“You’re staying?” she asked.
“Want to throw me out? Just for old time’s sake?”
“No, Billy. You know I still care about you.”
He sat down and they clinked glasses. “So what’s with the pills? And why are you so thin? You don’t look good.”
“I take the pills because I can’t sleep. I’m on a diet because the cameras add ten pounds to my face and make me look fat. Any more questions?”
“Are you happy?”
“I’m having the time of my fucking life.”
“Did your daughter make it out to see you?”
Her face softened. She’d gotten knocked up as a teenager and hadn’t raised her kid. Now that her daughter was an adult, she was trying to make amends. “Amber’s flying out tomorrow so we can spend a few days together. I can’t wait.”
“That’s great. She’s going to see you in a whole new light.”
She stared at the floor and started to cry. It happened so fast that Billy didn’t know what to do. He pulled his chair closer and tried to console her.
“You look really ugly when you cry,” he said.
She laughed through her tears. They’d met on the mean streets of Providence another lifetime ago, and she’d introduced him to the rackets while also breaking his heart. The waterworks ended, and she emptied her glass and made him fix her another.
“Thanks for asking about Amber. So, did you ever rip this place off?”
“Once.”
“You told me that you ripped off every casino in Vegas multiple times. Liar.”
He brought the new drink and took his spot on the couch. “There was a reason.”
“Hmmm... you mix these good and strong. I’m listening.”
“We were past-posting at roulette and won thirty grand. When the guy in my crew went to cash out, the cashier didn’t have enough to pay him off. The cashier asked my guy to come back the next day to get our dough. Needless to say, we never came back.”
“Why not?”
“We ripped off the joint during the graveyard shift, so the burden fell on the manager of the day shift to pay us out,” he explained. “Believe me, that guy isn’t going to pay us without studying the surveillance tapes. If he sees anything wrong, the gaming board gets called.”
“That’s a cool story. Can I share it with my writers? It would make a good episode.”
“Be my guest.”
“What past-posting move did you use?”
“The Savannah.”
“I’ll call you if I need any pointers. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”
Since their relationship had ended, Mags had taken pleasure in torturing him whenever they got together. It was messed up, yet he kept coming back for more.
“I need to beat it. You take care of yourself.”
She grabbed his wrist. “You didn’t come here for a social visit. There’s something on your mind. Spit it out, lover boy.”
“I’m working a super con with a family of cheats called the Gypsies. The gaming board has fingered two of the kids, and the father’s getting nervous. We might have to bring in reinforcements. That’s where you come in. I’ll make it worth your while. What do you say?”
“In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m not in the rackets anymore. I’m an actress.”
“Hollywood’s a filthy business. Even when you win, you lose.”
“Fuck you.”
“I’m talking about one night’s work. If your pilot fails, you have a security net. Or you can give the money to your kid and make her dreams come true. It’s a sweet deal.”
“I should have called security when I first laid eyes on you.”
“But you didn’t. You knew I had something, and you were dying to hear what it was. You haven’t changed, Mags, and you never will. You’re a born thief.”
“Get out.” A phone rang in the next room. “That’s probably Rand. He always calls before he shows up, unlike some people I know. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
He started to leave. He’d planted the seed and needed to make it grow. Turning around, he said, “Sleep on it. I’ll call you tomorrow. Your number hasn’t changed, has it?”
Her glass missed his head by inches.
Downstairs in the lobby, he caught his first glimpse of the man who’d promised to make Mags a star. Rand Waters was an aging lounge lizard with fluffy orange hair and a cell phone glued to his ear. His jeans were the five-hundred-dollar variety, his black T-shirt Dolce & Gabbana. He breezed past Billy as if the young hustler didn’t exist.
Billy felt the overwhelming urge to coldcock Waters and put him on the floor. Mags was being run ragged, and this prick would go right on doing it until another pretty face happened along.
Waters got on an elevator, and Billy started to follow. His cell phone vibrated, and he pulled it out. He’d gotten a text embedded with a video, which began to play on its own. Leon sat bound to a chair, his face a bloody pulp. One of the little ones entered the picture and slit his driver’s throat, creating a bloody apron. Broken Tooth appeared, puffing a cigarette.
“Call me when you get this,” the Chinese gangster said.
The elevator door closed in his face. His hands trembled as he made the call.
“Why did you do that?” he said, nearly shouting.
“Because I felt like it,” Broken Tooth said.
“That’s it? No other reason.”
“I don’t need a reason to kill people.”
“The deal’s off. I’m not working with you.”
“I know where your pretty friends live. Want them to die, too? I don’t think so. Meet me in a half hour at Big Wong. I want to hear how your meeting with the football players went.”
The line went dead. It was all Billy could do not to throw the phone to the ground.
Fifteen
He drove to Spring Valley and crawled down the three-mile stretch of strip centers known as Chinatown until he found Big Wong. The lunch crowd was long gone and there was plenty of parking. Easing his vehicle into a space, he got on his cell phone and called Gabe.
“Hey, Billy, how did it go with the football players?” Gabe answered.
“I’ll tell you later. I need you to explain how the rigged coin toss works,” he said.
“You don’t sound so hot. Is everything okay?”
He was still seeing red over Leon’s senseless murder and had decided to delay telling his crew the bad news. “Everything’s fine. Now lay it on me.”
“You want me to explain over the phone?”
He’d taught his crew to avoid discussing jobs over the phone whenever possible. But there was the matter of keeping Pepper and Misty alive, so he decided to do it anyway.
“Yes, over the phone.”
“Okay, here it is. The coin used for the coin toss in the Super Bowl is a ceremonial coin and is extra thick. That allowed me to fit a mercury slug in its center without it being noticeable. The mercury can be moved with a transmitter hidden in a cell phone. If I want the coin to land heads, I move the slug to the tails side; if I want the coin to land tails, I move the slug to the heads side. It works like a charm.”
“Explain the deal again with the head referee.”
“The head referee’s name’s Gordon Barnett, and he’s in Phoenix preparing for the game with the other refs. Cory found out that Barnett has gambling debts, so Cory plans to bribe him fifty grand in return for Barnett using the gimmicked coin for the coin toss.”
The whole thing sounded risky. Gimmicked coin, a crooked ref, and hoping the dirty players did their jobs right. He’d have to do a strong sell on Broken Tooth to make it fly.
“I need to run. I’ll call you later,” he said.
Broken Tooth sat at a corner table eating greasy spareribs. Seeing Billy approach, he chopped the air with his hand. His bodyguard put down his utensils and stood up.