We took our time driving back to Neverland. I must have been pretty broody and abstract because Billie finally turned in her seat with a peeved look.
'What on earth's eating you, Thax? You act like an old bear.'
'I don't know, hon. It's just that I have an idea about this business but I can't seem to walk to it in a straight line. Something always gets in my way.'
'Well, why don't you just leave it alone? It really isn't any of your business, you know.'
'I think it is. For one thing too many people, including the law, sort of feel I might have had something to do with it. Well, that part's all right. I didn't, and I'm damned if I can see how any sonofabitch can prove otherwise. But there's something else.'
'Well, what?'
'To begin with, there's Cochrane. I liked that old Irishman. I think he and I were about to be friends. Then somebody did him dirty. Then there's Terry Orme. I told the poor little guy I was his friend. Yeah, and the first time he needs me I'm too goddam drunk to help him.'
'Well, it's a cinch you can't help him now. He's dead, isn't he?'
'Yeah, he's dead. But the bastard that did it to him isn't.'
13
I gave Billie a phony excuse for not meeting her that night after closing time and she seemed to go for it all right. What I wanted to do was look up Jerry before he got off somewhere with Bev. I went over to Dracula's Castle and got directions from one of the sweep-up men and scouted up a back door with
The stairs inside went down and I went with them to another private door. This one meant it. It was locked. The barker who spieled for the nautch show opened to my knock. He knew me and he grinned and said, 'Oh-oh, we better get out the handcuffs before we let you in here.'
'Just sightseeing, Phil,' I told him.
Jerry was in there but he was just hanging around watching a poker game. He and his boys had no more chance of playing than I did. I wanted to see him but there wasn't any rush about it. I decided to stick around and watch a few hands myself.
Dracula's basement was used nightly for a gambling hall. The membership was strictly exclusive. Neverland employees only. They had about four tables going. Gabby was at one of them with Bill Duff and Mike Ransome and a college kid named Smitty. They were playing draw.
Mike saw me and waved. 'Hey, Thax! Over here. I'll let you deal for me.'
It gave everybody a chuckle except Bill Duff. He gave me a look like an oldtime western gunman ready for a showdown and started to get up. I shook my head at him.
'Another time, Bill,' I said.
It suited him. He looked at Mike and said, 'One.'
Mike dealt the cards around. He was drinking black coffee and he hummed happily as he made with the cards. The others were working on highballs.
'Grab yourself a drink, Thax,' Gabby said.
'Just a beer,' I said. 'Jerry gets tired carrying me home.'
Jerry laughed and said, 'Jerry gets tired buying his girl new nylons.' It was a private joke and meant nothing to the others.
I went around behind Mike and drew up a chair.
'I sure hate to give a lamb a fleecing,' Mike said, 'but the lamb is
Duff scowled at him but said nothing. I got the impression Mike had been riding him.
Mike opened for a five, Gabby bumped five, and Mike stayed out. When the hand was finished Mike laid down his cards face up, showing two jacks for openers. He opened the next hand and dropped out again and when the hand was completed he faced his cards up, exposing two small pairs.
'You should have drawn to that, Mike,' I said. 'You might have gotten a full.'
He just grinned.
He passed four hands in a row and then drew three ladies. He opened, drew but didn't better it, and got out. Duff won on two pair and Mike showed his openers. Gabby stared at him.
'Don't you like to win, Mike?' Gabby wondered. 'You had Duff's doubles beat.'
Mike chuckled. 'Wasn't good enough for my money. I want a big one when I catch old Bill's purse.'
He let another two-three hands go by, then he saw a ten dollar bet and raised it the same amount. Gabby and Smitty called and Duff raised a ten. Mike raised twenty. Gabby folded and Smitty saw. Duff tipped it another twenty. It seemed to be what Mike was waiting for.
'Ha!' He shoved in two twenties.
The limit seemed to be as high as an Irish whore on New Year's Eve.
Smitty backed out and Duff studied Mike with glacial eyes. Mike grinned at him. I started to hold my breath.
'No,' Duff said and tossed in his cards. 'I ain't getting suckered into that.'
Mike spread his cards up. The best he had was a ten high. The expression on Duff's face was a thing to behold, and it didn't help his disposition much when Mike started to laugh.
I thought I knew what Mike was up to. There's three ways to play poker. Play your hand for just what it's worth. Play hunches. Play against the man who wants most to win. Mike was trying the third method.
The man who is desperate to win will usually overplay his hands. The need to win shuts out his luck. And if you can get him mad on top of that, he's dead.
Mike lost a few small hands and let a couple of fat ones go by. Duff was the steady winner and he was starting to perk up. He didn't think Mike would try another bluff. Duff opened with a casual five. Gabby stayed, Smitty doubled it and Mike raised Smitty. Duff called.
They drew and again Duff teased them along for a five. Gabby must have smelled a mouse and got out. Smitty hung in there, apprehensively, and Mike raised a ten. Duff smiled and pushed in two twenties. Smitty traded his hand for a drink.
Mike could hardly sit still in his chair. He turned to me with a happy grin and showed me his hand and I looked at it pokerfaced. Then he counted out four twenties and tossed them in.
Nobody said anything. Duff stared at Mike.
'Are you bluffing again, you bastard?' he asked.
Mike grinned, drumming his fingers on the table top.
'No,' Duff said. 'You wouldn't try that twice.' He flipped in his hand.
Mike yelled and spread out his own, face up. Nobody could believe it except me and I'd already seen it. A pain of trays. A very feeble pair of trays.
'Aw for crysake, what kind of poker is this?' Duff growled.
Mike laughed delightedly and scooped up the bills.
'How about a change of pace, Billy Boy?' he said to Duff. 'Let's try a calm game of stud, five card.'
'We're playing draw.' Duff's voice was about as sour as buttermilk.
'But it's dealer's choice, isn't it?' Mike said. 'And it's my deal, I believe.'
Duff shot me a look I could feel at the back of my head. Mike caught it and grinned and said, 'Don't sweat it, Billy boy. Thax isn't dealing-I am. You know I wouldn't give you a fast shuffle.'
He made the rounds with the cards. He had the spade six showing. He didn't look at his hole card. Gabby opened on a black ace. Everybody stayed. Mike went around with the cards. He got the spade two. Duff had a pair of eights up.
'Ten,' Duff said. They all went along with it.
Mike's next card was the spade three. Duff drew a jack. The pair eight was still high. He made it ten again.
