The One Who Got Away. Jo Leigh

She had to reshuffle the deck in her head, pull out the cards she wanted to play. “I like my job,” she said. “I’d thought about going back to school, getting my law degree, but honestly, I don’t want the headaches. I like the research a lot, which I didn’t expect. I work for a major law firm. They pay me well to look up the right statutes, dig on the Internet. I imagine in that way, our jobs are similar.”

      “Sounds like it. You hang out with attorneys?”

      “Not if I can help it. I have a small but eclectic group of friends. I play pool on Thursday nights.”

      His brows rose. “No kidding?”

      She grinned. “We got the league championship last year, and we’re gunning for it again. We have a good team.”

      “Eight ball?”

      “Yep. Sometimes nine ball. But mostly eight.”

      “Maybe we can find a pool hall somewhere nearby.”

      “Actually, there’s a place across from the Rio. It’s called Pink-ees. Great place to play. Lots of tables.”

      “Did you bring your cue?”

      She shook her head. “Didn’t know if there’d be time.”

      “Let’s make time.”

      She took a bite of toast to hide her ridiculously happy grin. He liked pool. Excellent.

      “So what else?” he asked. “Besides being a pool shark?”

      “I ride my bike on weekends a lot.”

      “You said you have a Shadow, right?”

      She nodded.

      “What got you into that?”

      “A guy I went out with. He was kind of a dick, but he did turn me on to bikes. I got hooked immediately.”

      “Not afraid you’ll get hit?”

      “Nope, not really. I operate on the principle that everyone’s trying to kill me.”

      He laughed, and she felt all squishy inside.

      “What about you?”

      “Yeah, I think people are trying to kill me, too.”

      “No, I meant what you do. When you aren’t being a private eye.”

      He frowned a little, two lines appearing on his forehead. “I read too much.”

      “How can anyone read too much?”

      “Trust me, it’s possible.”

      “What kinds of books?”

      “Everything.”

      “I doubt that.”

      He grinned. “Okay, so I’m not real big on romance novels. Or fantasy. But pretty much everything else.”

      “Cool.”

      “And I hike.”

      “Where?”

      “Wherever I can. I go out to the Catskills from time to time. And upstate New York. There are some nice places in Connecticut and Vermont, too.”

      “How strenuous.”

      “Have to be able to run. Remember, people trying to kill me and all that.”

      She leaned forward. “Has anyone really?”

      “Tried to kill me? Yep.”

      “Oh, God.”

      “They didn’t succeed.”

      “Obviously. Why?”

      “I was faster. From all the hiking.”

      “No, why did they try to kill you?”

      “I found out stuff they didn’t want known.”

      “Scary.”

      “Yeah. I try to avoid that kind of thing, but sometimes you get surprised.”

      “That’s not the kind of surprise I like.”

      “But you do like surprises?”

      She nodded. “Love ’em. Especially when there are gifts involved.”

      He laughed. “Hey, let’s finish up here. I’m starting to feel lucky.”

      She quirked her head to the right, but he was busy with the check. She wondered if his idea of feeling lucky involved a locked door, a bedroom and getting naked.

      4

      THE CASINO WAS HOPPING, tourists and locals all focused on winning the big one, the one that would change their lives forever. Ben knew the odds of that happening were slim to none, but he didn’t care. He wanted to play, and to watch Taylor.

      “You like blackjack?” he asked.

      She nodded. “The last time I was here, I won two hundred dollars. I spent the whole wad on a pair of shoes that hurt my feet.”

      He grinned, took her hand. “Let’s see if we can get another pair.” He led her past the machines, surprised as always at the silliness of the glorified tic-tac-toe slots: Little Green Aliens, The Beverly Hillbillies, Elvis and The Munsters, just to name a few. Then they hit the banks of video poker machines, which was a little more understandable, but still confusing. If he was going to play poker, he wanted to do it with other people, preferably in someone’s basement, with plenty of beer, sandwiches and good cigars.

      Now blackjack, he liked. The only exception to that was when some obnoxious twit came to the table. He’d walk away before he’d play with a drunk who hit on seventeen, and doubled down on face cards.

      They had to pass three tables before they found one with two open seats. He got Taylor in position, then sat on the stool next to her. Rubbing the smooth green felt, he checked out their compatriots. An older couple in brightly colored Hawaiian shirts, a tall gaunt man with a three-day stubble and hooded eyes and a young woman who didn’t look old enough to drive, let alone gamble.

      The dealer’s name was Angel, and her name tag said she was from Tucson. She’d already dealt a hand, and was now going around the table, taking everyone’s bets, as she’d hit twenty-one in five cards.

      Ben got out his wallet and pulled out a hundred. He laid it down above the rectangle where he’d place his own bet.

      Taylor reached for her purse, but he stopped her. “This one’s on me,” he said. “For luck.”

      Her eyes narrowed. “Are you sure? I brought fun money.”

      “You’ll have plenty of time to spend it. I promise.”

      “All right. Thank you.”

      Angel took his bill, laid it out flat in front of her, so the security cameras could get a good shot, called out, “Change one hundred,” for the benefit of the pit boss, then gave him a stack of five, ten and twenty dollar chips. He split them up, fifty-fifty and gave Taylor her share.

      She smiled again, making him want to give her all the money in his wallet, then she put a five, the minimum bet, down to play.

      He did the same.

      The dealer, taking the cards from the shoe, dealt the hand, and after the second card, Taylor gasped, turned over her cards to show a jack and an ace.

      The dealer paid her, took her cards, then went on with the rest of the hand. Ben had a twenty, so he stayed pat. He leaned over to Taylor, getting a heady hit of her delicate scent for his trouble. “See, I told you we were going to be lucky.”

      She turned to face him, her expression serious, but with a telltale gleam in her beautiful blue eyes. “You have no idea.”

      His whole body reacted