The door reopened and Victor’s daughter waved him in to the room. She’d relaxed, and she chained the door behind him. “You saved my father’s life. I thought your name was familiar.”
“Sorry to scare you like that. What’s your name?”
“Katrina. My friends call me Kat.”
“Help me out, Kat. Your older brother. His name’s Nico, right?”
“That’s right. Did you make his scam, too?”
“I did. Your brother had a casino chip strapped to his knee and was using it to fool the RFID detection device in the betting circle.”
“I’m impressed. How long you been scamming?”
“Fourteen years. I wasted the first sixteen years of my life.”
Kat laughed and led him into the suite’s living room. The rest of the clan was standing in front of their chairs and eyed their guest suspiciously. Gypsies had been persecuted for centuries and were inherently suspicious of strangers, no matter what their intention. Nico stood in front of a couch. His eyes sparked with recognition.
“I thought you looked familiar downstairs.”
“Hello, Nico. Is your father around?”
“What’s this about? Is there a problem?”
“There may be one soon. You don’t want to be scamming this casino.”
“Why not?”
“The shit’s going to hit the fan, and you don’t want to be standing in the way.”
“My father’s in the bedroom taking a nap.”
“Wake him up. He’ll want to hear what I have to say.”
“Don’t order me around.”
“Do it anyway.”
“You’re an asshole, you know that?”
“You won’t feel that way after you hear what I have to say.”
Nico left the living room in a huff. The others members of the Boswell clan continued to stare at their visitor. Back when Billy was hustling knockoffs in Providence, he’d made the acquaintance of several Gypsies and had gotten to know their story. As legend had it, a Gypsy woman had been part of the mob that had gathered the day Jesus Christ was to be crucified. Something in Christ’s face had touched the Gypsy woman’s soul. Seeing four copper nails lying on the ground, she’d tried to steal them but managed to grab only one, leaving one nail for Christ’s feet and two for his hands. Three days later when Jesus rose from the dead, he blessed the Gypsies and gave them permission to roam the earth and steal without fear of retribution.
This was the legend the Gypsies lived by. Stealing was okay so long as no one got murdered. There were other rules as well, but that was pretty much the gist of their code. It was pretty screwed up, but Billy supposed everyone had to believe in something.
Nico returned to the room. “My father’s awake and wants to see you.”
“Nice to meet you,” Billy said to the other members of the clan.
He tipped an imaginary hat before following Nico down a hallway.
Victor Boswell sat in a recliner inside the master bedroom with his legs propped on the footrest and a glass of scotch in his hand. Victor was pushing seventy and had a receding hairline and aquiline nose that could have belonged to a prizefighter. He was a vain son-of-a-bitch and sported a fresh part in his hair.
“That’s a hell of a disguise,” Victor said. “Care for a drink?”
“I’m good. How’s the leg holding up?” Billy asked.
“Not so great. That fucking gaming agent crippled me for life. What’s his name?”
“Frank Grimes.”
“Right. Grimes. Did they fire that asshole?”
“Believe it or not, he’s still got his job.”
“I would have sued the bastards if I didn’t hate lawyers so much. Have a seat and make yourself comfortable.”
Billy took a chair to Victor’s left, while Nico sat on his father’s right. Nico was next in line for the throne, but until Victor retired or kicked the bucket, Nico was a lotion boy and had to follow his father’s orders.
“I’m guessing this isn’t a social call,” Victor said.
“Afraid not,” Billy said.
“Let me guess. You’re working a scam and spotted us doing the same. You picked this joint because the people running it are too preoccupied with the rich assholes, which is the same reason we picked it. It’s a candy store.” Victor rattled the ice cubes in his glass. “Am I warm?”
“You’re on fire.”
“And you want us to leave because you’re afraid it will mess up your deal.”
“Right again.”
“There’s room enough for both of us, don’t you think? I mean come on, how many times have you ripped off a joint and spotted another crew working the floor?”
“This is different. You need to pull up stakes.”
“Why should we do that?”
“I’m going to burn the lot.”
Victor looked at Billy differently. “No kidding. You can really do that?”
“It took a while, but I figured out a way.”
“I’m impressed. And you think the gaming board will take a hard look at the surveillance tapes and see my family working the floor and come after us.”
“They’re going to come after someone, that’s for sure.”
Victor turned in his chair to gauge his son’s opinion. The look on Nico’s face said the kid had gotten lost in the conversation. Victor said, “It’s an old carnival expression. It means to rip off a town so badly that another carnival can never work it. Burn the lot.”
“I know what it means,” Nico said, even though he didn’t. “I can’t believe you’d go along with this crap. We were here first. Let him leave.”
Victor shifted his gaze to their guest. “Nico has a point. We were here first.”
“I’m built in. I can’t leave,” Billy said.
“What — they think you’re a whale?”
“That’s right. I established a fake identity and the casino has comped me and my crew into a sky palace. If I walk out, it’s going to look suspicious. Look, this scam I’m working needs to be pulled this weekend. Once it happens, there’s going to be a full-blown investigation. You don’t want your faces on the surveillance tapes.”
“Fuck no!” Nico exploded.
“Nico, watch your mouth,” his father warned.
“I said fuck no, and I mean fuck no. We’re not pulling up stakes. This is the best score we’ve had in a long time. Look at all the money we’ve made.”
Nico retrieved a floppy leather bag from the closet. With great pride he dumped their score onto the floor in front of his father’s chair, the stacks of C-notes bouncing off the carpet. Money made the world go round, and there was enough in that bag to make it go around many times.
“And that’s just one day’s take,” Nico said proudly.
Billy could not hide his disbelief. “You stole that much in one day?”
“That’s right. And there’s plenty more where that came from.”
The picture had just gotten real clear. Still recuperating from being shot, Victor had let Nico run the operation. Wanting to impress his father, Nico had told his family to rip Carnivale off blind, not knowing all the alarms it would set off. Billy hated to break the bad news to Nico, but he had no other choice. The cheater’s code required him to help any cheater in trouble, and right now the Boswell clan was in enough trouble to earn them a long stretch in the pen.
“I hate to tell you this, but you need to shut this operation down and check out of the hotel,” Billy said.
“Screw you,” Nico said.
“Nico, this man is our friend,” Victor said.
“He’s no friend of mine.”
Nico was a lost cause, so Billy addressed Victor. “Do as I say. For your own good.”
“Why? What did we do wrong?” Victor asked.