“There is no need to apologize. May I make a suggestion? Lets take the elders to the surveillance control room, and show them a tape of our crooked dealer in action. If they see him deal off the bottom, perhaps they’ll be convinced.”

“You want me to come back?”

“Please, Mr. Struck.”

“Only if you protect me,” Mabel said.

The chief laughed softly into the phone. “Of course.”

Patience, Mabel knew, was more than just a virtue.

The first day she’d worked for Tony, he’d sat her down at his kitchen table, then gone into the other part of the house to get something. Mabel had watched the birds through the back window. Five minutes had passed, then ten. Annoyed, she’d started to get up. Tony returned, and sat down across from her.

“The first thing you have to learn in this business is patience,” he’d said.

So Mabel had taught herself how to be patient. It wasn’t easy. She was the type of person who wanted everything done yesterday. But over time she’d learned.

The situation at the Micanopy casino was a perfect example of being patient. She, Running Bear and the elders were crammed into a corner of the surveillance control room, watching a video of the crooked poker dealer taken several night ago. Ten minutes passed without anyone saying a word.

“There,” Mabel said, pointing at the screen. “Did you see that?”

The seven elders of the Micanopy nation leaned forward. So did Running Bear, who’d been leaning against the wall.

“See what?” asked Bill Bowlegs, the lead elder.

“Your dealer is staring at the discards on the table. He’s looking for certain cards. The way he paused is a dead giveaway. Can you freeze the frame?”

Bowlegs called to a technician. “Freeze it.”

The tape stopped. Mabel pointed at the discards. “There’s the Ace of Hearts and the Ace of Spades. As he picks up the discards, he’ll control those cards.”

“Play it,” Bowlegs called out.

The tape resumed playing. They watched the crooked dealer place the two aces on the bottom of the deck, then shuffle around them.

“Damn,” Bowlegs said. “I see what you mean.”

The other elders nodded. So did Running Bear.

“Let’s call him off the floor, and have a talk with him,” Bowlegs suggested.

Mabel put her hand on Bowleg’s sleeve. Every man in the room looked at her.

“May I make a suggestion?” she asked.

Bowlegs said yes with his eyes.

“We still don’t know what the scam is. I suggest you let him continue to deal, and watch him. Sooner or later, he’ll try it again, and then you’ll know.”

“You’re a smart lady, Ms. Struck.”

Mabel flashed her best southern smile. It was the first nice thing he or any of the other elders had said to her. “We’ll see about that,” she said.

An hour later, the crooked dealer made his move.

Cheating at poker was different than cheating casino games. Every casino game had a set limit on how much you could wager. As a result, a casino cheater had to beat a game many times in order to make any money. Poker was different: All a cheater had to do was win one big pot.

The game was seven card stud, with the first two cards dealt facedown. They had watched the crooked dealer pause as he was picking up the discards, and place four kings on the bottom. He shuffled around the kings, then dealt two rounds, dealing kings off the bottom to the player on his immediate right. The elders emitted a collective gasp.

“I’ll be damned,” Bowlegs said.

The game progressed, with the dealer dealing rounds of faceup cards to the players, with betting going on between rounds. When the fifth and sixth rounds were dealt, the dealer again dealt a pair kings off the bottom to the player on his right.

Bowlegs whistled through his teeth. “That pays a bonus.”

“What pays a bonus?” Mabel asked.

“Four kings. The casino pays a ten thousand dollar bonus to any player that gets four of a kind.”

Mabel drew back in her chair. Tony had always told her the bigger the crime, the bigger the crook. “So that’s the scam,” she said aloud.

Bowlegs rose from his chair. Mabel took the opportunity to take a hard look at him. He did indeed have bowed legs.

“I want him pulled off the floor andarrested,” Bowlegs said. “Agreed?”

Mabel interrupted him. “But we still don’t know what’s going on.”

“We don’t?”

“No. Remember the last time you caught him? When you interviewed the player he was helping, he proved to be innocent. My guess is, the man who just got the four kings is also innocent. That appears to be your crooked dealer’s MO.”

“His what?”

“Modus operandi. He deals winning hands to strangers.”

Bowlegs look flustered. “Why would he do that?”

“I don’t have any early idea. Lets watch him, and find out,” Mabel said.

Bowlegs parked himself in his chair and resumed looking at the monitor. Out of the corner of her eye, Mabel caught Running Bear smiling at her. The chief seemed to be enjoying himself, and she gave him a wink.

Chapter 38

Valentine’s heart was racing. He wasn’t sure what was causing it; nearly being run over, or the spectacle his son was creating. Gerry had hopped back in the Escalade he’d used to save his father’s life, and was trying to chase Bronco. There was only one problem. The car’s owner, a muscular black guy, wanted his vehicle back. Valentine made Gerry get out of the car.

“But Bronco’s getting away,” his son protested.

“He already got away. Let the police run him down.”

“But…”

“This isn’t a rodeo, Gerry.”

“Meaning what?”

“We’re not cowboys. Let it go.” To the owner of the Escalade, he said, “Thanks a lot, buddy. Your car saved my life.”

The car’s owner nodded. “No problem, man.”

Valentine and his son entered the Peppermill. Impoco was in the lobby, talking to the police on his cell phone. Holding the valet slip of the getaway car, he read the license to the police operator. Finished, he hung up, and spoke to Valentine.

“You okay?”

“Never better.”

They followed Impoco into the casino. They went straight to the slot machine which Rebecca Klinghoffer had beaten, and watched a team of casino employees open the machine up, and test every conceivable bell and whistle that the machine had. Impoco went upstairs to the surveillance control room, got his laptop, and returned as the employees were finishing up. He plugged the laptop into the machine, and ran another diagnostic test. Thousands of numbers flashed by in the blink of an eye. When the test was done, Impoco stared at the laptop’s screen, then let out an exasperated breath.

“Damn it.”

“Let me guess,” Valentine said. “The machine is showing nothing wrong.”

“That’s right.”

Taking out his wallet, Impoco went to the cage on the other side of the casino. He exchanged ten bucks for a roll of quarters. Coming back, he sat down in the chair that Rebecca Klinghoffer had occupied. To Valentine he said, “If I remember correctly, she played the machine three times before winning the jackpot. The first time it was with three coins, the second time, two coins, and the third time, one coin. That sound right to you?”

Valentine thought about it. “Yeah, that’s right.”

Impoco repeated what Rebecca Klinghoffer had done. After losing his money three times, he put in five quarters — the maximum bet — and pulled the handle. The reels spun and the machine made lots of ridiculous noise. When the reels stopped, two cherries and two lemons were staring him in the face. A loser.

“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re terrible at this?” Drew Carey’s voice asked.

“How can you eat at a time like this?” Gerry asked.