8
LEO leaned over the counter where he was working and spoke without looking at his notes or at Cassie.
'The mark is registered under the name Diego Hernandez. He's a pro, a TexMex out of Houston. His game is baccarat. Far as anyone knows he plays clean. He's just good at it. Spends a few days at each casino and moves on, that way he isn't taking too much out of one place and raising eyebrows too high. They tracked him from the Nugget to the Stardust and now the Cleo. Cleaned up every place he went.'
They were in the kitchen of Leo's house. Cassie sat at the kitchen table while Leo stood at the counter and made them peanut butter, honey and banana sandwiches. It was his specialty. He used seven-grain bread.
'Each night he takes his winnings in cash and keeps it all in a briefcase. If he leaves the building he takes the case with him. Locked to his wrist. The only time he doesn't have it with him is when he's down in the casino playing. What he does is take it to the front desk and have them hold it in the vault for him while he's playing, then he picks it up when he goes up to bed. Whenever he's carrying the case he's got a security escort. He doesn't take chances.'
'So what you are saying is that the only time to get it is to go in while he's asleep.'
'Exactly.'
Leo came over to the table and put down two plates with two sandwiches each on them. He then went to the refrigerator and came back with two bottles of Dr Pepper. He sat down and opened the bottles as he talked.
'In the room he probably transfers the cash from the case to the closet safe as an added precaution. That's not for sure but we have to expect it. You want a glass with that?'
'No. What is the safe? I don't remember from before.'
Leo looked down and studied his notes.
'It's a Halsey Executive five-button. Sits on the floor in the closet beneath the clothes rack. Bolted to the floor from the inside. You can't move it. You have to go in and open it – while the guy is right there in the room.'
Cassie nodded and picked up half a sandwich. Leo had cut them into triangles. He always did it that way and she remembered he once got annoyed when she had made a sandwich and cut it lengthwise. She took a bite and immediately smiled.
'Gawd,' she said, her mouth full of peanut butter and moving slowly. 'I forgot how good these are, Leo. I remember you makin' them for Max and me after we drove all night to get back here after jobs.'
'Made these sandwiches for him since he was six years old. Always his favorite. It always hits the spot.'
Mentioning Max robbed her of the smile. Cassie turned back to the business at hand.
'The Halsey has a front-mounted keypad. I can do it with one camera – two to be safe if there's time. I'll have to know if the mark's right- or left-handed. I'll get that when I see him on the floor.'
She was primarily talking to herself. Seeing the job in her mind. Then a question for Leo came up.
'You ask your man about the paint?'
Leo nodded.
'Swiss Coffee. The room was painted two months ago but it's a smoking room. Our guy smokes cigars.'
'That'll help with the smell.'
She committed the paint color to memory. She decided she'd pick up a pint and a pump bottle at Laurel Hardware in the morning before leaving.
'I'm also told he's a fat fuck,' Leo said. 'A snorer. Makes it a little easier.'
'Nothing's easy, Leo. Not in Las Vegas.'
That made her think about going back to the Cleopatra again and a foreboding came over her.
'If he's leaving Thursday, why don't we wait and see where he goes and hit him at the new place? Why does it have to be the Cleo?'
'Because we don't know if he's going anywhere else. He might be going back to Texas, for all we know. His briefcase might be full and he's going home. Besides, we have the inside man at the Cleo. Who knows if we'll get lucky like that if he moves on.'
Cassie nodded. She knew Leo had thought about all of this and had decided that hitting the mark at the Cleopatra was the only way.
'I read that the Cleo's for sale,' she said, just to be saying something that would take them away from her thoughts.
'Yeah, three thousand rooms and half of them empty on any given night. Big white elephant is what it is. Seven years old and already for sale. I heard Steve Wynn took a look at it but then took a pass. You know something must be fucked up there if he didn't see a way to turn it around. He touches something, it's gold.'
'Maybe the place never got over the bad publicity – you know, with Max.'
Leo shook his head.
'Old news. The problem is they made that place as cheap as Mother Hubbard's flophouse and now it's falling apart and nobody wants to stay there. Too many other nice places on the Strip for the same dough. You got the Bellagio now, the Venetian. The Mandalay Bay down at the end.'
He was naming places that hadn't even existed the last time Cassie had been to Las Vegas. She finished her first sandwich and immediately moved on to the next after taking a swig of cold soda from the bottle. She went back to laying out the plan, talking with her mouth full.
'Unless things have changed, the Cleo is on magno-cards. That means I have to get over there early tomorrow to work on the maid. I finesse my way into the room, set things up and come back at night through the air-return vent – just like last time.'
She gulped down a mouthful and felt it hit her stomach with a thud.
'I don't know, Leo. They might have changed the design of those ducts after me and Max used them.'
She looked over at him. He was looking over his glasses at her and smiling.
'What?'
'You're not listening to me,' he said. 'I told you the spotter is an inside man. Forget the ducts. And the maid, too. No soshing on this one. You'll have a complete package waiting for you at the VIP desk.'
He looked down at the notes.
'Under the name Turcello. You'll have everything you – '
'Why Turcello? Who's that?'
'That's you. Who cares why? It's just the name the spotter gave me. In the package will be everything you'll need. You'll go in through the front door to the room because you'll have a pass key. And you'll also have a room nearby. So you can set up and watch. Also there'll be a pager. You put it on and you'll get a buzz the minute the mark starts cashing out for the night.'
'A pass key only gets me halfway there. I'll need to change out the deadbolt. It's been so long I can't remember the make. Did you get – '
'Got it right here. Relax. I told you, I've got everything. This isn't amateur hour.'
He referred to his notes.
'The deadbolt is a Smithson Commercial. Same as last time. That a problem?'
'I won't know until I get there. Like you said, when they built that place they went cheap in the places you can't see. They used half gears in all the deadbolts. I guess using halves instead of wholes in three thousand locks saved a nice piece of bread. The question is, did they go back and change them all out after that night with Max?'
'What if they did?'
'Then it's trouble. It means I'll have to take out the whole and cut it in half. '
'In the room?'
'No. I'll have to leave and come back. I'll bring a cutting torch with me and leave it in the trunk. But if I have to go down to use it, I'll have to find a place out of sight. Meantime, the guy could go up to the room and end of story.'
'What about the other room? You could take the gear out of that lock, cut it and then take it into the mark's room.'
Before Cassie could say he was right, Leo shook off the possibility that the locks had been changed.
'I tell you, don't worry about it. That place has been losing money since the day it opened its doors. They
