“I told you what to do.”
“You told me how to vote. You didn’t tell me how to conduct myself in a meeting. It’s complicated.”
“And now you’re making up excuses. You must want to be a viral star.”
“You know I don’t or I wouldn’t be cooperating.”
“Cooperating? I am very unhappy with this man you brought to the meeting.”
“He’s a producer who knows the ropes.”
“He knows how to stall. I don’t like being stalled. He won’t be at the next meeting.”
“Won’t people think it strange if he isn’t?”
“Do you really think I care?”
“You want the meeting to go smoothly.”
“You really like to argue, don’t you? That could be one of the captions with your pictures, like they used to have with the girls in Playboy. ‘Likes to water paint in her spare time.’ Mr. Barnett will not be at the next meeting. Just you, nobody else.”
“How can I keep him from going?”
He chuckled. “You won’t have a problem in that respect.”
“Why not?”
“You just won’t.”
* * *
—
Tessa pulled Teddy off the set. “He called again.”
“Was he angry?”
“Oh, yes.”
“Did he make threats?”
“Against you.”
“How did he threaten me?”
“He said you won’t be at the next meeting. I asked how I’d stop you from coming, and he said that won’t be a problem.”
“That’s a rather oblique threat.”
“Yes, but it’s a threat.”
“And that’s good.”
“How is that good?”
“He’s threatening me and not you, and he didn’t post the video.”
“He threatened to.”
“Of course he did, but he can’t follow through or he loses his leverage. I bought us two weeks. He doesn’t like it, but there’s nothing he can do about it.”
“He implied he’s going to kill you.”
“Aw, well, he’s not the first person to have said so.”
“You’re not worried?”
“I’m worried, but I’m worried about a lot of things. An unidentified voice on the phone implying that he’d like to kill me is not at the top of the list. Anyway, the guy called you up to piss and moan. That’s good, it means that’s all he can do right now. I doubt if he’ll be calling back. He’s more or less forced to wait for the next meeting to take place. There’s not much he can do until then.”
“I hope you’re right,” Tessa said.
She didn’t sound convinced.
45
Pete Genaro sent Jake to check up on Sammy Candelosi. Two more of Genaro’s employees had defected, and he wanted to find out what type of coercion Sammy was using.
Genaro didn’t know it, but Jake had gone over, too. When Pete sent him to see how Sammy was handling the death of his two employees, Slythe had held a straight razor to his throat, and Sammy had offered him the choice of becoming a counterspy or a corpse. Jake had opted to remain among the living, and had been spying on both men ever since.
So far Genaro hadn’t noticed that everything Jake told him was something he already knew.
Sammy Candelosi was not so gullible. “You’re giving me shit. You’re giving me things I already know. What you’re giving me as intel is absolutely worthless. It makes me think you’re still working for Genaro. That’s the trouble with this double-agent shit—you can play either side. Well, I don’t intend to be played. If you don’t give me something I can use, then I will believe you’re working for him, and if you’re working for him, you are a large liability. You are something that I cannot afford to deal with. I would be forced to cut my losses. And my loss is not going to be Genaro’s gain, if you know what I mean.”
Sammy cocked his head in his henchman’s direction. “I’m sure Slythe knows what I mean.”
Slythe’s expression never changed, but his reptilian eyes seemed to be sizing Jake up.
Jake swallowed hard. “I’ve told you everything I know. It’s not that I’m holding back. It’s that you got his number. He doesn’t know how to handle you, or, believe me, he would.”
“I’m not surprised he doesn’t tell you things, but you must hear shit. Aren’t you ever in his office when something’s going on? Or are you telling me nothing’s going on? If you tell me nothing’s going on and something’s going on, you are going to be the sorriest individual who ever lived.”
Jake gasped. “Oh, shit!”
“I had a feeling this conversation would jog your memory.”
“An out-of-town hitter.” Jake nodded in agreement with himself. “Pete hired a bar girl to replace one of the ones he lost to you, and she suggested this out-of-town hitter. Christ, what was the name?”
“You better have the fucking name.”
“I wasn’t there when he made the call. It’s a guy in L.A., works in the movies.”
“Works in the movies?” Sammy said skeptically.
“He works in the movies now. He didn’t always. He used to be here in Vegas, and made trouble for Pete.”
“Then why would Pete want him?”
“It’s complicated. But the bar girl suggested it and he said maybe he’d give him a call.”
“Who?” Sammy said. The edge in his voice was frightening.
Out of the corner of his eye, Jake could see Slythe pull out his razor.
“Wait! Wait!” Jake cried. He was thinking hard. “It was just before I took the girl out to meet the floor manager. And Pete picked up the phone and asked his secretary to find an L.A. listing for a . . . Billy Burnett! That’s it! Billy Burnett!” Jake frowned. “Only that wasn’t right.”
“What?” Sammy said ominously.
“No. That’s what Pete said. He said it wasn’t Burnett anymore, the guy changed it to Barnett. It was Billy Barnett. A producer in Hollywood.”
“He asked for the listing of Billy Barnett?”