need in a Game, scam or theft. He was sure there were handcuffs in there somewhere and, within a couple of minutes of searching, he’d found them.
Concealing them carefully in the palm of his hand, he then wandered into Jesse’s room. The cowboy was? as he had hoped? stretched out on the bed with his arms behind his head and his hat pulled down over his face. This was the very definition of a sitting duck. Poor fool; he was totally unsuspecting. Jesse didn’t even look up when Lex walked in but merely said lazily, ‘Ain’t you gone yet? I thought you’d be down there hobnobbing by now.’
‘I just wanted to stress once again how vital it is that you don’t leave the room this evening,’ Lex said, wandering casually nearer to the bed. ‘Leaving the ship with Lady Luck’s help was one thing but leaving the room could have potentially disastrous consequences for me. You do understand that, don’t you?’
‘Sure, sure,’ the cowboy drawled lazily.
‘Good,’ Lex replied. ‘In that case, I know you won’t mind me taking a little precaution.’
And, in one fluid motion, he leant forwards, snapped one cuff around the cowboy’s wrist and the other around the bedpost.
Jesse tilted his hat back with his free hand, looked at the handcuffs, looked at Lex and said calmly, ‘I sure as hell hope you’ve got the key to those, partner.’
‘It’s probably in my bag somewhere,’ Lex replied. ‘I’ll let you out when I get back. But I don’t trust you any more than you trust me. This works both ways? partner.’
Jesse was clearly annoyed but was trying not to let it show. Lex grinned and said, ‘Crossing me has consequences. My old companion? dear old Montgomery Schmidt, lawyer and nag extraordinaire? learnt that very quickly. I’m sure you will, too. You may not be the brightest button in the box but you’ve got half a brain at least.’
‘You’re too kind,’ Jesse replied.
‘So I’ve been told many times,’ Lex said before flashing the cowboy one last big smile and saying, ‘Have a lovely evening.’ Then he turned on his heel and walked out of the bedroom to head to the dinner downstairs.
CHAPTER TWELVE
The hotel had several restaurants but it was the largest, poshest one? the one with all the vaulted ceilings and crystal? in which they had the welcome dinner. There were name cards at the various tables? each one seating between seven and fifteen people. Lex found himself on one of the largest tables completely surrounded on all sides by wealthy, fat women who were positively weighed down with jewellery. There was simply no doubt about it? finding something suitable to pinch from one of their rooms later would be no trouble whatsoever.
Jeremiah and Lorella were already seated when Lex walked in. He was pleased to note that Jeremiah looked distinctly unhappy and Tess? who was sitting beside him? looked subdued almost to the point of appearing unwell. Lorella didn’t look too happy either. Lady Luck had smugly told Lex that she had been caught by an enchanted dolphin trap almost as soon as she left the galley, right at the very start of the round. The episode had rather taken her down a peg or two.
Lex spent the evening looking suitably morose, pushing the food around his plate and quietly resisting the attempts of the clucking women all around him who were trying to entice him to eat.
‘I’m afraid I haven’t been feeling very well the last couple of days,’ he said pitifully, whilst the women exchanged knowing looks over his head.
After the food had been cleared away, the manager of the hotel got a microphone from somewhere and called for quiet. The room fell silent whilst the man did a little speech about what an honour and a privilege it was, blah, blah, blah, to have all the players assembled at the hotel between rounds. Lex was pleased when Lorella stood up at the end of the speech and said that it was her pleasure to be there. She sat down and Jeremiah obviously then felt honour bound to say something as well for he stood up and? looking distinctly awkward at all the unfriendly looks people were shooting him? said that he, too, was pleased to be a guest at the Majestic. Once Jeremiah had retaken his seat, Lex got to his feet, being careful to look extremely reluctant to do so when he was, in reality, utterly delighted. A greater hush seemed to descend on the room when Lex stood up. All eyes were on him? which was just the way he liked it.
‘I’d like to echo what my fellow players have said. I’m truly honoured to be here. And I… I’d like to take the opportunity to..’ Lex trailed off, cleared his throat and continued in a stronger voice. ‘If you don’t mind, I would be very glad if you would all join me in a toast.’ Everyone in the room had their glasses in their hands so quickly that it was almost like magic. ‘I’d like to raise a glass to my fallen comrade,’ Lex went on, pleased to note out of the corner of his eye that Jeremiah seemed to have slid down even further in his chair and rather looked like he desired nothing more than for a hole to appear in the ground and swallow him up. ‘Jesse Layton,’ Lex went on, ‘was a good man and a true friend. He always put other people before himself. And I know that he gave his life gladly for Tess East and the last thing he would ever have wanted would be for anyone to feel resentful or angry about how the first round ended. That… That wasn’t his way. Jesse didn’t bear grudges and he wouldn’t want anyone else to, either. He knew what he was doing when he grabbed that octopus and he did it with no regrets.’
Lex paused, as if he was fighting to keep himself under control, and in that pause he distinctly heard the woman seated next to him whisper to her neighbour, ‘He’s an orphan, you know. They say the cowboy was like a father to him.’
Excellent idea, Lex thought to himself.
‘Some of you may know that my parents died when I was five,’ he went on. ‘My brother and I were orphaned. We barely remember our real father. But Jesse… Jesse was almost like a father to us-’ He broke off abruptly at the same time as he willed tears to appear in his eyes for the first time. The seconds dragged on in tense silence before he finally said, ‘I’m sorry, I… I can’t go on.’
And, with that, he sat down and covered his face with his hand. After another moment of silence, the entire room applauded warmly? which was nice. It is always gratifying to be rewarded for a performance. If Lex had been a less disciplined sort of fraud then he might have taken the opportunity to smirk behind his hand, especially as he alone knew precisely where Jesse really was? handcuffed to a bed upstairs. But he was far, far too professional for that. Smirking was for when? and only when? he was safely back in his room, securely away from prying eyes.
The women on either side of him put comforting arms around his shoulders and Lex spent the next half hour being thoroughly mollycoddled.
It was towards the end of the evening, when Lex was almost ready to make his excuses and go back to his room, that he became aware of Jeremiah standing up from his table and making his way towards him.
Everyone in the restaurant shot him evil glances as he went. They had all seen him hit the dying cowboy who’d heroically saved his sister’s life. Lex even heard a few muttered words along the lines of, ‘Disgraceful!’ ‘Outrageous!’ and ‘Surely he won’t have the audacity to actually speak to Lex Trent!’
Jeremiah stopped before the table. His head was high, his shoulders were back and he looked right at Lex and said, ‘Lex, I just want to say how… how terribly sorry I am. I realise there’s no excuse for what I did. My action was unforgivable. But I can assure you that I simply didn’t realise what had just happened when I… when I hit Jesse. I thought he was trying to hurt Tess. I love my sister and it’s my fault she got dragged into this Game in the first place. I’d give anything in the world now to shake Jesse’s hand and thank him myself. I… tried to give up the win for the first round. I told Kala I shouldn’t have won in the first place, but it was too late.’ He lowered his voice and went on more quietly. ‘I understand that you and Jesse were friends for a long time so I’ll understand if you never speak to me again. I just want you to know how heartily sorry I am. If I could swap places with him, I would, in a heartbeat.’
Lex could have throttled him! Jeremiah East was acting like a decent human being, blast him! Already Lex could feel the others thawing? their icy hatred melting away to be replaced with cautious sympathy. Jeremiah certainly seemed genuine, for he hadn’t even brought Tess over with him, but had left her back at the table instead. If Lex had been in his place, he would have dragged the kid over for the apology because it was much harder to remain stony-faced when the dear, sweet, angelic-looking child whose life had been saved was gazing at you with big eyes.
