Part 9 (1/2)
”Hm. Then it's likely trouble, else she'd be at the Nightcrawler doing her show. Let's hope he didn't return to finish what you interrupted.”
”She seems to be okay.”
The waiter gave in to whatever Evie wanted, leading her up the long, carpeted stairs. He couldn't have known I was here and must have decided to turn the problem over to Escott.
Who must have got that, too. ”For what we are about to receive...” Escott muttered out the side of his mouth.
”May we be truly thankful,” I also muttered, completing the blasphemous old battle prayer.
Chapter 5
The waiter reached the booth. ”Uh, Mr. Escott, this lady wants to see-oh.” He spotted me. ”Didn't know you were here, Mr. Fleming.”
Escott and I stood as the little lady trotted up the last steps.
Her big-eyed gaze fell on me. ”Jack Fleming?”
”Yeah. Something wrong?” I signed for the waiter to retreat.
She waited until he was out of earshot, then nodded vigorously.
”What?”
”They're going to kill Alan Caine,” she blurted in her Betty Boop voice. Apparently it wasn't an affectation after all.
”Who?”
”Those men.”
”What, they're back?”
”Not yet, but they will be. His life is in danger!”
”As in later tonight, but not just this minute?”
”Please, this isn't a joke! He needs help!”
Escott cleared his throat, giving me a look, the kind with a raised eyebrow in it.
”Just checking the urgency of the situation,” I told him, then turned back to her. ”You're Evie... ah... ?”
”Montana. I'm Evie Montana, just like the state, it's my name.”
”Charles Escott,” he volunteered, taking her hand and adding in one of his polite little bows.
”Pleased, I'm sure,” she said, cute as a Kewpie doll.
”If the emergency is not immediate, perhaps you will sit and tell us all about it,” he suggested, motioning her into the booth.
She c.o.c.ked her head. ”You're English, aren't you, just like in England?”
”Once upon a time. Please... ?”
She took the hint and slipped in. Released from our gentlemanly duty, we sat opposite her. I leaned back in the middle of the half circle; Escott clasped his hands on the table in his best listening posture. ”What is the problem, Miss Montana?”
”Well, Alan Caine is just the greatest singer ever, better than Caruso even, and he's just really too artistic and innocent and people take advantage of him and he gets into jams and he's in a jam now and these guys are gonna kill him if he doesn't pay what he owes and they really mean business.”
”I see,” he said. ”And who are they exactly?”
”They're muscle for the Nightcrawler Club. They got gambling there and these cardsharps took advantage of Alan and he ran up a marker and they're gonna kill him if he doesn't pay off.”
”The cardsharps?”
”No, the muscle. They want him to pay the club.”
”So the money he owes is to the Nightcrawler, not Hoyle?” I asked.
”Who's Hoyle?” She turned her big eyes on me, blinking.
”That guy you jumped on earlier tonight.”
”He's the muscle trying to collect the marker.” she said, as though I should know already. ”They got dozens of guys just like him, and they're all gonna kill Alan tonight if he doesn't pay off.”
”I get that. You're sure he doesn't owe personally to Hoyle?”
”He owes the club and that goon is their muscle and-”
”Okay-okay. I get that, too. So why'd you come to me?”
”Because you helped us earlier and because some of the other girls said you were all right because you dated one of the singers there once and they said you were all right because she was all right.”
”Not because you think I'm running things?”
”You're running things? What things? They said this was your club. If you're running things at the Nightcrawler...” She started to get up, but Escott caught her hand.
”It's all right,” he a.s.sured. ”I'm sure Mr. Fleming can sort this out for you.”
I said, ”Shouldn't be a problem. If he owes money, he has to pay the marker, but no one's going to kill him for it.”
”But that big goon was. .h.i.tting him!”
”The big goon won't be back. I'll make a call and put in the fix for you. If Caine's dead, he can't pay off his marker, so he's safe enough.”
”It's not just them, it's that witch of an ex-wife, too. She keeps calling him and threatening him and it gets him all upset and then he goes into the casino to try to win what he owes her and then they take advantage of him and then- ” Her voice rose shrill, threatening to compete with the band.
I put my hand up like a traffic cop. ”Slow down, Evie.”