As we stood, I glanced over her head to see which dealers were at the blackjack tables tonight. They were all fairly new, having come on staff at the start of the busy season when college kids on spring break flooded the area. The Four Horsemen was known to be an establishment that would look the other way when it came to players under twenty-one.
Jerry, the bartender, was a grizzled old-timer who had been at the Four Horsemen long before I had come to the Shore. He could spot a card counter faster than the security team and the dealers combined. If he was in a good mood, he’d look the other way. But he never forgot a face.
“Don’t play by the bar,” I said quietly. I was far enough away from any of the microphones that allowed the security room to listen in, but I didn’t want to chance it.
I just wanted her to get out.
Amelia held the tray of chips close to her chest. “Thank you.”
From the outside looking in, she was simply appreciative that someone helped her pick up her winnings. Maybe for her, that was as far as it went. Maybe, to her, I was just a repentant bouncer who didn’t want to see her get kicked out. But to me, it was atonement.
“Boss is here,”Jeremiah said as he hurried into the security room.
Shit.I had been so caught up watching Amelia bounce from craps to roulette to the occasional game of blackjack that I had lost track of time.
She was on a winning streak—not that anyone but me and the cashier would notice. She had done a damn good job of floating around the room, being forgettable, but winning big when it mattered. I had lost an exact count of her winnings, but I had a hunch she would clear forty thousand before the night was up if she kept at it.
To the dealers, it looked like she was decent at blackjack and Texas Hold’em but sucked at everything else. In reality, she was losing pennies at roulette compared to the jackpot she was raking in with cards.
The cashiers were the only people I was worried would catch on, but they switched out, per John’s rules. No one stayed in one place long enough to figure out how to steal from him.
Instead of cashing out at the end of the night, she had gone to the cashier every time she switched games. It made it less obvious that she was getting one hell of a payday. She’d cash out little bits at a time so it looked like she was modestly winning.
It had been a good night for her.
I hoped it was enough, because her luck had just run out.
I jumped into action the moment the call came through. “Clear the floor. Everyone cashes out. Essential staff only. Once everyone’s out, lock the front. The high roller room is the only room that’s open tonight,” I snapped.
“Yeah, yeah. I know the drill,” he grumbled.
I slipped out of the security room, hoping to see Amelia out myself, but ran smack-dab into the devil himself.
“Jude,” Valentine said with that happy-go-lucky chuckle that was annoying as fuck. For someone with the Feds breathing down his neck like a nagging wife, he sure acted like he didn’t have a care in the world.
Over his shoulder, Amelia was ushered away from the blackjack table she had just sat down at and corralled toward the growing line in front of the cashier.
Nervous energy and unrest began to grow as confused patrons—both inebriated and sober—tried to make sense of what was happening.
Most of them would remember the night the way fishermen’s “big catch” stories always got more and more fantastical.
I hoped it would scare Amelia, not because I wanted her to be scared, but because I wanted her safe.
And God help me, I didn’t know why.
Valentine clapped his hand on my shoulder. “Before we get things started, I’d appreciate your help reminding one of my associates of how we do business around here.”
Great.
“Yes, sir,” I said without even the slightest bit of expression one way or the other.
John reared back. “Cheer up. I’d appreciate a little enthusiasm from my best employee.”
Ha. Best employee. As if that gave me a parking spot out front and my picture on the fucking wall.
All it got me was bruised knuckles and the inability to sleep for more than twenty minutes at a time.
But I didn’t care about that right now. I needed to keep Valentine talking until Amelia was gone.
