EYEHEARTZOMBIES

I didn’t hear from Manny all that day. Around seven-thirty I got tired of waiting and tried his house again. He wasn’t home, but his wife, Belinda, answered.

“Is Manny there?” I asked.

“No. Manny no aqui,” she said.

“Oh. Can you tell him to call the Flamingo when he gets in? The Flamingo?”

“Si. El Flamingo.” And she hung up.

I decided to try his work again. He was there and the receptionist put me through. “Hello, this is Manny.” His voice had changed a lot from that job years ago in New York. I hadn’t seen him since Chicago, but I didn’t remember him sounding like that. He had grown up in the year or so since he had come out here. It was probably from the shit that cop had put him through in Chicago. An attack like that’ll mess up anyone.

“Hey Manny. It’s me. I need your help.” We exchanged pleasantries for a bit, then he asked what I needed help with. I related the story of the car trip to him. “Really I just need to know who gave her the gun. Whoever did that was the one that wanted me dead, I’m sure. That’s not something you’d trust anyone with. Think you can help me out?”

He didn’t say anything for awhile. “Where can I meet you at? Your place? The Flamingo? Or should we meet somewhere else?”

“No, the Flamingo should be fine. When are you coming by, Manny?” I was a little scared at how urgent he sounded. I was excited, too, though. I felt sure he already knew who it was that was behind it all.

“Alright. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Meet me in the lounge. Get a good table. You know how I can’t stand to miss Sinatra.” And he hung up.

I went down to the club about ten minutes later. I had packed a gun in my old docker’s clutch and wanted to be able to check out the place thoroughly before Manny and I had our little talk. I found a table in the middle front and staked my claim to it with a little “Reserved” sign. I sat down a few minutes before Manny was supposed to get there and ordered us a couple of drinks. Vodka and tonic for me, gin for Manny. I didn’t know if he liked gin or not, but it didn’t really matter. We were there for business, not drinks.

Manny showed up a few minutes later, twenty minutes after we had talked exactly. He glanced around rather nervously, then sat down and gulped his drink.

“OK, I have to tell you all of this quickly,” he said. “I already know who did it, but what I have to say is that you need to just forget about it. You can’t do anything against him and it’s pointless to even try. They don’t allow in-fighting and if you report it, he’ll just get sent somewhere and taken care of. You won’t get your revenge. And if you go after him on your own, you’ll be out. They don’t like in-fighting. They won’t help you or keep you out of jail or anything. Trust me, just forget about it.” Manny looked around nervously again and gulped the rest of his drink.

“Hey, whoa, slow down, man. What’re you talking about?” I didn’t like the flighty look in his eyes. He was way too nervous.

“Max, man. Look, he planted the gun on the girl. He’s scared of you. He wanted you taken out. He’s a moron, though. Giving a gun to a girl like that. I’m surprised she didn’t shoot herself taking it out of her purse. He got drunk that night and was talking about how he would run his place however he damn well liked. Said there wasn’t anything the bosses could do about it once he took out their bulldog. He wasn’t counting on you coming back, obviously.” Manny waved to a passing waitress and ordered another drink. “What’s wrong? You haven’t touched yours,” he said, pointing to my Vodka tonic.

I took a sip, in shock. Max? Max had tried to have me killed? Did he really think I was there to take over his casino? God, the man was more deluded than I thought. Planting a gun on Joy wasn’t just wrong, it was stupid, like Manny said. She didn’t know what to do with it. And now she was dead. Max was responsible.

Manny, of course, was right, though. I couldn’t go after Max. Not on the surface at least. I’d have to be sneaky and devious like he had tried to be. That’d be hard,though. He’d be watching twice as closely now that I had made it back. And if he saw me here with Manny.

“Hey, when’s Blue Eyes coming on?” Manny asked.

“He was here last night. You missed him,” I answered, caught up in my own thoughts.

“Damn.”

I stood up and thanked Manny for the information. I dropped an envelope with five hundred dollars in it onto the table and walked away, weaving through the crowd so no one got a great look at me. Once I was out of the lounge, I slumped against a wall to think.

My friend from childhood. The guy I had protected against bullies. This guy was going to come back after me for being in the same town as he was? This ass was going to try and take me out just because he thought I was a threat to him?

The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. And the angrier I got, the more I started not caring if the bosses wanted in-fighting or not. I was going to get my revenge.