“I’ve been doing work for this casino for a while,” Valentine said. “I’ve made good money off Nick, so I think it’s time I give something back. I’m going to teach you how I catch crossroaders. It’s based on a system I developed in Atlantic City. I call it Logical Backward Progression, or LBP. It uses memory, and common sense. Everybody ready?”
Several faces in the group lit up. Others simply nodded.
“A few days ago, a blackjack player named Lucy Price won twenty-five grand at one of your tables. Based upon the astronomical odds against what happened, I’m convinced it was a scam. However, I don’t know how the scam worked. So I’m going to use LBP and examine what I do know.”
He picked up a legal pad from a desk, and a Sharpie, and began to write.
Valentine put his pen down and handed the legal pad to the technician to his right. She read the page, then passed it to the next person. He waited until everyone was done, then said, “Based on these facts, what do we know?”
A technician named Nadine cleared her throat. She was from a former Soviet bloc country and had come to Las Vegas right after the Berlin Wall had fallen. Nadine had a knack for spotting improprieties in players. Not grift sense, but damn close.
“Her play is entirely predictable,” Nadine said.
“Because she’s playing Basic Strategy?”
“That’s right. In fact, Lucy Price really wasn’t playing her hands at all. The Basic Strategy card was playing her hands. She was just doing what the card told her to.”
“Why is this important?”
Nadine smiled. “The other player knew exactly what she was doing.”
Valentine wanted to hug her. It was so simple that it had flown right by him. The information was letting the other player at the table play Lucy’s hand. Cheaters called it playing early anchor. Valentine explained, and everyone smiled. Except Nick.
“What do you mean, the other guy’s playing her hand?” Nick said.
“I’ll show you, “ Valentine said.
The nine technicians crowded around the wall of video monitors. Wily brought up the tape of Lucy on the master console and beamed it onto every screen.
The tape showed the end of Lucy’s streak. Valentine watched the other man at the table. He sat to Lucy’s right and drew his cards before Lucy did. He was controlling the play.
Valentine waited for someone else to pick it up. Nadine again came to the rescue. She pointed at the same player.
“He’s playing Lucy’s hand,” she declared. “He knows which cards are coming out of the shoe. If Lucy has eleven, and the next card in the shoe is a ten, he won’t take it, giving Lucy the card so she wins her hand. Conversely, if he sees a scare card on top, say a four or a five, he’ll draw it, so Lucy
Nick was acting like his pants were on fire. “What the hell are you talking about? How the hell does he know which cards are coming out of the shoe?”
Nadine glanced at Valentine. She had an understated way about her that he’d always admired. Smart, but not a show-off.
“Be my guest,” Valentine said.
“The cards are marked,” Nadine explained. “The player sitting to Lucy’s right is controlling Lucy’s hand by drawing cards that will hurt Lucy, or standing pat when there’s a card that will help Lucy.”
Nick looked at Valentine. “How does Fontaine play into this?”
“He’s standing behind the table out of the camera’s range, directing the action.”
Nick looked at Wily. “Read my mind.”
Wily scratched his chin. “You want to know who delivers the cards to the table.”
“Boy, are you smart,” Nick said.
Going to the master console, Wily accessed the casino’s database, bringing the man’s name up within a matter of seconds. He whistled through his teeth. For a clue to jump out and bite Wily meant it was the size of an elephant, and everyone in the room waited expectantly.
“The guy’s new, too,” Wily said.
Within a matter of seconds, Wily pulled up the name of every new hire the Acropolis had made in the past three months. There were thirty names.
“Is that a lot?” Valentine asked Nick.
“Yeah, it’s a lot,” Nick said. “I should have seen it sooner.”
“Seen what?”
Nick was scanning the new hires’ employment profiles on the computer, and he pointed at the screen. “Everyone of them used to work at Sin. The place has only been open six months. Why are they leaving to come to work for me?”
Nick paused, as if expecting one of the technicians to suggest what a swell boss he was. When no one volunteered, he said, “It’s an invasion, that’s why. Chance Newman and Shelly Michael and Rags Richardson want to tear the Acropolis down and build a moving walkway that will connect their casinos to each other. My spies have told me. I know.” He shifted his gaze to Valentine. “So they hired Fontaine to put me out of business. I just don’t understand one thing.”
“What’s that?” Valentine asked.
“How the hell did they spring Fontaine out of the federal pen?”
The same question had been bothering Valentine. Chance and Rags and Shelly were powerful men, but that power didn’t extend to freeing murderers from prison. There was something else going on here, and he was determined to find out what.
“Let me see the files of those thirty new hires,” he said.
21
Mabel had always believed that the majority of the world’s problems could be solved with a good meal. So she took Yolanda to the Bon Appetit restaurant in nearby Dunedin, and they spent the afternoon watching the sailboats in Clearwater Harbor while sampling wonderful seafood appetizers. By the time the waiter brought the check, Yolanda was acting like her old self, and smiling again.
“I’m sure there’s an explanation for everything that’s happened,” Mabel said during the drive back to Palm Harbor. She saw Yolanda shift uncomfortably and couldn’t tell if it was the baby, or her fears about Gerry. “By the way, how would you like to sample the world’s best pound cake?”
“Only if you made it,” Yolanda said.
A few minutes later, Mabel pulled into Tony’s driveway. She baked several pound cakes every month, and always put one in Tony’s refrigerator. They were good warm, better cold, and Yolanda was smiling again when they sat down in Tony’s kitchen.
“I love eating for two,” she said, cutting herself a thick piece.
“Enjoy it while you can,” Mabel said.
The doorbell rang. Mabel found her shoes and walked through the house to the front door. The door had a
