Jackpot

27

“I feel like we should be in tuxedos for this to work,” Teddy said, again to the dealer, because he was the only one responsive at the table. Bingo was still staring vacantly off into the distance and ignoring Teddy’s conversation. Teddy had briefly wondered if Bingo was only acting zoned out so that he didn’t have to answer Teddy’s questions, but after a few quick tests to see if he could catch Bingo off guard, Teddy concluded the vacant stare was real.

He was about ready to give up and take Bingo back to Stone’s suite — to use more traditional means of information extraction — when a waitress walked by and asked if he’d like a drink.

“Lemon tea for my friend,” Teddy said.

The woman smiled and nodded, returning several minutes later with an elegant ceramic teacup steaming with a thick yellow-tinted liquid. Teddy tipped her and the dealer well, then played a few hands to reacquaint himself with the game while the calming properties of the lemon and hot tea hopefully cleared the remainder of the tranquilizer from Bingo’s system. A few hands in, Teddy noticed the life coming back to Bingo’s eyes.

“Deal my friend in this time,” Teddy said.

Teddy knew the odds in baccarat, like everything else, were in the house’s favor, but the margin was as slim as possible and had great potential for careful players to win considerable amounts. This is how Teddy saw his interaction with Bingo. He could have played the easy odds and killed him, but the payoff would have been minimal. Playing this game, buying time with Bingo, had the potential to net very useful information if Teddy was patient.

“Tie,” the dealer said, pulling Teddy’s attention back to the table.

Teddy had his wager on the player’s hand and Bingo’s was on the banker’s hand. Two rounds in a row there’d been a tie. This time Teddy moved both wagers to the player’s hand, where the payoff was better.

“If you win, you keep the cash and tell me who sent you,” Teddy said.

Bingo nodded, though Teddy wasn’t completely sure he was coherent. Even so, it wasn’t so much specific information he was hoping to get from Bingo. Playing the game would give them time together, which would up the chances that the drugs in Bingo’s system would cause him to spill something he normally wouldn’t.

They were playing at the mini-baccarat table, so there was less ceremony and the game went quicker because there was less money at stake. The dealer dealt the player’s hand first with a total of seven, and Teddy waved off another card.

“That’s very good for us,” Teddy said.

The dealer then dealt his own hand which totaled nine, beating the player’s hand.

“Looks like I don’t have to tell you anything,” Bingo said.

Two more hands, two more shifts in wagers, and Teddy managed to lose both. After twenty minutes of poor game play, Teddy’s patience was running thin and more players were joining the table, making conversation difficult.

“Tell me what’s going on with the film set attacks and the blackmail letter to my partners,” Teddy said.

“Seven hands in a row your hand has either tied or lost. I don’t have to tell you anything.”

“I can’t say this is how I imagined things going, but I think we both remember the look on your face in that alley when I was on top of you and could have easily snapped your neck.”

“It seems to me,” Bingo said, finishing off the last of his tea, “that you can’t even manage to drug me properly, let alone kill me.”

“One more hand. Last chance.”

“This game is ridiculous. I’m leaving.”

Teddy let Bingo walk away and get far enough away that he had to hurry up to reach him when he left the table. It gave the illusion of a drunk friend catching up to his buddy while providing cover for Teddy to stumble into Bingo and jab him with another syringe. Teddy had his arm around Bingo and kept a firm grip on him even as Bingo wriggled to escape.

“This one was poison,” Teddy said. “Maybe I put too much in this one, too. Who knows?”

“You’re bluffing.”

“Maybe. That will be up to you to decide. I’ve got the antidote back in my hotel room, and it’s all yours when my questions are answered satisfactorily.”

“Let me go.”

Teddy released Bingo from his grip.

“I trust you know where to find me if you change your mind,” Teddy said.

“You aren’t the first person to poison me and you won’t be the last.”