Free Quarry in the Middle by Max Allan Collins Page B

sorry, I can—”
    “No! I’m fine with your company. I like your company. Anyway, I want to hear what you have to say.”
    She managed a smile. “I may be out of line getting into any of this. Dickie should probably fill you in, but…I don’t know why exactly, I just think you have a right to know, before you get in over your head.”
    That was an interesting remark. She knew I’d just murdered two people, even if she didn’t knowthe details, and yet she didn’t think I was in over my head yet.
    “Jack…it is Jack?”
    Actually, it wasn’t, but she didn’t need my real name any more than you do.
    “It’s Jack.”
    “Jack, do you know whose daughter I am?”
    I nodded. “Your husband told me—Tony Giardelli’s girl.”
    “Right. And you know who he is.”
    “Sure. He and his brother Vincent and their late brother Lou are about as high up in the Chicago Outfit as you can go.”
    “All right. You know that much. Have you ever worked for the Giardelli interests?”
    “From time to time, but not directly.”
    She nodded. “I understand. My father has always liked to be…well-insulated…from anything violent or illegal. What you probably don’t know is that my father and his brother Vincent are not partners—they each have their own interests, and over the years they’ve been friendly rivals. Lately…not so friendly. It’s never been direct, again there’s much insulation, but Haydee’s Port has become a kind of a breeding ground in the family war that’s brewing.”
    “How so?”
    “My father backs me, and Dickie, in the Paddlewheel, maintains a financial interest. It’s Papa’s belief, a belief fostered by my husband, that the future of Haydee’s Port is upscale. This Wild West wide-open downtown doesn’t mine the full potential of Haydee’s,taking money from drunks and bilking the blue-collar crowd. And it’s dangerous, the kind of eyesore that at some point the politicians could be pressured into removing.”
    “Whereas,” I said, “the classier Paddlewheel can be a Midwestern Las Vegas, where everybody wink-winks at the illegal side of it.”
    “If Dickie has his way, with a new hotel, and beyond that plans to refurbish and reinvent downtown Haydee’s Port, we might see gambling become legal, in this county anyway…and it could truly become, as you say, a Midwestern Vegas.”
    “What do you think of that plan?”
    “I think it’s brilliant. I think I’ll be very wealthy in my golden years, and I’ll probably have a place to practice my art for as long as I want.”
    “I wouldn’t think you’d need the Paddlewheel to have a singing career. Between your talent, and your daddy’s connections—”
    She had stopped me with a raised palm. “No. I don’t want to travel, and I don’t want to be beholden to Papa.”
    “You already are. Didn’t your Papa make the Paddlewheel possible?”
    “Of course he did. But my talent, and Dickie’s business sense, and vision, have taken it to a whole new plateau.”
    “Okay. But there’s a problem, right? Uncle Vince?”
    She shrugged. “Hard to say whether it’s coming directly from Vince or if it’s the Lucky Devil crowd,causing trouble for Dickie, knowing they have the tacit
    approval of their Chicago backer.”
    “Who are the Lucky Devil crowd?”
    “The old man who owns virtually every bar, strip club and brothel downtown is Gigi Giovanni. He was thick with Uncle Vince back in the ’40s and ’50s, came with Vince’s blessing and backing to Haydee’s Port, in the early ’60s. He’s kind of a recluse, and has turned most of the responsibility over to his son, Jerry G. My guess would be, any trouble that’s been sent Dickie’s way, comes from Jerry G, not his father.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    “Jerry G is ambitious, and he’s a hothead. He’s a sadistic son of a bitch and he’s a goddamn cheat and he drinks and dopes more than any of his customers and breaks in all the young girls before putting them to work