by Richard Wren
CHAPTER 32
They lagged the cue ball for the break and Josh intentionally lost. He had seen just enough of Yu’s game to be sure he wouldn’t be able to run all eight balls in one turn. Josh drew solids and Yu broke the rack.
Sure enough, Yu missed on his number three ball. Josh took his turn and pocketed all seven of his balls and then the eight to win the match.
By the time he got to the number six ball a small crowd had gathered. By the time he pocketed the eight ball, others were ready to play him.
Chan called him over. “Okay, you want to play more?”
“That’s why I’m here, but don’t you have some better players? Maybe willing to make the game a little more interesting, say a hundred bucks interesting?”
Chan called out, “Man wants to play for a hundred bucks. You saw him play, who wants to take him on?” Half a dozen hands went up.
Chan selected one of the volunteers, collected a hundred and five bucks from Josh and his opponent and they headed to Josh’s table.
Josh took a chance and used the same idea he had used on the first game. He intentionally lost the lag. This time his opponent was only able to get his first ball in before missing. Josh didn’t want to scare off the opposition so he purposely missed after four balls. This time his opponent got two balls in before missing.
Josh easily ran the rest of his balls to win. He told Chan to hold on to his winnings because he wanted to play some more.
“Okay, Okay, plenty more want to play you.”
Josh congratulated the guy he had just beaten and asked if he could buy him a drink. Josh told him he needed to relax for a minute or two before playing again.
At the table with Chan and his opponent, Josh tried to steer the conversation to Charley Fong.
“I have a Chinese mother-in-law. Lives over in Oakland, needs help with some sort of legal stuff. Some lousy tenants are giving her a bad time. She doesn’t speak much English. I told her I’d try to find a Chinese attorney that wasn’t too pricey. You got any ideas?”
“Lots of Chinese attorneys around but they charge an arm and a leg just to meet with you.”
“Wait, I’ve got a better idea. She doesn’t really need an attorney all she needs is someone that knows enough about the law to convince these squatters to leave. Maybe a private detective firm? Do you know anyone like that?”
The guy he’d just beaten glanced at Chan and said, “Charley?”
Chan shrugged his shoulders and said “maybe.”
Then Josh stopped. He figured he would let them stew on that for a while and see if it led anywhere.
Over the next forty minutes or so he played three more games, winning them all easily and decisively. So far he had won over four hundred dollars but hadn’t gotten any more leads to Charley Fong.
He had noticed a group of tables in the rear of the room, almost all by themselves. A number of young Chinese were gathered around them, not mixing with the ones Josh had been playing. They were all dressed in black and making a lot of noise. Now a couple of them wandered over to his table and watched the action. Nobody got in their way.
After a few minutes they walked back to the rear table, only to return with a tall, young Chinese carrying his cue stick. Probably in his early twenties, he had a perpetual sneer on his lean face and long black hair tied in a ponytail. It was obvious that he thought he was big stuff. Like the others, he was all dressed in black. He elbowed his way to the front of the small group watching and then addressed Josh, “You! You think you’re pretty much a hot shot, taking money from these amateurs. How about you let us take a little money from you?”
“You want to play me for serious money?”
“That’s what I’m saying!”
“How much?”
“How about five to start?”
“Okay, but I want to speak to Chan first.” With that he walked over to Chan and asked in a low voice, “You hear that?”
“Yeah, it’s okay!”
“Are they good for it?”
“Sure, they’re okay, are you?”
“I’m okay, here’s a thou. Will you hold the stakes?”
“Okay, plus five dollars!”
On the way back to his table, one of the guys he had beaten earlier sidled beside him and whispered, “Be careful! These guys could be dangerous if you win too much!”
Before Josh could thank him, he whispered again, “Ask Chan about Charley, for your aunt, he’s a detective,” and was gone.
Maybe Chan was the lead he would need to find Charley, but he couldn’t corner Chan yet, he had to play these “tough guys.”
