Without missing a beat, Billy embraced Nico as if he were his long-lost brother.
“I told them you’re an old friend. Act like one,” he whispered in Nico’s ear.
“Got it,” Nico whispered back.
The embrace ended, and Billy introduced him to Misty.
“Nice to meet you,” Nico said.
“Billy’s told me so much about you,” Misty said.
“All of it’s lies,” Nico said with a good-natured laugh.
“So what seems to be the problem?” Billy asked.
“The casino thinks I was cheating.” Nico’s tone turned serious. “I didn’t do anything wrong, and that’s the God’s honest truth.”
Nico was protesting his innocence. That could mean only one thing. Security did not have enough evidence to turn him over to the police just yet. If they had enough evidence, Nico would have kept his mouth shut and said absolutely nothing.
“My friend isn’t a cheat,” Billy said to DeSantis.
“I’m sorry, Mr. C., but the casino felt it was necessary to pull your friend off the floor,” DeSantis explained. “The casino believes he was passing fake chips and had a real chip taped to his leg to trick the reader in the table. Security searched your friend when he was at the table. They found a broken piece of elastic and a black chip lying beneath his chair.”
“That stuff could have been left by anyone,” Billy said.
“We believe it was taped to your friend’s leg.”
Billy put his arm around Nico’s shoulder and drew him close. “I’ve known this man for most of my life. We went to school together, and we wrestled together. He does not cheat or steal. If you don’t let him go, I’ll leave and never come back.”
DeSantis hesitated. Management was speaking to him through his Bluetooth.
“My bosses inform me that they’ll give your friend a pass, provided he doesn’t play in our casino again,” DeSantis said.
The gods had spoken. Nico was a free man. The pair of butt-ugly guards didn’t look thrilled with the arrangement. Fuck ’em, Billy thought.
“Thanks, Eddie,” Billy said. “I appreciate you looking out for me.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” DeSantis said. “Don’t hesitate to call if I can be of service.”
“You okay?” Billy asked when DeSantis and the guards were gone.
“They slapped me around. Nothing I haven’t been through before.” Nico stuck his finger into his mouth and ran the tip over his teeth to see if any were broken. “I’m good.”
“Glad to hear it. Let’s take a walk.”
“I need to get out of here. In case you didn’t notice, these people don’t like me.”
“You need to hang around for a little while,” Billy said. “I told the casino we were buds. It’s going to look suspicious if you take off. Remember, I’m staying here.”
“What about my clothes?”
“I’ll get you some new threads. Follow me.”
Nico didn’t like it. As they passed through the casino, he eyed the exits.
“Stop that. It looks suspicious,” Billy said.
“You think security’s watching us?” Nico asked.
“Of course they’re watching us. It’s what they get paid to do.”
The casino’s overpriced men’s store was called The Cuban Connection. Nico changed his torn clothes for a billowing white silk shirt and black silk pants.
“These are a little pricey,” Nico said.
“Everything’s comped. You like carnival games?” Billy asked. “The casino has an arcade in the basement with pinball machines and video games. We can hang there and talk without being overheard.”
“You think they’ve got food? I’m starving to death,” Nico said.
“We’ll get you fed,” Billy said.
Misty had said little since they’d rescued Nico and now broke her silence. “If you boys don’t mind, I think I’ll go lie by the pool and work on my tan.”
“Any word from Pepper?” Billy asked.
“Pepper sent me a text, said everything’s cool,” Misty said.
“She didn’t elope with Tommy Wang, did she?” Billy asked.
“Not yet.” To Nico she said, “Nice meeting you.”
“You, too,” he said.
To reach the arcade, they needed to take a special escalator. As they headed toward it, Billy noticed how dejected Nico was acting. His troubles with the casino were over, but his troubles with his family were just beginning. He was going to have some explaining to do and might lose face with his father. That could lead to Nico’s role as heir apparent being stripped away.
Billy didn’t want that to happen. If Nico got sent to the minors, it would cause a disruption in the Boswell family, a disruption that Billy would always be associated with. That association would be a negative one, and it would ruin any chance of them doing business together.
To survive as a thief, you needed a crystal ball to see into the future. Billy’s crystal ball was telling him that he needed to give Nico something to take home to his father, a nice little present that would put Nico in a good light and cement Billy’s own reputation with the family.
They took the escalator into the basement. Music started to play, and Nico pulled out a cell phone and glanced at caller ID. “My father’s looking for me, wondering where I am.”
“Does he know you got busted?” Billy asked.
Nico shook his head. “My old man’s never been caught cheating a casino, if you can believe that. He’s going to blow his top when I tell him what happened.”
Nico let the call go to voice mail.
Maybe not, Billy thought.
Thirty-Two
Carnivale’s arcade was designed like a carnival midway and had air hockey, Skee-Ball, bumper cars, and an assortment of pinball machines. There was also a Dairy Queen, and Nico ordered a flamethrower cheeseburger with steak fries and a hot fudge sundae. They took a table outside the restaurant near a family with a bunch of wild kids. The kids were making enough noise to make it impossible for an undercover security guard to eavesdrop on their conversation.
“Help yourself,” Nico said. “How long you been grifting?”
Billy took a fry to be sociable. “Started when I was sixteen. How about you?”
“Same age. Who turned you out?”
Grifters were not born; they were made. An aspiring grifter would apprentice with a seasoned pro and learn the ropes before getting turned out on his own. “I made my bones with a guy named Lou Profaci. One day, Lou gave me a test, said if I passed he’d give me my own turf. I had to steal a lousy buck from a restaurant.”
“Restaurant people are sharp. How’d you pull it off?”
“I’d run into the restaurant holding some bills. I’d go up to the cashier and say, ‘Lend me a dollar. My father doesn’t have change to pay the cab driver. He’ll pay you back with dinner.’”
“Did it work?”
“No, they told me to beat it. I eventually came up with an angle that sold the play.”
“What did you do?”
“I’d hail a cab outside the restaurant. The cab would pull up, and I’d open the back door and say, ‘My parents will be right out.’ Then I’d run inside and tell the cashier that my father needed a buck to pay the driver. The cashier would give me the buck, no questions asked.”
“Sweet.”
“How’d you make your bones?”
The burger with the fancy name was a memory. Nico picked up the ice cream sundae and jabbed it with a spoon. “I made my bones with the rug scam. You know it?”
Billy shook his head.
“We were living in Chicago. My father and uncle would drive around in a van with a rug in the back and pull into the driveway of a nice house. They’d take the rug out and go to the front door. My father would ring the bell while I’d hide in the bushes. The owner would come out, and my father would offer to sell the rug for two hundred bucks. The owners always said yes. This was one beautiful rug.