Rocco’s was packed when I arrived. The smoke was so thick it was hanging from the ceiling like cobwebs.
I did hear some growling that was coming from the back of the dance floor that might have passed for singing, if I had already had three or four manhattans, but I stuck to only one while I was with Thelma. I did that for a couple of reasons; one, I didn’t know if I would have to pay for her entire tab which I would have been hard pressed to cover with what I had in my wallet; and two, I become putty in the hands of beautiful women, or any women for that matter, when I have too much to drink and I just didn’t trust myself with Thelma and that red dress.
I noticed Ralph sitting at a table with Eloise and I walked over and sat down. Eloise immediately got up and said. “I’ll get that Crown on the rocks for you Ralph.” She walked away without saying a word to me.
“Well, you pissed her off big time. Ralph said. I was just going to find out from her what you did when you walked in. I guess I could find out from you but somehow, I don’t think it would be the same as if Eloise told the story.”
Ralph Mills was a successful land developer in Menomonie Falls, just North of Milwaukee and a partner with me in Sam Galbraith and Hap Shultz’s cargo airline. Unfortunately, Ralph wasn’t as successful in marriage as he was in developing land.
He had been married four times and divorced four times and that pretty much soured him on women and long term relationships. He considered anything over six months long term as that is how long his last marriage lasted.
He said he would try being gay except he didn’t want to have to dress like William Bennett, wearing lime green pants, pink shirt and bright yellow sports coat. Even for someone like Ralph, that was a bit much.
“You got a minute”?” I asked.
“Not much more than that. Pretty soon Eloise will be back with my drink and whatever you have to say won’t be more important than what Eloise and I were talking about before you interrupted us.”
“Yeah, yeah, just give me a minute here. I need someone like you to decipher some codes in this diary that was given to me.”
“Whose is it?”
“It belonged to one of the women who lost their head on the Southside of Milwaukee recently. Sally Hammonds.”
“No kidding. Well, let’s take a look.” Ralph said.
He turned as Eloise walked up and gave her a lascivious smile as she bent to place his Crown Royal on a napkin on the table in front of him.
“Thanks, hon.”
“You’re welcome, Ralph.” Eloise patted him on his shoulder and turned her gorgeous hazel eyes on me and threw darts in my direction before walking off.
“Come on, Eloise. Look, I’m sorry. Will you bring me a brandy manhattan on your next trip back? Please?” I yelled, pleading to her retreating back as she disappeared into the crowd of people swaying on the dance floor.
“Boy, she has some great legs,” Ralph said.
“There are two theories about arguing with a woman Max, neither one works. Let’s see what you got there”, Ralph said as he slid his chair around to my side of the table.
I gave Ralph a quizzical look as I wasn’t about to take any advice regarding relationships with women from Ralph, considering his track record.
A half an hour later Ralph reached over for his drink and realized that he hadn’t touched it and the ice had melted. I realized that Eloise hadn’t even brought mine yet and that she probably wouldn’t.
What we found out was that Sally Hammonds was an active young lady and that she liked to draw lots of hearts and flowers. Her diary looked like it contained just about every letter in the alphabet; but B.M. seemed to be taking up the spaces on most of the pages. One time he was the sweetest person and brought her candy and flowers and the next time he would be mean and ask her to do something that she really didn’t want to do but she did it anyway just to please him. A couple of places in the diary a P.G. is entered right after B.M.
One time she wrote, “Right after B.M. arrived there was a knock on the door. B.M. went to answer it and let P.G. and B.C. with the MPD in even though I was sitting on the couch without a stitch of clothing on. I was so embarrassed. P.G. and B.C. kept leering at me and I tried to cover up with the small throw pillow I picked up off the couch. All those pimples on B.C’s face turn my stomach.”
Then there were times when she and B.M. would be involved in some sordid activity with a B.C. I wondered if the initials P.G. stood for one Paul Godfrey. Who was B.M.? B.C. had to be my good friend Bob Chimilewski. The pimples gave him away. MPD? Milwaukee Police Department? Interesting.
Thelma said she doesn’t know who B.M., P.G. or who B.C. are but I wondered if she was being honest with me. She said she wanted to find Sally’s killer but was that true, or only as long as it didn’t involve someone she knew. I could ask Mr. Palermo but he already told me Paul Godfrey wasn’t involved in the murder. Was he being honest with me as well? Why should he be? I was no threat to him. He could have me rubbed out and only a handful of people would care, I think they would care. I thought confronting Tampa Ray might be an option better left to EJ and Harry. Their badges probably would keep them from having their faces smashed into the carpeting of Tampa Ray’s limousine.
“I gotta make a call, I said, standing and sliding my chair back. Think you could persuade Eloise to bring me a brandy manhattan on the rocks? Better make it a double. I think it could be my last.”
“Who you calling?” Ralph asked.
“A little dick drip up in Beaver Dam who I want to do some investigative work for me. I’ll be right back.”
The phone rang ten times before a sleepy Horace Greenberg said, “Hello?”
“Horace, get up and brush the moss off your teeth. I have a job for you.”
“Who is this?” he whined.
“Who do you think it is? It’s Max.”
“Max? Do you know what time it is? It’s after eleven o’clock at night.”
“I know what time it is. I’m the one who is awake. It’s time for you to get up and get on the phone and call some of your acquaintances in Milwaukee and do a little investigative reporting. What do you say to that?”
“At eleven at night? Nobody I know is up this late.”
“You’d be surprised. I want you to find out all you can on the Milwaukee Police Chief, Robert Meier and his family. I want to know who they hang around with, what synagogue they go to, the clubs they belong to and anything else you can find. One point leads to another and where it ends is where I want to be at; and see what you can dig up on Ray Palermo too while you are at it.”
“Meier? The police chief? He is the leading law enforcement officer in the city and one of the most powerful men in southern Wisconsin. He has been at the forefront of every major arrest of any importance for the past fifteen years. He has been after organized crime since the early 1940’s. He has never done anything illegal. You think he is hanging around with Ray Palermo?”
“I don’t know who he is hanging around with, I said, that’s why I am asking you to find out.
You don’t think he has ever done anything illegal? That’s like believing in honest lawyers and leprechauns. Just see what you can dig up and if you can find anything that you think just might be of interest to me, and if it pans out, I will give you a by line on my article when the story I am working on breaks.”
“Are you serious Max? You’d do that for me?”
“You’re damn right I’m serious and while you are digging, throw out the name Paul Godfrey and you might as well see what my old buddy Bob Chimilewski has been doing in his free time as well. Look at the babe angle. The kind you pay big bucks for. Escort services, high end call girls. See if you can uncover anyone with the initials B.M. and I’ll tell you right now they don’t stand for bowel movement.”
“Oh man, you’re gross Max.”
“I know, I can’t help myself. I also want you to dig around for anyone with the initials of P.G. or B.C. Now get going and start earning a name for yourself. You do a good job on this and you are on your way to the big time.”
“Wow, thanks Max. I’ll see what I can do and get back to you as soon as possible.”
“Horace, get back to me sooner than that.”
I hung up on him.