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Milo said, “This can all go away, Rikki, if you cooperate.”
Montel licked her lips. “I always cooperate. What’s your pleasure?”
He showed her Gio Aggiunta’s photo.
She said, “Him? He’s in trouble? That’s a surprise, there was nothing shady about him that I ever vibed on. And trust me, you get shadies even at the ’Dorf. Go upstairs to the roof deck, it’s wall-to-wall shady.” She stuck out her tongue. Conducted a long, slow lip-tour.
Milo said, “Tell us what you know about him, Rikki.”
She grinned. “What I know isn’t going to make it into your files or whatever you call them.”
We waited.
She said, “Fine. I met him at the ’Dorf maybe…a year and a half ago? He was cute, came on like he loved himself. Smooth, you know? Knows he’s cute. I was up front.”
“About…”
She folded her arms across her chest. “What do you think?”
“All business.”
“I’m a businesswoman. A lot of times guys get offended, thinking it’s all about their charm. Giovanni didn’t. He was like, ‘Hey, done that before in Italy, this could be fun.’ We…negotiated, then we walked up the block and he rented a room at the Hilton. Ground floor, tacky.” Another grin. “I think at that point tacky was what he was after. Which is fine, I aim to please.”
“Did that become your usual place?”
“After that he trusted me and we partied at his pad. Up in Bel Air, we swam in his pool. Not a great house, I’ve seen better, but we had fun. He liked to call me Mama. Guys call you all sorts of things, that was harmless.”
“When’s the last time you saw him?”
“Hmm,” she said. “Long time. Couple of months? Maybe longer?”
“How many times did you party?”
“Like I keep count?”
Milo said, “Take a guess.”
“Why?”
“Humor me, Rikki.”
“What’d he do?”
“How many times?”
“Six? Mostly in the beginning. Just a couple at the end, by then I was…I had other arrangements but he showed up and it was like old times, so why not? Okay? Got enough giggles for your locker room? What’d he do?”
Milo said, “He died.”
Rhonda Montel slammed her hand to her mouth. She pitched forward, caught herself. Lowered the hand and said, “No.”
“I’m afraid yes, Rikki.”
“Shit. Such a nice guy. A sweet guy, he was always out to…he was sweet and nice. Who would do that?”
“It’s what we’re trying to find out, Rikki.”
“Well you won’t find out from me,” she said. “Like I said, it’s been months. It’s not like I was obsessive-possessive. We were always cool, sometimes I’m available, sometimes you’re available. It’s not like the movies. We’re not out to find Mr. Right.”
