“I wanted to pay the Haneys back, so I talked to another casino owner I know,” Ritz said. “My friend told me the Haneys were off limits. Seems they’re connected to a lot of bad stuff. If this bad stuff were to ever come out, the whole town would go up in flames. Those were my friend’s exact words.”
“So you left them alone.”
Ritz nodded.
“Is that why you put your daughter in boarding school? Because they’re still around?”
“It was part of the reason, yes.”
Billy had heard enough. He was going to have to tread carefully with the Haneys, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to pay them back in spades for what they’d done to Nate.
“I’ve got to beat it. Thanks for the drink.”
The security goon was in the hallway as Billy left Ritz’s office. The goon rode with Billy to the lobby and marched him through the bustling casino, as if believing Billy’s skills might cause a few errant chips to fly off the tables and land in the young hustler’s pockets.
“I’m going to remember you,” the goon said.
“Sure you are,” Billy said.
Twenty-Three
It was three thirty in the morning when Billy entered the sky palace at the Carnivale to find Cory and Morris in the living room playing gin rummy and Travis parked in front of the flat-screen TV, watching a soccer match from another part of the world. He assumed Gabe and the girls were in bed, getting their beauty rest. He clicked his fingers and pointed at the slider. He needed to talk to Travis, Cory, and Morris away from the prying ears of the hidden mikes planted in the walls, and the three men rose from their chairs and followed him outside to the pool area.
“How’s Gabe been acting?” Billy asked.
“He calmed down, hit the sack about an hour ago,” Travis said.
“You still have his cell phone?”
Travis produced Gabe’s cell phone from his back pocket.
“What about the phone in his room?” Billy asked.
“I took it out,” Travis said. “Gabe fixed himself a stiff drink and said he wanted to be alone. I went in and talked with him for a while. He’s back to normal.”
“You sure about that?”
Travis hesitated, hearing the challenge in Billy’s voice. “Positive, Billy. Gabe’s his old self again. I wouldn’t have left him alone if he wasn’t.”
“I told you to watch him. Next time, do as I fucking tell you. That goes for all of you. When I say something, I want you to follow it to the letter. Am I making myself clear?”
Billy didn’t chew out his crew very often. When he did, he didn’t mince words. Travis swallowed hard and mumbled, “Yeah,” under his breath. Cory and Morris simply nodded.
Going inside, Billy walked down the twisting hallway to Gabe’s bedroom. The suite was a maze, and he came to the room he thought was Gabe’s and rapped lightly on the door.
“Come on in, we’re all friends here,” a female voice said.
He twisted the knob and stuck his head in. “Hi. I was looking for Gabe.”
“You can come in anyway,” Misty said.
Misty and Pepper sat on the king bed in their birthday suits, practicing the backgammon scam they planned to pull on Tommy Wang tomorrow. Most scams were designed to part suckers from their money. This scam did the opposite and would make Wang think he had the Midas touch. Selling the play to Wang wouldn’t be easy, but Misty and Pepper had rehearsed the scam enough times in Lake Tahoe that Billy felt confident they could pull it off.
Billy let out a wolf whistle. Misty and Pepper had stopped doing porn years ago but hadn’t stopped getting naked whenever it suited them, their bodies tan and desirable.
“Want to jump in the sack, big boy?” Pepper said teasingly.
Any other time he would have said yes. They’d had threesomes before and the memories were still fresh. He pointed at the bathroom door, and they followed him into the tiled room where he shut the door and spun on the faucets before speaking again.
“You ready for tomorrow?” he asked.
“As ready as I’m ever going to be,” Misty said.
“Me, too,” Pepper said. “Gabe dropped by a little while ago and watched us play. He said we had the mechanics down pat.”
Billy raised his eyebrows in alarm. If Gabe had slipped up and spoken out of turn, the hidden mikes in the wall would have picked it up. “Did he actually say that?” he asked.
“In so many words,” Misty said, sensing his alarm. “He didn’t give us up.”
“You sure?”
Misty and Pepper both nodded.
“Glad to hear it. How’s Gabe behaving?”
“He lost his best friend tonight and is taking it hard,” Misty said.
“You think he’s depressed?”
“Yeah. Wouldn’t you be?”
“I’m pulling him off the job. Gabe isn’t acting right. If he makes a crack out of turn and the mikes pick it up, we’re finished. Besides, I’ve got another job for him to do. Remember the guy on TV with my name who got murdered? Those killers were actually looking for me. They went to Gabe’s house earlier tonight and beat Gabe’s friend to death. I’m going to have Gabe track them down. It will give him something to do, keep his mind off things.”
“Who’s trying to kill you? One of the casinos?” Pepper asked.
Her question gave Billy pause. He had stolen millions but had purposely spread out the stealing so no one casino felt too much pain. He couldn’t think of a single casino that had lost so much money that they’d go to the trouble of hiring a pair of hit men to take him out.
“I don’t know who’s behind it,” he said. “I’m hoping Gabe can figure it out. Gabe has an old friend in the police department who can help.”
Billy spun off the faucets. Back in the bedroom, he said good night.
“Come back if you feel lonely,” Pepper said.
Billy found Gabe lying fully dressed on the bed, popping pieces of caramel popcorn into his mouth while watching college baseball on the flat-screen TV. Gabe was addicted to college sports the way most men were addicted to pussy; the more he got, the more he wanted.
“Hey, boss,” Gabe said.
Billy pulled up a chair. He picked up the remote from the bed and jacked up the TV’s volume. Gabe sat up and threw his legs over the bed. Billy motioned him closer. Gabe leaned in, and Billy brought his lips next to Gabe’s ear. “I made Nate’s killers. They’re a father and son duo named Haney. I want you to use your source in the police department to track them down.”
Gabe brought his mouth next to Billy’s ear. “You want me to call Bennie?”
“Yeah. You guys still tight?”
“Tighter than a gnat’s ass.”
Back when Gabe owned a jewelry store, he’d employed an off-duty black cop named Benjamin Wright to dissuade thieves from robbing the place. Bennie now worked undercover with the Metro LVPD and was wired into the police department’s inner workings and its secrets.
“Call him and get a line on the Haneys before they try to take me out again,” Billy whispered.
“What am I going to say?” Gabe whispered back. “I can’t just come out and ask him who they are. He’ll get suspicious.”
“Make up a story. Rehearse it before you call him.”
“All right. When do you want me to leave?”
“Now.”
“You really want me gone, don’t you?”
“You’re not doing me any good here.”
Gabe packed his things and together they took an elevator downstairs. The casino was still jumping but the rest of the place was a tomb, and they walked to the front entrance without encountering another soul. Outside by the taxi stand a yellow cab idled at the curb. The driver hopped out and put Gabe’s suitcase in the trunk.