She’s throwing chips around, vaguely distracting the dealer. Across from her is a guy who looks barely twenty-one. He’s wearing jeans and a long-sleeved grey shirt with a bit of shimmer in the fabric. As I open my clutch, he gives me a sly grin, but I turn to the stocky casino worker. His hairline is receding, and he wears an ill-fitting cummerbund.
“Fifty in dollar chips.” I pass him a crisp bill.
He slides me fifty round blue plaques the size of my palm, and I glance at the sign telling me it’s a dollar table. I’ll have enough time to lose a few rounds before Seth appears and the con begins.
My heart beats faster. The rush of what we’re doing is more powerful than any drug, and the fine hairs on my shoulders tweak when I spot Seth’s auburn head across the room at the entrance. He’s dressed in a beige linen jacket and black slacks, and to complete the look, he’s added a pair of fake horn-rimmed glasses—very hipster.
Reaching forward, the beleaguered dealer starts the wheel, and everyone places his or her bets. It’s a double-zero table, which is the least favorable to gamblers, so I place two corner bets and five chips on the black. The little ball clangs into play, spinning faster than the eye can track it around the wheel.
“No more bets!” The dealer calls, passing his hand over the table.
With a clatter, the silver ball shoots toward the center of the wheel, bouncing up once again to the rim before landing solidly on seventeen black.
“I WON ONE!” The old lady screams, pushing both arms in the air. She does a little shimmy as the chips are quickly slid away and the winners paid. “I WON ONE! Did you see that???”
I smile, not bothering to point out I doubled my stack of five. My job is not to attract attention, although with the way this crowd is dressed, it’s practically impossible. Mental note: Hollywood, Florida, is not Reno, Nevada. Dress down.
“I’m feeling lucky tonight!” Granny doubles her stack of chips on a corner bet, and I leave my ten on black.
Seth is at the table now, and he nods all around. “Mind if I join y’all?” His voice is loud, and his accent is exaggerated.
I don’t engage. My role is that of cool disinterest, and I reach down to adjust my gold cuff bracelet. If all goes as planned, he’s about to hit a winning streak.
“Y’all from around here?” He grins big at the old woman and the boy. “I’m from a little ole town in Kentucky.”
“I’m from Dallas!” The lady answers equally loudly. “My church group took a bus all the way here!”
Well, hallelujah. I look over my shoulder as Seth monopolizes the table. I don’t like leaving Ava alone in skeezy joints like this. A server appears, mistaking me for wanting a drink.
“Gin and tonic,” I say, doing my best to keep my voice low.
“It’s my birthday!” The young guy loudly announces. I’m beginning to think he may contain alcohol as well.
“Well, I declare, let me guess!” Seth is really laying it on thick. “Twenty one?”
“That’s right!” Baby’s ears pink, and he glances at me again.
My eyebrows rise when he gives me another grin coupled with a wink this time. Dream on, little man.
“Dealer, here’s a hyundai!” Seth announces, passing him a hundred dollar bill, and I almost do laugh at that intentional screw-up. “Mr. Bourie says to get in and get out fast. That’s the way to play roulette, right? Win quick and walk away?”
“Who’s Mr. Bourie?” Grandma asks.
“Oh, he wrote the book on how to play roulette and win. Steve Bourie. You have to look him up.”
The dealer’s stoic face doesn’t change as he pushes Seth’s hundred into the drop box with a clear plastic paddle. A hundred plastic chips are shoved across to my covert partner in crime.
“He actually says not to play roulette at all…” Seth continues getting cozy with the old lady.
I reach down to adjust my gold cuff when a deep command from over my shoulder startles me.
“Fifty,” the accented voice says, and a tall, elegant-looking gentleman in an expensive blazer leans beside me. I glance up as he straightens. He slides a long black wallet into his coat pocket, and a gold pinky ring catches my eye.
He smiles, and I blink away, trying not to move my panicked gaze to Seth. He hasn’t broken character yet, but with this intruder right behind me, it’s going to be impossible to activate the switch without being seen.
A tremor of fear moves through my chest, and a tiny bead of sweat tickles down the line in the center of my back. I’m breathing faster, and I reach up to push another strand of hair behind my ear.
“I hope I’m not making you uncomfortable, mademoiselle.” The older gentleman’s voice is right beside me, over my shoulder.