“You think Guzik will sell out those two torpedoes?”
“Yeah-although they may just turn up dead in a ditch, especially if Guzik was who hired ’em. Will twelve cover my end?”
Pete said sure and I handed him a ten and two ones. For the food and drinks Peggy and me put away, it was a steal. And the babe who made a pretty pretzel out of herself hadn’t cost us a dime.
“Nate,” Peg said, later, in bed, “I want to thank you.”
“Well, I think I oughta thank you.”
Her smile was crinkly and wry. “Not about that, you goof. About what you’re trying to do for Uncle Jim.”
“What am I trying to do for your uncle?”
“Despite what all you’ve said, you really are trying to find out who tried to have him killed.”
I shrugged, as best I could, leaning on my elbow in bed. “I’m curious-it’s my nature. And your uncle is right, to a degree-doing business with Guzik would feel better if we knew that it was somebody else…Siegel, specifically…who paid for that hit.”
“So what’s your next move?”
“Nothing. There is no next move.”
“I find that hard to believe…”
“Well, strain yourself a little, kiddo, ’cause it’s true. Drury’s going to nab those would-be killers and, with a little luck, and more evidence than even the State’s Attorney’s office can ignore, he’ll get an indictment and a conviction.”
“Will whoever hired them be convicted, too?”
“Sure, if it’s a cold day in hell. Doesn’t matter whether it’s Guzik or Siegel responsible, you’re just not going to see that happen.”
“Why not?”
“That’s not the way the game works. The big boys are too well-insulated; the big boys can do too much damage to the families and friends of the small fry taking the rap. No, even if they get the chair, those two won’t implicate anybody, not anybody big.”
She almost looked like she was going to cry. “What happened to justice, anyway?”
“When was it, exactly, that justice was around? I must’ve missed it.”
She sat up in bed, looking very pale, very small, just a child, holding the sheet to her breasts, looking straight ahead. “If I knew who it was, I’d kill him myself.”
“That’s silly.”
She gave me a withering look. “It’s not silly. They tried to kill Uncle Jim!”
“Hey, they tried to kill me, too. You always seem to forget that little detail.”
She said nothing for a while; me, either.
Then, without looking at me, she said, very quietly, “I talked to Ginny again. Just before she left town, this week.”
“Ginny?” I said. Not quietly. “Virginia Hill? What are you talking to her for?”
“We’re friends. I’m allowed to have friends of my own choosing.”
“Yeah, yeah. But she’s just a hooker who got out of hand. You stay away from her.”
She paused, considering, then dropped her bombshell: “She does know Bugsy Siegel. She told me.”
“She does?”
“She’s…she’s sort of his girl.”
“Sort of his girl? Oh, great. Then she was trying to pump you about your uncle, that time…”
“Maybe. But she doesn’t know how I feel about Uncle Jim. About what happened to him. How close we are.”
“So? So what?”
“She offered me a job.”
“A job! What, riding trains with bags of mob money? Sleeping with senators?”
She ignored the nastiness of that. Said simply, “She needs a secretary.”
“What for?”
“She has business interests.”
“Well, where would this be? Hollywood?”
She nodded.
“You’re not seriously considering…”
She touched my arm; cool touch. “Nate, think a minute. If I were working for Ginny, I’d be close to this Bugsy Siegel person. I might be able to find something out.”
“Find something out? Are you kidding, or just crazy? You’re no goddamn detective…”
“If I get close to him, I can find out what he’s doing where Uncle Jim’s concerned.”
“That’s stupid. Siegel’s not going to say anything around the niece of the man he wants dead-assuming he does want Jim dead. This is lunacy. Don’t even think about this.”
“Ginny doesn’t know how I feel about my uncle. I could pretend we had a falling out; pretend to hate him.”
“What is this, a school play you’re trying out for? Forget this. This is stupid. You can’t accomplish anything, except maybe get yourself hurt, or worse.”
“I was hoping you’d think it was a good idea.”