He said: “Wait.”
Everybody’s hole cards were dealt. I had just placed the remainder of the deck on the table in front of me.
“Hold it a second.” He was staring at me.
I stared back. “What?”
He hesitated a moment. Then: “I saw something.”
I fought the urge to glance over at Ellen.
“What are you talking about?” Danny said.
“I don’t know,” Victor said. “Something about the way she dealt the cards to herself. I can’t”—he shook his head—“I’m just … I don’t know.”
“Speak English,” Danny said.
“Something was different about it.”
“You sure, Vic?” Jason said. “You were shuffling the other deck.”
“Yeah, but still,” Victor said. “I think I saw something.”
“Did anyone else see it?” Danny asked, looking around the table.
“Ian?” Victor said.
“I wasn’t really watching. I’m just not—”
“Hey!” I snapped, shutting Ian up. It was almost a bark, the result of a monumental effort to push sound from my throat. I’d been paralyzed for a few seconds, struck stupid and mute, until I finally produced from my befuddled brain the knowledge of what was happening, and what I was supposed to do about it.
Deny vehemently.
I struggled to transform my terror into something more useful, like anger, like deep offense. I looked right at Victor. “Exactly what the hell are you getting at?”
But Danny spoke next. “Did you just try to cheat?” His own struggle sounded like the opposite of mine. He was working to control his rage.
“This is so stupid,” I said. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Guys,” Ellen began, but Victor ignored her.
“I think you might have,” he said, his voice remaining measured. “I think you were dealing from the bottom or something.”
“That’s total bullshit,” I said. “You’re being ridiculous and paranoid.” I laid it on thick. I dared him to keep it up, knowing it would lead nowhere because there was nowhere for it to lead. You deny vehemently, and then you stop cheating. The end. There was no evidence other than in the accuser’s memory, and memory was a sieve that trapped nothing reliably, and everyone knew it. What had he seen? He thought he knew, maybe, but he didn’t know, and he would become less certain with every one of my denials. That was how it went. There was no evidence. We hadn’t used a cold deck. Ellen had already put the palmed cards back into the pack. No evidence. Not a shred.
“Well, was she or wasn’t she?” Danny asked.
“I just told you I wasn’t,” I said.
Victor kept his gaze on me. “I think you’re lying,” he said.
“Then I think you’re an idiot.” I made myself keep up the terrible attitude. The sense of outrage. I made myself act as belligerent and sarcastic and nasty as I knew how. “So aren’t we in a bind?”
He watched me a moment longer, then shook his head and said, softly, almost apologetically, “No. Not really.” He stood up and, without a word, reached up to the black beads draped around the chandelier and tapped one of them. “There’s one,” he said.
The camera was so small that even if I’d had a reason to peer straight into the chandelier’s wattage I never would have seen it.
Hidden in the patterned picture frame that held one of the gull paintings was a second camera. The third camera was mounted just under the lip of the bar.
“Do you always use those, Vic?” Jason asked.
“No,” Victor said. “And I hope no one’s offended. But there’s a lot of money at stake tonight, and a new player I never met before. I thought it might be prudent.”
“I’d say it’s fucking prudent,” Danny said. “Let’s watch it. Let’s watch this bitch trying to cheat us.”
“Wait.” I hated the weakness in my own voice, but I couldn’t catch my breath, was having trouble processing what was happening. Only a minute ago I was dealing the cards. Now everything was moving too fast. “This is all … Let’s just play the game.”
“You need to play the game called shut the fuck up,” Danny said. “Victor, how good are those cameras?”
I knew the answer without needing to be told. Everything would be top of the line. Those cameras would catch every pore on my hands.
“I don’t feel good,” I said, which was the absolute truth. “I’m gonna go. I’m gonna go now.” The door was fifteen feet away. Beyond that was a hallway and another door and then the outside world. I went to stand.
Victor hadn’t raised his voice. He still didn’t, even as he reached out and gently held on to my arm to stop me from going anywhere. “You’ll wait and watch the video with us. And Jason? Go find Russell for me. Ask him to come in here.”
Russell?
Jason got up from the table and left the room, shutting the door behind him.
“What are we gonna do?” Ian asked. “This is crazy.”
“We’re gonna see,” Victor said.
“Yeah, but then what?”
“First we see,” Victor said. He had removed his hand, but I knew to stay where I was. When the door opened again a minute later, Jason was accompanied by another man. Seeing him, I was glad I was still seated, because my legs would have gone weak. I felt the sudden urge to urinate.
I had seen him once before, years ago. He was older now, but the years had brought no warmth to his eyes.
“It seems,” Victor explained to this other man, “we have a situation.”
He looked on, unsurprised, unconcerned. Situations were his business.
“I need to get something cued up on the screen,” Victor said, “and I want to be sure that Nora—it is Nora, isn’t it?”
“You want to see my business card?” I said.
“I want to be sure this young lady stays right here with us while we all watch.”
Russell wrapped his hand around my upper arm and led me over to the screening area. His grip wasn’t as soft as Victor’s had been. I knew there’d be a mark.
Several soft leather seats faced the screen. The other men sat down but
