Sucker Bet

40

The phone in Nigel’s bungalow rang at four o’clock.

They were taking a nap. Candy’s eyes opened first, and she stroked her lover’s hair. Yesterday, she’d wanted to kill him; now she loved him more than ever. Her mother had always said that if you could love a man, then hate him, then love him again, things would usually work out. On the tenth ring, Nigel reached over her and picked up the receiver.

It was Rico.

Nigel slid out of bed and sat on the edge with the receiver pressed to his ear. “Half hour it is,” he said.

Hanging up, he slapped Candy playfully on the buttocks. “Get dressed. We’re going to a basketball game.”

“Is this the game you’re betting two hundred thousand dollars on?”

“Yes.”

“I still think this is a mistake,” she said, her head buried in goose down.

“What the hell,” he said. “It’s only money.”

He went into the bathroom and shut the door. Candy slipped out of bed and pulled Tony Valentine’s business card from her purse. She punched in his cell phone number. Valentine answered on the second ring.

“How would you like to put the screws to Rico Blanco?” she said.

Celebrities did not show up anywhere on time, and Rico was pacing when they met up in the lobby forty-five minutes later.

Nigel went to the front desk, and the hotel manager was summoned. The four of them went into a back room where the safe-deposit boxes were housed. Nigel produced a key and opened a box, then began removing stacks of hundred-dollar bills and dropping them into Candy’s leather bag. At twenty he quit.

Rico lugged the bag to his limo. It stayed in the backseat with Candy and Nigel as Rico drove.

The demarcation line between the trendy and hip and the rest of Miami Beach happened at 26th Street, and the sidewalks were filled with garishly dressed retirees. Reaching the Arthur Godfrey Road, Rico put his indicator on.

“Don’t be turned off by Bobby Jewel’s store,” he said as he parked. “It’s a toilet, but that’s how Bobby likes it.”

Calling the store a toilet was being kind, Candy thought as they entered. Small and unbearably hot, the store reeked of body odor. Behind the counter sat an enormous man who resembled Jabba the Hutt. Rico did the introductions.

“Nice to meet you,” the bookie said.

A Cuban man came out from the back and counted the money in Candy’s bag. Candy had heard that Bobby worked for a syndicate that could cover any bet. The Cuban said something and returned to the back room.

“You want to bet it all on Miami College?” Bobby said.

Nigel grunted. “Think you can handle it?”

“Sure I can handle it. Don’t you want to know the spread?”

The newspaper store grew deathly still. Gamblers always wanted to know the spread. Bobby was wise to them, Candy realized. Nigel frowned at the bookie.

“I would assume it’s a large one,” he said.

“Twenty-to-one.”

“Can you cover it, or should I take my action elsewhere?”

A bag of potato chips was on the counter, which Bobby kept sticking his hand into. Stuffing some into his mouth, he said, “You’re on!”

Bobby explained the rules. On bets over five grand, his syndicate sent a guy over, who took the money to a hidden location, where it was counted and checked to be certain it wasn’t counterfeit. Only then was the bet accepted.

Nigel agreed to the terms, and Bobby wrote him a chit.

Back in the limo, it was all Rico could do to not kiss Nigel.

“That was beautiful,” he said.

The basketball game was scheduled to start at seven-thirty. Rico drove them back to the Delano, then joined Nigel in the bungalow for a drink. Candy said she wanted to take a walk on the beach. Instead, she went to the Rose Bar. It was packed.

“Over here,” a voice said.

Tony Valentine sat in a corner booth, blending in with the dark wood. Candy slipped into the seat across from him.

“How did it go?”

“Bobby Jewel took the bet,” she said.

A waitress came and took their drink order. Valentine stared at her. She looked different from the other day on the balcony, less harsh. Shedding her whore skin, he guessed. “Who is Miami College playing tonight?” he asked.

“Duke.”

Duke was one of the best basketball teams in the nation, and a Final Four favorite. Even their benchwarmers could whip Miami College’s starters. Any money on Miami College was a sucker bet.

“Doesn’t Nigel suspect something is up?”

“Nigel has this computer program that says Miami is going to win.”

“Did Rico give it to him?”

She smiled. “Yeah. How did you know?”

“The game is fixed, but Rico doesn’t want anyone to know that. So he conned Nigel with one story, Bobby Jewel with another. If he gets caught, the police won’t know which story to believe.”

Their drinks came. Valentine sipped his coffee. In Candy’s face he saw a struggle going on. She stared at the carbonated bubbles in her soda.

“How do I protect Nigel from getting hurt?”

“Tell him everything, including your relationship with Rico.”

“He already knows I’m a hooker.”

“You told him?”

“Last night. I think he’d already figured it out. I told him I’d quit for him.”

“What did he say?”

“He kissed me.”

They finished their drinks. Valentine wanted to tell her to get out before she got hurt. Instead, he took out his wallet and paid the tab.

“So what’s going to happen?” she said.

“I’m going to go to the game tonight and figure out what Rico’s doing. Then I’m going to Bobby Jewel’s store. You and Nigel shouldn’t come in with Rico when he comes to collect the money.”

“Okay.”

“I’m going to grab Rico when he comes in. Then, I’m going to take him to the police and have him arrested. I won’t bring up your name or Nigel’s.”

“What if Rico gets violent?”

“I’ll deal with it.”

She reached across the table and squeezed his hand.

“A man of his word. I like that.”

Valentine slipped out of the booth. “See you at the game.”