One More Night(39)

He rubbed a hand across his ribs, wincing; they smarted from the beating they’d taken an hour ago.

The sound of scanners and phone calls, along with the grumbled shouts of the temporarily incarcerated, rang in the halls. A cop with a nightstick glared at him as he walked over to the cell. The cop pointed with his chin. “Dominic Stevenson. There’s a Michael Lawson here to see you. Come with me.”

Dominic’s heart ran circles in his chest, taking away the soreness in his stomach. Michael was here, Michael would post bail, Michael would free him. The door opened with a loud groan as the cop unlocked it, then shut it behind him.

See you, suckers, he wanted to say to his fetid cellmates. But he clamped his mouth shut as the cop escorted him to a small concrete room with a table and two chairs. Michael was seated, his legs crossed, wearing his trademark cowboy boots and a bolo tie around his neck. A big-brimmed hat rested on the table. Dominic reached out a hand, and Michael shook.

“Man, it is good to see you,” Dominic said, and he’d never been so relieved.

“I’m sure it is. I always like seeing me too,” Michael said, then shot a toothy smile at Dominic. Michael was like that. Affable; easygoing.

The cop left and they were alone in the room.

“So, you’re going to get me out of here?” Dominic asked, hope knotting tightly in his chest.

“Well, let’s just talk about things first,” Michael said, leaning back in his chair, and tipping it slightly onto the two back legs. “Because I’m not so sure I ever said I wanted you to lock up that lady hustler, rough her up, get caught, and blow your fucking cover,” he said, the smile on his face masking the ire in the words.

Dominic nodded, girding himself for getting chewed out. He knew this was coming. He’d messed up, and he’d have to eat crow, but they’d move on and keep on keeping on. “I’m sorry. Things got out of hand. But hey, on the bright side, I kept her out of your games,” Dominic said, grasping for the one bit of good news.

Michael nodded several times and chuckled deeply, then pointed at him. “There is that. Oh, you’re right. There is that.” He stopped laughing, tilted the chair back up, and steepled his hands together. The sharp stare and the erasure of the smile worried Dominic. “But you did more than that, and I only asked you to do one thing: I asked you to keep her and everyone on the list out of my games. I don’t want anyone else horning in on my turf, not after the trouble I had with Charlie when I used to work for him in San Francisco. That cold-hearted bastard accused me of stealing. Something I would never do, but we worked it out and made a deal. And the deal was I’d leave town, and we’d stay out of each other’s way. That’s all. Plain and simple. And you and Stevie were in touch, you were honoring the deal, and Stevie knew it, and was keeping Charlie apprised.”

“We did have a deal. Stevie even called last night and I reminded him, but then she showed up and I had to get rid of her,” he said insistently, trying to prove his point. He wanted Michael to see how he’d protected his boss’s assets. “I did what you wanted.”

Michael made a shushing sound, as if Dominic had been talking too loud in church. “That’s what you thought you were doing, and hey, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, right?”

Michael stared at him pointedly and Dominic wasn’t sure if the other man was asking rhetorically or leading into what he planned to do to him, but either way, he had the sinking feeling Michael wasn’t in a forgiving mood. “But I’m pretty sure blowing your motherfucking cover as an inside man was not what I wanted you to do. You’re a pit boss at the Allegro. Do you have any idea how valuable it was to me to have you on the inside like that? To know the score? To have access to security cameras and footage and all the intel that I needed to run my games?” Michael shook his head, and sighed deeply. “And now—poof! That’s all gone. Because you snapped. When I said find out why she’s in town, I meant sit down, have a drink, talk to her like a normal fucking person. Invite her into a game. Find out then if she was working for Charlie. Find out then if I had to be concerned about him encroaching. Liquor her up, ply her with cards and get the four-one-one on Charlie. You should have lured her with candy, not fists. She’s a hustler, and you should have invited her to a high-stakes game instead of your fucking office where you cuffed her. You did this three months ago when you tossed a guy out of a game for the wrong reason, and now you’ve once again gone too far.”

Dread snaked through Dominic. He’d botched a previous job for Michael because he was too hot under the collar, and now he’d done it once more. He hung his head and muttered, “I’m sorry.”