Dakota had on a white shirt, tied at the midriff, and pink shorts. Her black hair hung in glossy luxury around her shoulders. She was sipping some sort of island drink through a long straw. She didn't nod or acknowledge the greeting. It was obvious from her manner that Dakota thought Victoria was a loose wheel threatening to come off and spill the load.
"Victoria, I'd like you to meet my uncle, Duffy Bates," Beano said, somewhat formally.
"Fit-Throwing Duffy?" she said, remembering what Beano had called him.
"A moniker I can do without," Duffy said, exposing his beautiful smile again.
"They checked the casino out last night," Beano went on. "Duffy stole a pair of table dice and sent them to Miami to his brother. The Sabre Bay Club is using expensive 'true cubes' called 'casino perfects.' They roll true because they're milled to a tolerance of one five-thousandth of an inch. Duffy's brother is going to get two dozen sets of counterfeits made that are close enough to fool the Pit Boss at first glance. They won't check too close because, to begin with, we'll be losing and they never check the dice on a loser. We've got to get at least twelve sets of real casino dice off the table to drill and load. Besides various letter 'imperfections,' the Sabre Bay casino perfects probably also have black-light marks or some other identifying device."
"Black light?" Victoria asked.
"There's a dye you can put in the plastic that shows up when you put the dice under an ultraviolet light. According to what Duffy can tell, they change dice once a day, starting at nine P.M. Each new set probably has different identifying markers. We've gotta get the dice off the table, drill and load 'em, then go back and hit the place during the same twenty-four-hour period, before they change dice and put in ones with different identifiers. Duffy estimates the A.M. shift will have over two million in the Cage Room. As soon as we get in the casino, Dakota has to split off and pick up Tommy. She's gotta rope and steer him. He's at the Sabre Bay Club now, staying in his brother's private villa on the beach. The tickets we sent Calliope worked. If everything goes right, Duffy and I are gonna run the tat tonight at around three A.M. We score the two mil and then we run like hell, 'cause this is planned for Tommy to come off hot. Dakota has to remain behind after we run so she can tell the tale to Tommy and control the 'come-through.'"
"The come-through is when the mark gets wise and comes after you once you've fleeced him," Duffy explained.
"We got a cousin from Miami scheduled to fly down and pick us up at six A.M. tomorrow at the private air field near Deep Water, just ten miles west of Sabre Bay," Beano said.
"What do I do?" Victoria asked.
"Didn't you bring your knitting, dear?" Dakota said in her husky, sensual voice, with just the hint of a smile on her lips.
"Am I somehow pissing you off, Miss Bates?" Victoria asked, doing what she always did with a problem… turn directly into it.
"You're not pissing me off, it's just that you've got no function. All you are is a potential problem. If Tommy trips to this, I'm gonna be the one he's closest to… I'm the one who's gonna get grabbed and beat senseless."
"I found this place. If it weren't for me, we wouldn't even be here. I'm the one who told Beano about the SARTOF Merchant Bank of Nassau where they store all their drug assets."
"So, whatta you want, a parade?"
"I'd like you to lose the attitude," Victoria snarled.
Beano and Duffy had been watching this without comment. Finally, Dakota nodded and sucked the last of her drink into her straw with a huge slurping sound that made them all stare. Then she pushed the tall glass away and smiled.
"Sucking is my best event," she said dryly. "What's yours, Vicky?"
"Putting up with bullshit." The exchange was cold enough to freeze mercury.
"Got to go get ready to speargun Tommy. Somebody named Calliope Love is my competition." Dakota walked out of the bar, turning everybody's head in the place as she went.
"What does she do to loosen up?" Victoria said coldly.
"Don't start a cat fight with Dakota," Beano warned. "She has the most dangerous part of this scam. She's gotta rope that psychopath and steer him till this is over."
"Does she have to sleep with him?" Victoria asked, the distaste heavy in her voice. Tommy was slimy as boiled garbage. She couldn't imagine climbing into bed with him.
Beano didn't answer. He looked out at the sailboards in the cresting surfline.
"She does what she has to do to get him to believe what we want him to believe," Duffy said. "If that means she's gotta do some plumbing, then that's what she'll do."
"Yuck," Victoria said.
Beano's blue eyes were fixed on the sea, and his mind seemed far away.
"Maybe Victoria could do the bank-clearing scam," Duffy said, causing Beano to look back at them.
"I'll do it, whatever it is," Victoria said.
"We sent the casino credit department a new set of McGuire Financial Listings yesterday," Duffy explained. ' "The listings include every financial or banking institution in America. Casinos all use them to check the credit on players. We reprinted a page and added a bank in Fresno called the Central California Cattlemen's Bank. When they call the number in Fresno, a rollover line will call forward it to the pay phone outside the Sabre Bay Club. How'd you like to take the call and do some singing for us?"
"I'd like that," Victoria said.
The dice arrived back from Miami by special courier at three in the afternoon. Beano and Duffy loaded them into the arms of Duffy's wheelchair and snapped the Porta-Toilet into place. Then they got into Duffy's rented, mid-sized blue Chevy van. Beano loaded the wheelchair into the back. Roger hopped up into the front seat beside Victoria, who was behind the wheel.
Victoria had also been assigned the task of getaway driver and "lay chickie," which she found out, to her relief, was a lookout. Her job was to wait in the van with Roger near the Sabre Bay Golf Shop pay phone and watch the front entrance. They told her she had to be ready in case they needed a fast "out." She resented her minor role in the tat, but was looking forward to being the singer. In her purse she had all the information that she would give to the Credit Manager of the casino when he called. She couldn't defeat their logic. Tommy would spot her immediately. He knew her from his brother's trial. If she got close enough to be seen, his guard would come up and it would probably end the whole thing. But Victoria knew she couldn't stand on the sidelines. She'd been thinking about the problem and had been trying to come up with a possible solution.
They were ready to go and were all sitting out in front of the Xanadu Hotel in the late-afternoon heat, waiting for Dakota, who had not come down yet. When she finally walked out of the entrance and across to the van, Victoria was startled. Dakota was dressed in a sexy, yellow evening gown that was slit up the sides and was low in front. You could see everything she had right through the thin, silky material. Her nipples and hips poked against the fabric with arresting results. It was sleazy and classy at the same time.
Dakota got into the van, picking up Vicky's expression. "It's a little slutty, but I'm only allowed to bait my hook once."
They took off with Victoria driving and Roger-the-Dodger nestled in beside her, his chin on her thigh. The little terrier had definitely adopted her. They were headed back along the Grand Bahama Highway toward the Sabre Bay Club. It was almost eight-thirty when they got to the eastern tip of the island. The sun had just begun to set: a fiery orange sphere on the tropical green vanishing point. Then, like a slow-motion shot of a cue ball dropping into the pocket, it slid below the horizon.
Beano looked at his watch. "Almost nine. Where the hell is the night shift?"