Dinah, ten years younger and the most agile of the three, bent down and picked them up.
“They’re tokens of some kind,” Fae said. She put her reading glasses on to decipher the inscription on them. “Double Luck Casino,” she read out loud. “Who from Shady Pastures would’ve dropped casino chips here? Was it Hank, perhaps?”
“What was the name of the casino Myrna said Stanley did his gambling at?” Blaise asked, looking at the tokens.
Fae pursed her lips. “I don’t know, but I think it’s high time we paid closer attention to Stanley. I’m beginning to think he’s not putting his cards on the table.”
Dinah wasn’t so sure. “Everything we’ve heard is hearsay. Sure, he’s contradicting Claptrap about the finances, but the rest is mere innuendo.” She pointed to the casino chips. “I wouldn’t be surprised if a few fellow residents entertained themselves at this casino out of boredom and accidentally dropped here.”
“Well, since it looks like Stanley is a gambling man, they may well be his. I suggest we call his bluff,” Fae said and carefully put the coins in the tin case she kept her sweeteners in. “How about we organize a friendly game of Texas Hold’em and see if he’s interested in joining us? Then we’ll see if he plays for fun and knows when to stop, or whether he has a problem.”
Dinah, as usual, was the cautious one. “If he’s a serious gambler, he’ll wipe the floor with us at poker, and what will that prove? Besides, I’ve never gambled in my life before.”
“I’ve noticed Bob Golfington in Room Twenty-Four playing cards in the entertainment room, so I’ll have a word with him and find out if he can borrow us a poker set and teach us the basics,” Fae said, fired up. “And if push comes to shove”—she looked at Dinah—“we always have your aural glasses to fall back on to give us a hint of what his cards look like.”
Blaise cackled and high-fived Fae. “Sneaky, very sneaky. I love that plan. And if he turns down our offer of a game, at least we know his gambling is only an innocent pastime at most.” She turned and grabbed the other two by the arm. “We can’t lose. Let’s go back and plan this thing out.”
None of the three witches had ever been to Las Vegas, and only Fae had seen the inside of a casino. To prepare, therefore, they watched Casino Royale and The Sting twice at the Shady Pastures library. No doubt it was a good excuse to watch two of their favorite hunks, Daniel Craig and Paul Newman, in action. But the movies also taught them the lingo of poker and gave them a sense of the theatrics of high-stakes gambling. After that, they spent two hours in Bob Golfington’s room while he took them through the basics of poker. It turns out Bob had spent a summer as a croupier in Las Vegas in his younger days, which was a huge help in understanding the finer nuances of the game. He shook his head after waving them goodbye outside his door, unable to understand where the three old ladies’ sudden urge to learn advanced poker had come from.
It was shortly after dinnertime, and Dinah, Fae and Blaise were seated around a small table in the entertainment room. They were alone, except for two residents who’d fallen asleep in front of the television.
Blaise, wearing a green visor and shuffling cards like she’d been doing it for years, was going to be the dealer.
Dinah glanced down the corridor for the umpteenth time since they’d sat down. “Are you sure Stanley has a clear view of us from his office? Do you think he’ll notice what we’re doing?” she asked.
“Don’t worry, he’ll take the bait if he’s hungry,” Fae said and motioned for Blaise to deal another hand. “Now concentrate. Dinah, do you have your aural glasses ready in case we need them?”
Dinah nodded and pointed to a pink glasses case lying next to her on the table.
Half an hour later, Stanley closed his office door and started walking towards the front door. At the corridor junction with the entertainment room, he hesitated as he noticed the three seated women playing cards.
Fae beckoned him over. “Hey, Stanley! Care to join us for a quick game of cards before you knock off? It’s the perfect way to unwind after a hard day’s work, you know.”
Stanley dithered, looked at his watch and then came over. “Alright, but only one short game, then I must be on my way. I have to be home in an hour. What are you playing for?”
“Oh, we’re not big gamblers,” Blaise said and pushed a dollar coin into the center of the table. “Only a dollar at a time.”
Stanley looked at the heap of coins in front of Dinah and sat down. “Alright, then, how much do I need to buy in?”
Fae kept a watchful eye on Stanley. He quickly warmed to the game, calling for higher and higher bets each round. Every time he won, he whooped and raised his arms in victory. Two hours into the game, the bets had climbed substantially, and Stanley had forgotten about his plans to go home early. The room was silent as everyone focused, except for the occasional muted calls of “call,” “check” and “all in,” and the clicking of poker chips in nervous hands.
“Are you sure you shouldn’t call it a night, Stanley?” Fae asked at one point after Stanley had won yet another round. “It looks like you’ve had a good run tonight. Why not quit when the going’s good?”
Stanley shook his head without looking up from his cards. “One final round, then I’ll be on my way.” He took a mouthful of the whiskey Fae had sneaked from their bedroom, and with which she’d been keeping his glass filled.
At the start of the round where the minimum bet was set at one hundred dollars, Dinah took out her aural glasses and put them on. Annoyed at having his concentration broken, Stanley looked up from his cards, and she shrugged in apology. “Sorry, at this time of night, my eyes start acting up. Now, shall we continue?”
As midnight approached, Fae began to wonder if they’d get their chance to confront Stanley after all. It was down to Dinah and Stanley, the others having lost their chips to ill-advised “all in” calls. During the final hand, Fae noticed a subtle change in Dinah when a new hand was dealt. After the flop, she bet more aggressively than she had all night—Fae hoped desperation for answers wasn’t clouding her judgment. She raised Stanley again after the turn card was revealed, and when Fae caught Dinah staring intently at the back of Stanley’s two hole cards after the river, she knew the moment of truth had come.
“I think it’s time to end the night on a high note,” Dinah said. She took a scrap of paper, wrote a long sequence of numbers and letters on it and placed it in the middle of the table.
“This is the number of my bank account in Bermuda,” Dinah said. “In there is the one hundred thousand dollars my husband left me after he died. I’m all in.”
Stanley went pale. He looked at the number, not sure what to make of it.
“Are you serious, or are you bluffing? Is this some sort of silly attempt to win back the few thousand dollars you guys lost tonight?”
Fae was impressed with Dinah’s feint. She had played the role of loose-handed gambler with more finesse than Fae had ever thought her meek friend was capable of.
Dinah cocked her head in the direction of the small note on the table and shrugged. “You’re free to fold and call it a night, Stanley. Don’t let me force you.”
Stanley swallowed. Then he reached over to his jacket and dug into the pockets. He threw two sets of jangling keys onto the table.
“My house and car keys.” He looked straight into Dinah’s eyes. “I raise you.”
Dinah gave a long, thin whistle through her teeth that threatened to have Fae in stitches. “I’ve got good cards, Stanley. Very, very good cards. Are you sure you’re not being too reckless? Are you sure you don’t want to think this through?”
Dinah and Stanley both peered back and forth between their hole cards and the community cards—which were the eight of clubs, queen of hearts, queen of spades, six of clubs, and four of clubs.
Stanley was oozing raw energy now. He thumped the table with his palm. When he spoke, his voice was so loud, Fae had to ask him to keep it down.
“I kn
ow you’re bluffing, Dinah. I think you’re running scared. Right now, you’re wondering how you’re going to pay next month’s Shady Pastures fees after tonight. You’ve made the worst mistake of your life.”
“Let’s see, then, Stanley,” Dinah challenged him without batting an eyelid.
Stanley laid down his cards—the queen of clubs and five of diamonds. He sat back and folded his hands behind his head.
“Full house. It’ll take some sort of magic for you to beat that. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Fae couldn’t contain a snigger and instead burst into a bout of coughing.
Dinah sighed and shuffled the two cards in her hands before slowly revealing them.
Stanley’s eyes almost popped out, and he leapt up to take a closer look at Dinah’s cards.
“Straight flush,” Dinah said as she counted down the cards on the table. “Eight, seven, six, five, and four of clubs, exactly like in Casino Royale. You ever see that movie, Stanley? Wasn’t Daniel Craig wonderful to watch?”
Stanley sat motionless for a moment. Fae watched as he tried to decide what to do next. Should he grab his keys, go home, and write the game off as a laugh? Or was there something more sinister going on around the table? In an instant, she reached over and put Stanley’s keys in her pocket.
Stanley looked confused. “What exactly’s going on here? You planned this, didn’t you? What do you think you’re doing?”
When she spoke, Fae’s voice was filled with accusation.
“What we’re after is the truth, Stanley. We have a very strong suspicion you can fill us in about who’s been stealing money from Shady Pastures. And from what we’ve heard, way more than just pudding money has been disappearing. Have you been taking money from Shady Pastures to feed your gambling habit? Because judging by your behavior tonight, you clearly have a problem.”
Stanley sat back. “Alright, I wasn’t straight with you when you came to my office the other day. Joe had, before he died, been diverting deliveries made to Shady Pastures and reselling them on the side. I found out about it and alerted Mr. Drake. He was about to be fired when he died. I didn’t want to be nasty about the man after his death. That’s why I didn’t tell you the truth.” He folded his arms and shrugged. “I wager a little money now and again at the casino, but that hardly constitutes a crime. Now, can we all say goodbye and call it a night, please?”
Fae sighed. “Is that your final word on the matter, Stanley?”
Stanley looked confused, but nodded. “I’ve got nothing more to say.” He got up, took his briefcase and held out his hand. “My keys, please?”
“Sit down, Stanley!” Fae’s voice was so hard and demanding, the other two witches winced and Stanley fell back into his chair.
Fae reached into her back and brought out a dark blue book with the word “Journal” engraved in golden letters on the front.
Stanley went ashen as Fae put the journal on the table.
“You recognize this, Stanley?”
He shook his head.
Fae laughed. “Oh, you recognize it, alright. Let me refresh your memory. I’m sure you followed Joe around and saw him enter the old laundry building—that’s how Hank knew where to find him. You saw the journal there but didn’t take it.”
Stanley said something inaudible, his eyes transfixed on the journal.
“Then you returned to that room a second time because you wanted to find and destroy the journal, because you suspected there was incriminating information in it. Except, I’d taken and hidden it in one of those old closets.”
Stanley didn’t respond.
Fae sighed again. “Never mind. Let me read an entry to you.”
* * *
June 12
* * *
S. at casino again. Watched him at the roulette tables. Lost $1,340.
* * *
Every time I go there, this disguise makes me sweaty!!!
* * *
Deliveries for the day:
Albany Bread and Pastries $340
* * *
Fake invoices with no deliveries:
Cyril’s Cereals $180
Famous Crockery $1,105
Fresh & Fancy Pies $255
* * *
Total invoices for the week not delivered: $1,850
* * *
Fae paged on in the diary. “There are pages and pages of similar entries, Stanley, detailing how you created false invoices and diverted the payments you made to your own account to feed your gambling addiction. Joe had done an excellent job using his forensic auditing skills to get to the bottom of who was emptying out the Shady Pines coffers. He had no choice, or else he was going to get fired after you convinced Claptrap he was on the take and that the books were in good order.” Fae closed the diary. “Is that why you killed Joe, to make doubly sure no one found out about your fraudulent activities?”
Like Fae was hoping Stanley took the bait. He sat upright in an instant.
“I didn’t kill Joe.” He patted down his suit. “Look at me, I’m an accountant. Do I look like a killer? I was hoping he would leave as soon as possible, but then Hank…” He stopped abruptly, holding his hand in front of his mouth and shaking his head.
Fae gestured to Stanley. “Yes, yes, carry on. No need to stop. What about Hank?”
Stanley pursed his lips.
“Maybe these will refresh your memory,” Fae said. She opened the tin with the casino chips and showed it to Stanley. “We found these by the side of the pond the day after Hank’s death, near the chapel. I bet the police will find your fingerprints on them, which puts you at the scene where Hank’s body was found. We will testify they weren’t there before the night he was killed.”
When she saw tiny drops of sweat forming on his brow, Fae knew the game between them and Stanley had swung in their favor.
Stanley put his head in his hands. “You have no idea what you’re getting into, and what you’re dealing with here.”
Fae frowned. “‘Dealing with?’ What do you mean? We’re interested in seeing Joe’s killer behind bars. So, to help us understand what we’re ‘dealing with’, maybe you ought to start right from the beginning. Let’s begin with your gambling problem.”
When he started speaking, it was as if Stanley was relieved to finally spill the beans about where his life had gone off the rails. He closed his eyes and began speaking.
“Gambling was a way to get rid of my mounting debts—kids’ school fees, house payments, the usual stuff. In the beginning, the going was good, but after a while, the winning streaks started getting less and less frequent.
“To stay afloat, I started fabricating invoices from outside companies supplying food to the kitchen. Drake got wind of the sudden increase in food costs and wanted me to look into it. I managed to convince him that Joe was skimming supplies and reselling them. He said he’d confront Joe about that, but that he needed proof.
“Then, out of the blue, I got a call from someone saying he knew what I was up to. He was able to provide facts and figures no one would know, unless they had access to the financials. He threatened to expose me, which would mean the end of my career. So, I made a deal with the devil. I offered to pay this person hush money to keep him quiet. He agreed, and initially it worked fine. I could live with it, for the time being, anyway. But when things started going awry, I found out the kind of maniac the person blackmailing me was.
“When Joe got told he was under suspicion for theft, he must’ve been desperate to find out what was really happening. He was hard pressed to clear his name and had a lot to lose if he was fired. You may know this, but before he went to jail, Joe was a qualified auditor at a major international firm. He’d go straight back to jail if Drake made a case against him.
“He came to my office one day and confronted me. Firstly, he’d been spying on me and knew I was gambling. He’d also painstakingly been going through the invoice files in my office and comparing them with deliveries. That’s how he found out I was crea
ting fictitious invoices for which there were no deliveries.
“I was at my wits’ end and didn’t know what to do to stop him from exposing me. I offered him money, but he refused. I called my blackmailer and told him about what Joe knew. He told me not to worry. He would take care of things. Soon after that day, Joe ended up dead. Don’t ask me how he ended up in Room Fifty-Four.”
“You must’ve been glad when Petula was arrested, even though you knew she was innocent,” Fae said. “That took the heat off you.”
Stanley nodded. “For a little while, I thought things had settled down. I had a good run at the tables and was ready to move the family to South America. Then, one evening when I was at the casino, I got a call from my blackmailer. He said Hank had called and was threatening to expose our scheme. It was then I realized the blackmailer had hired him to kill Joe. I was shocked, even more so when he told me Hank had somehow learned that Joe was his father.”
Dinah covered her ears. “I don’t think I want to hear more,” she said. “This is the saddest story of bad decisions ever.”
“So, the blackmailer sent Hank over to you at the casino, forcing you to do the dirty work and get rid of him,” Fae said.
Stanley wrung his hands as he spoke. “I thought I could persuade him that it was in everyone’s interest to remain quiet. But he was so upset, it was impossible to argue with him—he’d made up his mind it was all my fault. We were in the casino parking lot when he attacked me with one of those knives he has in the display cabinet in his room. I’d done martial arts when I was younger and managed to disarm him. I didn’t mean to kill him, but one of my defensive moves fatally injured him. Believe me, I never meant for him to die.
An Old Witches Tale Page 9
