with a smile.
'Your table, Mr. Carney?'
'Yes. I probably won't be staying long. Just enough for a drink.'
'Anything you say, Mr. Carney.'
A waiter showed him across the main floor. On the way he saw a table occupied by the Bakunin triplets ? Grumpo, Cisco, and Heppo ? and two chorines, all in for a late bite after another performance of their long-running hit musical comedy, Have I Gotta Deal For You! He detoured over.
Cisco took his nose out of a racing form to say, 'Johnnie, sweetheart.' It was always a little disconcerting to hear his normal voice, untainted by the put-on Latin accent of his stage and screen character. 'Hey, what do you say?'
Grumpo smiled his lizard smile. 'Killed anybody recently?'
'Nobody. Haven't zotzed a soul since, oh, it'll be a year come Michaelmas.'
'Well, that's disappointing. Next thing you know you'll be taking stray kittens home.'
Heppo's childlike grin was as wide as the bald strip that ran from his forehead almost to the back of his neck. Without his wig and makeup he looked like a garment maven or a bookkeeper, anything but the brilliant comedian he was. 'Hi, John,' he said. 'Haven't seen you in for lunch at the Penobscot lately.'
'Crossing foils with that Penobscot Forum crowd is tiring. I can't stay up late writing ad libs.'
'How do you think I feel sometimes,' Heppo said, 'mixing with the literati? Me with an eighth-grade education.'
'They like you, Heppo.'
'Dara Porter says I'm a rhinestone in the rough.'
'She knows her gems.'
'Rhinestones are a girl's best friend,' Grumpo said.
'Me, I'll take the money,' Cisco said. 'What do you think, John? I got a tip on a twenty-to-one long shot, a two-year-old filly in the fifth at Via Appia tomorrow. She has a terrible track record, but I got the word in training- runs she clocks like the wind. Crazy? or should I bet my wad?'
Carney thought about it 'Yeah, it's only a matter of time before she overcomes her skittishness. Put it all down to win, Cisco.'
'Hey, I will. Thanks.'
Carney said, 'Grumpo, how's the new show coming?'
'Lousy.'
'What, with book by Geoff Katzman and music by Ira Bremen?'
'It's going to cost a fortune to stage, which means they're not going to offer us any more money than we're getting now. And I just bought a house. I need a raise.'
'Didn't you just film Have I Gotta Deal?'
'Yeah, but I already spent that money on the down payment.'
'Must be a terrific house.'
'It was a steal. They stole my money.'
'John, have a seat,' Heppo said.
'Actually, I'm just waiting for my driver. He must have gotten a flat or something. He's late.'
'Well, you got time for a drink, then. Sit down.'
