A couple of them nodded.
“Now, Sean, let me ask you a question: Who was it who introduced the pro dealer into the game — the one with the pistol under his arm?”
“Yeah, Sean,” Merv said. “Who was it did that?”
Sean had not expected to be on the defensive. “I told you, it was better if we had a dealer, instead of doing it ourselves. That way, nobody wonders about the cards he gets.”
“Yeah, Sean,” Al said, “it was you who introduced the ringer.”
“Ringer?” Sean licked his lips.
“The mechanic. I been in enough poker games to know who’s dealing off the top and who isn’t. I reckon the two of you were setting me up for the kill by letting me win a few hands. And your guy was prepared to back his play with a gun, if the going got tough for him and somebody squawked about the cards he was getting. Of course, I had no squawk, since I was getting aces.”
“Now, wait a minute, guys,” Sean said, “you all know me.”
“Yeah, Sean,” Merv said, “we all know you.” Merv just let that lie there. Everybody had gotten very quiet. “Tell us about the ringer — who was he?”
“Just a good cardplayer I know, used to work the Vegas casinos.”
“Is that where he learned to deal off the bottom?” Al asked.
It was at that moment in time when Ryan and Vinny walked into Sean Finn’s liquor store out of a steady rain outside, their yellow raincoats and hats glistening, droplets hanging from their false beards. The two men who had delivered the bank bags had left, and there were no customers in the store.
“Put your hands on the counter and keep them there,” Ryan said, producing a shotgun on a shoulder strap from under his raincoat.
Vinny held his shotgun in one hand and vaulted over the counter with the other. He pushed the two men along the counter, away from the cash register. “Look what we got here,” he said, taking two handguns from under the counter and emptying them, then tossing them into the wine department. He found the three bank bags, too, and put them on the counter.
Ryan grabbed all three handles in one hand and kept the shotgun leveled with the other.
Vinny vaulted back over the counter and stood by the door. “Go ahead, partner, and start the car. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Don’t do anything crazy,” Ryan said. He turned to the two victims. “He gets crazy when people don’t do what he tells them. You don’t want that.”
“We’re not going to give you any problem,” the older of the two men said. “It’s not our money.”
Vinny grabbed the phone on the counter and yanked the cord free of its connection, then threw it into a display of bottles, knocking over a few. “Wait five minutes, then do your duty,” he said. The car pulled up, and Vinny backed out the door of the store and got in.
“Go,” he said.
Everybody was waiting for Sean Finn’s answer to the Vegas question when somebody’s cell phone rang.
“That’s mine,” Finn said. “I’d better get it.”
“Sure, Sean, you get it,” Merv said.
Finn put the phone to his ear. “Sean Finn,” he said. He listened for a minute, then his face fell. “Call nine-one-one,” he said. “I’m on my way.” He put the phone back in his pocket. “Now listen,” he said.
“We’re listening, Sean,” Merv said. “Tell us about your guy from Las Vegas.”
“I really can’t go into that right now,” Finn said. “My store was just robbed. They got the week’s receipts from three stores.” He stood up.
“Maybe your guy from Vegas knows some people who know how to do that sort of thing,” Al said.
“We’ll have to talk about this later,” Finn said, edging around the table toward the exit.
“Let’s don’t talk about it ever again,” Merv said. “That okay with you guys?”
Everybody nodded, including Al.
Sean ran for the door.
“Funny, isn’t it,” Merv said, “how Sean’s phone rang just when it did.”
“You think his store was really robbed?” somebody asked.
“Let’s hope so,” Merv said, and got a laugh. He slapped Al on the shoulder. “You handled that real well, Al.”
“Lunch is on Sean,” Al said. “Eat up.”
When they had finished, Al threw a hundred on the table for the waiter. “Just put the check on Mr. Finn’s tab,” he said to the owner as they left.
47
Al walked into Vinny’s mom’s house and found Gene and Vinny counting and stacking bills on the living room coffee table. “How’d it go?” he asked.
“It went about a hundred and eighty grand in cash,” Ryan said, “and a lot of checks. You want to try to wholesale those to somebody?”
“Nah, too many people get to know things,” Al replied. “Burn them.”
“I say we give Vinny a third,” Ryan said. “The kid has earned it.”
“Okay,” Al said without hesitation. “Full partners. You cut it, I got to make a call.” He went into the dining room, out of earshot, and called Charlie at the number on the postcard.
“Hey, Al,” Charlie said, “it’s gotta be you — nobody else has the number.”
“I’m on a throwaway, too, Charlie, just so’s you know. How’s life treating you?”
“Sweet,” Charlie said. “I’ve got more work than I can handle. Why don’t you come down here for a few days and do some of the lifting. If you’re in touch with Gene Ryan, I can use him, too.”
“I’ve got Gene and one more very reliable guy, name of Vinny.”
“Okay, the three of you. Buy yourself a ticket to Lauderdale, and I’ll get you a nice place.”
“Better be nice. I’m bringing my girl, Gina.”
“Okay by me. We won’t be working all the time. Tell Ryan and Vinny they can bring one, too, or I can find them some company.”
“When?”
“Sunday?”
“Good for me. You want to give me some details I can pass along?”
“Not on the phone. Let’s just say there’ll be a minimum of fifty large for each of you, maybe more, depending.”
“Hang on a second, Charlie.” Al walked back into the living room. “How about this? We fly down to Lauderdale on Sunday, where a friend of mine, good guy, has a job for us. He puts us up, with girls, if you want, and we do a job that brings us fifty gees each, at least. And we have a few days in the sun. Okay?”
“Okay,” Vinny said without hesitation.
“Who’s the friend?” Ryan asked.
“Remember Charlie and Frank? They did special jobs for the old man.”
“Sure. We dealing with both?”
Al put the phone to his ear. “Is Frank in this, Charlie?”
“Nah, Frank is in Vegas, I hear, or maybe L.A. This is just me.”
“Just Charlie, Frank’s out West.”
“I’m in,” Ryan said.
“Okay, Charlie, we’re in.”
“Great. Get on a plane, pick up a rental at the airport, and drive to the Sea Castle Motel, on the beach.” He gave Al the address. “I’ll take you to dinner Sunday night and brief you. You need me, call on this phone.”
“See you Sunday,” Al said, and hung up. “Okay, guys, here’s what we do: we get flights to Lauderdale or Miami from three airports. Vinny — LaGuardia, Gene — Newark, me — Kennedy.
“We each make our own bookings and pay cash. When you get in, take a cab or a rental to the Sea Castle Motel, on the beach in Lauderdale. There’ll be rooms in each of our names. Take a girl, if you want, or Charlie will find you somebody. We have dinner with Charlie Sunday night, no girls. We’re there for a few days, then we’re out, fifty grand richer.”
“I’ll bet Charlie is making a lot more,” Ryan said.