by Richard Wren
CHAPTER 34
Perhaps feeling a little overconfident, Josh relinquished the break to his opponent. His opponent sank the seven ball and two more solids before missing. Josh successfully ran all the balls on his turn, showing off a little by doing a couple of intricate bank shots. One of his shots was called a masse. The ball curved around his opponent’s ball and pocketed the eleven ball as he had planned.
The guy was pissed off and so was the gang. Bruce told Josh to “wait here” and took his gang over to talk to Chan. Josh watched them reluctantly hand over the three thousand bucks to Chan and Chan signaled to Josh that he had his winnings.
Josh walked over to the group and said, “You want a chance to get your money back?”
Bruce, suspicion in his voice, said, “Now what?”
“Simple. You pick your best player and I’ll put all my winnings in the pot. You win, you get all your money back!”
“You want us to put up another four grand against what you’ve won?”
“Sure, if you’ve got confidence in your best player!”
Josh thought Bruce had a real problem. He was their best player. If he backed down, they were not only out the four grand, but it’d make him look like a coward. On the other hand, maybe they couldn’t raise the four grand.
Josh went back to the table and idly racked up the balls, giving the gang time to think over his offer. Watching them, it looked like they were negotiating a loan from Chan. Enough to cover the bet. In a few minutes, Bruce came over and said.
“Okay, I’ll play you and I’m going to whip your ass!”
This time Josh exercised his prerogative and made the break and a very unusual thing happened. The eight ball went in the pocket. Quickly, Josh called over to Chan.
“Are we playing Bar Pool?”
Chan went silent for a moment and then, reluctantly agreed that was what they played all the time.
“Game’s over!” Josh said.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“In bar pool, if the eight ball is sunk on the break the shooter wins! Look it up, or better yet, ask Chan.”
Bruce yelled to Chan across the room, “Is that true?”
Chan looked stricken. He hemmed and hawed for a while and Josh said, “Let’s look it up on line.” Finally Chan agreed that Josh was right and the gang had lost. This time he had to dig into his own pocket to pay Josh. While he was digging the money out, Josh asked him about the Chinese private eye named Charley.
“One of your guys said there’s a Chinese private detective named Charley, comes in here a lot?”
“You mean Charley Fong? He isn’t no Private detective! Charley would like you to think he is. He might do you a favor occasionally for a fee, but he isn’t licensed as no private eye.”
“Could he help my Aunt?”
“Maybe, why? You want to get in touch with him? He’s here almost every afternoon about four or so. Or, I can give you his office address but he’s never there.”
Josh was keeping an eye on the gang members in the meantime. They had gathered together in the rear of the hall and were arguing among themselves. He remembered what one of the regulars had told him, “They might be dangerous if they lose money.” Altogether, they’d lost eight thousand dollars. Four thousand paid to Josh and another four thousand they now owed Chan.
“If I can’t find him by tomorrow afternoon I’ll probably come by here, if that’s okay with you?”
“It’s okay with me, but I’d steer away from that gang if I was you. They’re okay in here, but out in the streets? Uh, uh! And the tall one, Bruce? He’s a knifer and probably carries a gun. Did you notice they’ve gone?”
Sure enough, the gang had disappeared from the rear of the hall. There must be a back door, Josh thought.
“Eight thousand bucks of their money in your jeans, walking through Chinatown close to midnight? I’d be awfully damn careful if I was you. You want me to call you a cab?”
Josh thanked him for his professionalism, told him not to worry, and took his leave. Out on the streets, it was almost pitch dark. He decided to carry his cue in one piece instead of separating it into its two pieces and carrying it in its bag. He had a hunch that he wasn’t through with the Chinese gang tonight, not yet.
