Lemons Never Lie

paymaster's office, and Grofield and Leach would spray the office with machine gun bullets, killing the guards inside. Then they would-

'No,' said Grofield.

Myers stopped in mid-sentence, his hand dipping down for yet another photo or map or graph. He blinked. 'What?'

'I said no. Don't tell me any more of it, I'm out.'

Myers frowned; he couldn't understand it. 'What's the matter, Grofield?'

'Killing,' Grofield said.

'They've got half a dozen armed guards in there,' Myers said. 'There's absolutely no other way to get past them.'

'I believe you. That's why I'm out.'

Myers looked sardonic. 'You really that kind, Grofield? Sight of blood bother you?'

'No, it's more the sight of cops. The law looks a lot harder for a killer than it does for a thief. Sorry, Myers, but you can count me out.'

Grofield turned toward the door. Behind him, he heard Dan Leach say, 'Thanks for the drink.'

Myers' voice sounded shocked: 'You, too?'

Grofield opened the door and stepped through into the other room. He felt Dan coming along behind him, and heard Dan close the door on Myers' calling voice and on the other voices also starting up.

The wrestler was lying face down on the floor, on his right cheek. He was unconscious, and his nose had stopped bleeding.

Grofield said, 'You really hit them, don't you?'

'Only when they ask.'

They went out to the hall and headed for the elevators. Grofield said, 'Now, will you tell me who that madman is and how you rung me in on it?'

'He's a friend of my wife's brother,' Dan said. 'He's supposed to of done some stuff down around Texas.'

'He's a simpleton,' Grofield said.

3

The dice ricocheted from the backboard, bounced back on two separate trajectories across the green felt and came up three and four. The shooter groaned, money changed hands, and the dice passed to Dan Leach. 'Operate the numbers for me,' he said, and Grofield said, 'Sure.'

You couldn't get out of one of these Strip hotels without going through the casino. Grofield wasn't a gambling man, but Dan was, so on the way by he'd said, 'Let's earn us our plane fare anyway.'

'Not me.'

'Well, I will. Hang in and watch, and take the free drinks.'

Grofield had nothing to do until he took another plane out of here tomorrow, so he'd stayed. Dan obviously had played on a Las Vegas-style layout before, and he'd been picking up a few dollars on the other shooters' rolls. Now he had a chance on his own roll.

'For the boys,' he said, to begin with, and dropped a one dollar chip on the six-five come. If he rolled an eleven, the four housemen it took to work this table would split the fifteen dollars that bet would win; if he rolled any other number, that dollar would be lost.

'Thank you for the chance, sir,' said the stickman neutrally, and pushed Dan the dice; red translucent plastic with large white dots.

Dan rolled the dice between both palms, to warm them. He had the slightly loose smile on his face that has nothing to do with humor, but that means the player feels at home, his adrenalin is pumping. He held the dice in his right hand, shook once, and threw.

Six-two.

'The point is eight,' said the stickman, and drew the dice back down the table to Dan.

Dan said to Grofield, 'Cover the numbers.'

'Right.'

Across from Grofield, in six squares imprinted on the felt were the numbers 4 5 6 8 9 and 10. A round black thing something like a hockey puck had been put by the houseman there over the 8 square; that was the shooter's number, and could not be bet. Grofield put three dollars of Dan's chips on each of the other numbers. If he rolled one of those numbers before rolling either his point – eight – or losing with a seven, the house would pay off on that number. No bet would be lost on any of those numbers until he either won or lost his try to make his point; the money could ride, roll after roll.

'Keep 'em covered,' Dan said, rolling the dice around between his palms again. 'I feel a long roll coming on.'

'I'm on it,' Grofield promised.

Dan proceeded to roll thirty-four times without either a seven or an eight coming up. Twice in the course of it he had Grofield up the bets covering the five numbers, the second time to fifteen dollars each. On the thirty-fifth roll, the dice did their jig and wound up four-four. The lady across the way with twenty-five dollars on the hard way blew Dan a kiss, and he winked at her. The houseman inspected the dice again – he'd been inspecting