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Chapters (57)
  1. Welcome to the Game
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Epigraphs
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
  40. 35
  41. 36
  42. 37
  43. 38
  44. 39
  45. 40
  46. 41
  47. 42
  48. 43
  49. 44
  50. 45
  51. 46
  52. 47
  53. 48
  54. 49
  55. Six months later . . .
  56. Acknowledgments
  57. Back Cover

Cal shook his head. “Find Dom and tell him we’re done. Then go cash your chips in.”

“We’re going already?”

“You got a problem with that?”

“I just don’t see the point of changing four grand and then changing it back after we all lost a couple hundred bucks.”

“Really? It ain’t a tough one to get your head around.”

The penny dropped for Spencer.

For the rest of the afternoon the three of them hit the tables of Windsor, Ontario. Craps, roulette, baccarat, even the wheel of fortune. They’d drive between casinos, sometimes pulling over to let Cal retrieve or stash cash in the trunk. Before they went into each place, he’d share it out like a big candy stash. One time Spencer was five hundred bucks up. Cal told him to change it back and just to keep it. He was the only person Spencer had known to be irritated by a winning streak. Even McGrath seemed to enjoy a big win every so often.

On a mojito break, Spencer asked McGrath what the point of trying to lose was. Surely it didn’t matter, so long as their cash was getting cleaned.

“We come here quite a lot. It’s not our only method as you know, not even our biggest, but the casinos are less likely to take notice if they’re winning. It’s a small price to pay.”

Spencer knocked back his third mojito. He was starting to wonder whether he needed to reevaluate things. He’d won another three hundred in front of McGrath. McGrath had slapped him on the back and asked him why he looked so unexcited. On hearing what Cal had said, McGrath just smiled.

“That’s his job, to take care of numbers. It’s why I hired him. What? You thought I hired him for his ray-of-sunshine personality?”

Spencer had laughed at that. He’d then gone on and lost the money anyway and McGrath had laughed at him in turn.

Maybe this whole gig wasn’t so bad. He hadn’t realized there’d been a bigger picture, that they weren’t out to get him. Maybe they hired him, and kept him on so persuasively, because they knew him better than he did. Maybe he goddamn well could cope with this, and not just cope with it—maybe he could ride this wave like a boss.

He needed a piss. He’d downed just enough mojitos to get that little buzz—and the dulling of his wits.

He left his phone on the bar.

26

26

Melvin and Caitlyn