The Last Don - Mario Puzo [112]
His toes were searching her crotch. Then he pulled her to her feet. “Don’t be scared,” he said. He kissed her and then turned her around and pushed her so that she was bent over the back of the sofa, breasts hanging down, her buttocks presented, tilted up to him.
Julia said to him tearfully, “You promised to let me leave.”
Dante was kissing her buttocks, his fingers probing. Then he entered her savagely and she gave a yell of pain. When he finished, he patted her buttocks tenderly.
“You can get dressed now,” he said. “I’m sorry I broke my word. I just couldn’t miss the chance of telling my friends that I fucked Julia Deleree up her great ass.”
The next morning Cross had a wakeup call push him out of bed early. It would be a busy day. He had to pull all of Dante’s markers out of the casino cage and do the necessary paperwork to make them disappear. He had to get the pit bosses’ marker books out of their hands and have them redone. Then he had to make arrangements so that the papers on the Rolls for Big Tim would be revoked. Giorgio had had the legal papers prepared so that the official change of ownership would not be valid until a month in the future. That was vintage Giorgio.
In the middle of all this he was interrupted with a call from Loretta Lang. She was in the Hotel and urgently wanted to see him. Because he thought it might be something about Claudia, he had Security bring her up to the penthouse.
Loretta kissed him on both cheeks and then told him the whole story about Julia and Dante. She said the man had introduced himself as Steve Sharpe and had lost a hundred grand at the crap table. They were impressed, and Julia decided to sleep with him. The three of them had only come to relax and have a night of gambling. Now they were terrified that Steve might cause a scandal.
Cross nodded sympathetically. He was thinking, What a stupid thing for Dante to do before a big operation, and the son of a bitch was giving away black chips for his pickups to gamble with. He said to Loretta calmly, “I know the man, of course. Who are the two women with you?”
Loretta knew better than to dally with Cross. She told him the two names. Cross smiled. “Do you three do this often?”
“We have to have a little fun,” Loretta said. Cross gave her a sympathetic smile.
“OK,” he said. “Your friend went to his room. She undressed. She wants to scream rape? What?”
Loretta said hastily, “No, no. We just want him to keep quiet. If he talks it could be absolute disasters for our careers.”
“He won’t talk,” Cross said. “He’s a funny kind of guy. Keeps a low profile. But take my advice, don’t get mixed up with him again. You girls should be more careful.”
Loretta was annoyed by this last remark. The three women had decided to continue their outings. They were not going to be frightened by one mishap. Nothing really terrible had happened. She said, “How do you know he won’t talk?”
Cross looked at her gravely. “I’ll ask him the favor,” he said.
When Loretta left, Cross called for the secret camera file that showed all the guests at the registration desk. He studied them. Now that he had the information, it was easy to penetrate the disguises of the two women with Loretta Lang. It was dumb for Dante not to have gotten that info.
Pippi came by the penthouse office to have lunch before he left for Los Angeles to check off the logistics of the Big Tim operation. Cross told him the story Loretta had told.
Pippi shook his head. “The little bastard could have ruined the whole operation by throwing the timing off. And he keeps wearing that fucking hat after I told him not to.”
Cross said, “Be careful on this operation. Keep your eye on Dante.”
“I planned it, he can’t fuck it up,” Pippi said. “And when I see him in L.A. tonight, I’ll give him another briefing.”
Cross told him about how Giorgio had prepared the papers on the Rolls so that Big Tim would not acquire legal ownership for a month and so that after his death, the Hotel could regain the car.
“Typical Giorgio,