The coachman checked the forms before nodding and leaving without another word.
“What do you want?” Clamet asked nastily to Ayla.
“The money owed,” Ayla said with an icy smile. “All of it.”
Clamet glanced at Doc. “You could do so much better than this breed.”
Doc laughed. “I don’t think so. Ayla has proven time and again her worth. If I wasn’t already married to two wonderful women, I might’ve asked her, just to make sure she couldn’t get away.”
Clamet sneered and stormed off, clearly not wanting to deal with them. “Kenneth, you handle their business!” she yelled toward the counter as she went.
Doc chuckled as he watched her go, then turned back to Ayla, who wasn’t facing him. “Hey, don’t let her get to you. I meant it— you’re amazing.”
Ayla didn’t reply, and Doc’s attention was taken when both of the front doors were thrown open. The coachman stood there, directing two hulking men to enter the building. They stood nearly nine-feet tall, had gray skin, and their ears were large and flappy. The elephant bestials each carried large chests into the room and straight toward the massive metal vault door, where Clamet was standing with the bull bestial.
“Damn, those guys are huge.”
“And as gentle as a person can be, as long as you don’t harm their families,” Ayla said softly. “Strongest bestials in the world. They get a lot of the heavy-lifting jobs. Never slight one, though. They have long memories.”
“I’ll keep it in mind. Should we go deal with Kenneth?”
“Kenneth isn’t as bad as some of the others,” Ayla said. “After I refused his first advance, he’d just glance at me at times.”
“Found you attractive,” Doc said. “Can’t blame him for that, but his taste has really slipped.”
Ayla’s eyes drifted to Clamet. “She’s all breast.”
“Some guys like that,” Doc said. “While I’m not opposed, it’s not the end-all-be-all for female attractiveness for me.”
“Oh?” Ayla asked, glancing his way. “You have a type?”
“No. All women can be beautiful. No matter how attractive your physique, if you’re a hateful person like her, I’d rather sleep with a porcupine.”
Ayla laughed. “Less prickly?”
“By a lot,” Doc chuckled.
Reaching the counter, they found Kenneth still hunkered down.
“Hey, Kenneth, we have business to conduct,” Doc said.
Kenneth glanced over the top of the counter before standing up fully. “How can I help you?”
“We need the remaining balance of what’s owed moved to Luck’s Holdings,” Ayla said.
“Once the money has been verified, we can do that,” Kenneth said, his gaze darting to Clamet by the vault. “Until then, I can’t do a lot.”
“Doc, did you see the team outside?” Sonya asked as she and Fiala came toward them. “A four-soul team? That’s a big investment. I can see why the bank would want them, though.”
Kenneth’s gaze shifted to Fiala and Sonya, and his lips thinned. “I’m dealing with customers, miss. You’ll need to—”
“My wives are fine to hear this,” Doc cut him off sharply. “In fact, since we have to wait for the money to be verified, we can take care of the second part first. They both need to be added to my personal account.”
Kenneth’s face went through a few emotions before settling on disgust. “Fine. I’ll need them to fill out a few forms.”
“I’ll handle them while you do the rest of it,” Ayla said, taking the forms from him. “It’ll be just a moment. Fiala, Sonya, come over here, please,” Ayla said, motioning them aside.
“Kenneth,” Doc said with false cheer, “treat them well or we’ll be having problems. This small kerfuffle over the money will seem tiny in comparison. Got it?”
Kenneth swallowed. “Yes, sir.”
“Good.”
~*~*~
It didn’t take long for them to be added to his account, given a couple of checks, and then sent on their way. It took far longer for the money to be brought in and accounted for. Since they had time, Doc and Ayla took seats off to the side and waited.
“Doc,” Ayla started to ask hesitantly, “why did you agree to marry Sonya?”
“She’s a lot like me,” Doc said. “She honestly wants to be beside me, even though I’ll likely have powerful enemies. Can’t deny she’s beautiful, either. Maybe a little young, but she’s a dwarf, and I’m… well... me. That won’t matter for long. I’m just glad she’s old enough now... I don’t want to be that kind of guy. There’s also the amount of help she’ll be when we’re dealing with the clans. There are lots of reasons.”
“I see,” Ayla said softly. “You do honestly care for her.”
“Yeah. Does that seem odd?”
“No. I was curious how much was affection and attraction versus her just being useful.”
“Eighty-twenty or ninety-ten split,” Doc shrugged. “Hard to put numbers to it.”
“I guess it would be.”
“What brought this on?”
“Curiosity,” Ayla said. “Fiala and Sonya are very different, but you seem to love them both deeply.”
“You don’t really get to pick who you love,” Doc said.
“No. No, you don’t,” Ayla said softly. “Do you think you’ll have more wives?”
Doc rubbed his chin, feeling a faint hint of stubble. “No idea. The way things are going right now, maybe? I’m not averse to the idea, but whoever they are, they’ll have to get along with Sonya and Fiala. A tall thing to ask of anyone.”
“We have the numbers,” Kenneth called over to them.
“About time,” Ayla muttered. “I used to run this place better.”
“Not everyone can be as organized as you, Ayla,” Doc told her as they stood up. “Now, let’s go see what they fucked up this time.”
~*~*~
Doc glanced at the Gold Strike. The line had vanished during the last few hours, but he was still curious as to what had been going on. Crossing the street, Doc made his way to the gambling hall.
The entrance hadn’t changed— there were still the two workers behind the bars to exchange money for chips. Doc headed for them, ignoring the two bull bestials that held shotguns beside it. “Afternoon. Can I get some chips, please?”
“Of course, sir,” the woman said politely. “If you’d been here a couple of hours ago, you could’ve taken advantage of the tournament bonus we had going.”
“Oh?”
“If you bought into the ten-dollar tournament, we gave two dollars’ worth of chips for you to enjoy the other games before or after the tournament.”
“Shame I missed it,” Doc said. “Can I get fifty, please?” He dropped three coins on the counter in front of her.
“Right away,” she smiled. “The upstairs room is likely to be restricted later while the tournament proceeds, but we’ve opened up a couple of higher stakes tables on the bottom floor to compensate.”
“Thank you.”
“Would you like a companion? We can have those available come to greet you.”
“Pass,” Doc chuckled. “Don’t want unknown perfume on me when I go home later.”
The teller smiled at him. “Of course, sir.”
Taking his chips, Doc walked into the main room of the Gold Strike. It was busy— busier than he expected— and that made him remember how slow it was at the Lily this morning. Guess Goodman is making his first move... Doc thought as he looked over the room.
Taking a long, slow walk around the room, Doc had to wave off two of the women the place used to keep people entertained. He didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary on the bottom floor— there were no new games or major changes. The two bestials guarding the stairs had him meander that way.
“Tournament upstairs?” Doc asked politely.
“Yes. No spectators,” the guard grunted.
“Ah. What game is being played?”
&
nbsp; “Draw. Five-card,” the guard replied bluntly.
“I see. Thank you.”
Doc went over to the highest ante draw game he’d seen. There were three players sitting at the table with a decent stack of chips in front of them. Taking an empty seat while the dealer shuffled, Doc gave the others a nod. “Afternoon. Dollar ante, is it?”
“Yes,” the oldest of the three said. “Little light there to be playing with us, aren’t you?”
“Maybe, but that just means you’ll probably have my money faster,” Doc laughed, tossing a dollar chip into the middle of the table. “I know I have the ante.”
The game was pedantic, and Doc noticed both times that the dealer sleeved aces, only to deal them to the older man. He didn’t care much, as he was more interested in hearing what the players who came from upstairs had to say.
Nearly out of money three hours later, the room was almost full from everyone coming downstairs. Doc had heard enough, and decided it was time to make his move. He waited for the dealer to slide an ace up his sleeve before he stood up abruptly.
“Dealer, I’d like you to roll those sleeves up,” Doc said it loudly enough that the majority of the room heard him.
The dealer blinked at him, not expecting to be singled out. “What?”
“You keep taking the aces and dealing them to him,” Doc motioned with his head to the old guy, not taking his eyes off the dealer. “Cheating is bad enough, but a dealer cheating is even worse.”
One of the guards was coming their way quickly, and the room began to talk excitedly. “Hey, what’s the problem?”
“Your dealer is a cheat, and so is that one,” Doc said, pointing to the older man while still keeping his eyes on the dealer. “The deck is short at least one ace, which is up his right sleeve.”
The dealer held the deck in his left hand, growing a little pale. “Preposterous!”
“Set the deck down and let’s check it,” Doc said.
“You’re not in charge here,” the bestial growled. “Accusing a dealer is serious.”
“Then you do it!” Doc snapped. “Why should anyone come gamble in a crooked hall?”
The commotion rose as others started to eye their dealers, too.
“Excuse me!” a loud voice called from the stairs, getting most of the patrons to look that way. “What is the problem here?”
“You have a cheat, Goodman,” Doc said. “Dealer is holding cards for a player.”
Goodman frowned at Doc. “Holyday, that’s a serious accusation.”
“Wouldn’t make it idly,” Doc shrugged. “Why don’t you come prove it: right or wrong?”
“Sir, he’s wrong,” the dealer said as he started to move his right arm.
“Try to get rid of that card, and things will get much worse,” Doc said grimly.
A heavy hand slammed onto Doc’s shoulder. “Hey, you threatening him?”
Doc’s gaze still never wavered. “No. Threats are for people who don’t follow through. Are you trying to stop a cheat from being outed?”
“Buff, stop it,” Goodman said. “Doc, why don’t we just check, and then you can apologize to him, me, and everyone here?”
“And if I’m right?” Doc asked as the hand left his shoulder.
“We’ll have to see if you are, first,” Goodman said amiably as he crossed the room to the table.
“Sure.”
“Franklin, step back from the table. Set the cards down,” Goodman said.
“It’s in his right sleeve,” Doc said firmly. “No reason for you to move that arm, Franklin.”
Franklin froze, as he had started to transfer the deck from his left to his right hand.
“Just set the deck down,” Doc said.
Goodman got to the table and sighed. “Put it down and step back.”
Franklin placed the deck down and took a step back. Doc never once looked away from Franklin, waiting for him to try slipping the ace out. Franklin shifted nervously, looking at Doc, but not meeting his eyes.
Goodman turned the deck over and began to separate it out by suit. The entire room was paying attention to the drama— not a single game was in play at the moment. One by one, the cards were checked until Goodman finished with a sour look on his face.
“Ace of hearts,” Doc said. “Right sleeve.”
Franklin bolted for the door and Goodman raised his voice, “Buff, stop him! Take him to Grange. I’ll deal with it later.”
One of the two guards in the front room opened the door just in time to snag Franklin. Franklin thrashed, and as he did, a single card went flying away from him. One of the patrons nearby picked it up.
“Ace of hearts,” he said, holding it up.
The door was shut, and Franklin’s cries of innocence were muted. Goodman cleared his throat so all attention turned to him. “Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize. To have a cheat dealing is an affront to you all. If I had any indication that he or any of my dealers were doing this, I’d have them stripped and run out of town for the wildfolk to get. I can’t assuage your fears, but I promise you that any dealer found cheating will be held accountable, and any money you lost will be refunded.”
People appeared to relax at his wording, until Goodman continued, “However, false accusations will be severely punished, as well. I won’t see the name of the Gold Strike smeared just so someone can get their money back.”
The man who’d been getting cards from Franklin had been sitting still the entire time, afraid to bring attention back to himself. However, his chair creaked, grabbing Goodman’s attention.
“Sully, you’ve been a customer for years, but you’ve been cheating.”
“No,” Sully said firmly. “I had no idea. I just thought my luck was up, Goodman. I’ve played against a lot of you,” he said, getting to his feet and looking at the room. “Lost a good amount, too. Just yesterday, I lost over a hundred. A lot of you took pieces of it. If I was cheating, I never would’ve lost that way.”
The room seemed divided on believing him or not.
“You might be innocent. I never saw you signal him,” Doc said, helping his case. “Mayor, I’d give him a chance.”
Sully’s relief was prominent. “Thank you.”
“Well, what of you two?” Goodman asked the other two players.
“If we get our original money back, I’m fine with it,” one of them said.
The other hesitated, then shrugged. “Fine, with our money back.”
“Very well. Buff, take these men to the cage and make sure they’re given their original money back, and let them keep their chips.”
“Yes, sir,” Buff grunted.
Goodman met Doc’s eyes, “Holyday, you missed the tournament. I expected you would be there.”
“I had to handle a banking problem,” Doc said. “Tournament was started before I was done, and I’d rather let the others enjoy the low stakes games.”
“I can arrange a bigger stakes game, if you’d like,” Goodman said.
“You, me, and Suez?” Doc asked with a smile. “I’d say Brand, too, but he left town, last I heard.”
Goodman nodded. “He did indeed. I’ll let you know when the game will be.”
“Sounds good to me,” Doc said. “Have a good day.”
“You, as well.”
As Doc left, he felt Goodman’s eyes on his back and could hear the conversations about a new rivalry in town.
Chapter Thirty-five
Doc was close to Otto’s shop when he noticed the two men loitering near the barbershop. Both were clean enough, but when he got closer, he saw one of the men stop someone from getting to the door.
“Look, I’m just saying the dwarf can’t be trusted. We heard he nearly took the ear off someone and laughed at them when they complained.”
“Otto’s always been good with me,” the man said.
“He started showing his bias against humans,” the man said, stepping back, “but maybe missing an ear is fine with you.”
Doc grunted,
having heard the conversation. He locked eyes with the second man, who was moving toward him. “Move,” Doc said simply as he went to walk right past him.
The second guy shoved his hand out to stop Doc. “Whoa there, what’s the rush?”
Doc stopped when the man’s hand touched his chest. Looking down, Doc sighed. “That’s assault. Remove your hand.”
Cashing In (Luck's Voice Book 2) Page 28
