casino, soothed by the permanent harmonics of the slot machines which, when you're in Vegas, becomes like the music of the spheres.
'Susan and I will go north on the Strip,' I said to Hawk.
'You go south.'
'What about all the joints off the Strip?' Hawk said.
'If he's the guy I think he is, he'll be in one of the big casinos.
Here, Caesars, MGM Grand, that kind of place. What I gather, he's got something to prove.'
'You gonna break the bank, you don't want to do it in some Motel Six in Laughlin,' Hawk said.
I nodded.
'So first we hit the biggest and gaudiest. He's got a system. So we start with the blackjack tables. Could be something else, but most guys with systems play blackjack.'
'Can a system win?' Susan said.
'Over a long time,' I said.
'Like most things it depends some on the guy using the system. In some places, for instance, you can surrender early dealer shows a ten card and you don't like your first two you can turn them back to the dealer and forfeit half your bet. Gives you a quarter of a percent edge on the house.'
'My God, that's not very much return on your investment.'
'About a quarter for every hundred you play. But it's sort of illustrative. There are things that will give the player a positive edge. Most systems have to do with card counting; they can work if you play enough.'
'How long is enough?' She was eating half a papaya with some lime squeezed on it. She had cut a small wedge off one end and picked it up and took a small bite. Even when she ate with her fingers, she seemed entirely delicate and proper. After I ate, I always looked like I'd been in a food fight.
'Two, three hundred hours,' Hawk said.
Susan looked at him with horror.
'Two or three hundred?'
'Gambling ain't for lazy people,' Hawk said.
'You going to make a living at it.'
'Wouldn't it be easier to work?' Susan said.
Hawk smiled.
'Or do what we do,' he said.
'The thing is most people don't gamble hundreds of hours,' I said.
'Most people come to Vegas, say, for a weekend. Most of them don't have a system. They just play because that's what you do here.'
'And they lose,' Susan said.
'Absolutely,' I said.
'If they didn't enjoy the experience they might as well mail in a check.'
'I'd love to try it,' Susan said.
'Blackjack?'
'Anything. It sounds like fun.'
'You got a system?'
'Of course I do. You and Hawk tell me what to do.'
Hawk looked at me without expression.
'Be a first,' Hawk said.
'She won't do what we tell her,' I said.
Susan smiled.
'I will if I want to,' she said.
In the lobby bar a young woman with a tight red dress and a blonde ponytail was belting 'Hey Look Me Over' to three guys at the bar and one woman sitting near the lounge feeding coins into a nickel slot. I looked at my watch. It was 7:45 A.M.
Susan and I stood for a moment outside The Mirage watching Hawk move away down toward the Strip. He was wearing a white straw planter's hat, a dark blue linen shirt, white slacks, and blue suede loafers. People studiously avoided looking at him until he was past them. Then they stared at him over their shoulders.
'People notice him,' Susan said.
'Yeah.'
'He frightens them.'
'Yeah.'
