Free Deadman's Bluff by James Swain

this one. He lived in Florida.
    “I don’t have a clue.”
    “Get another eighty-year-old woman to yell ‘Bingo!’”
    He laughed. Definitely a Floridian joke. He washed down his last bite of doughnut with a gulp of coffee. It hit his stomach like a bomb, and he felt himself wake up. “Okay, I’m ready for your bad news.”
    “I know this is going to sound harsh, but I’m taking you off the case,” Bill said.
    “You’re firing me?”
    “Yes,” Bill said.
    Valentine didn’t know what to say. He stared out the windshield at the big, cloudless Nevada sky. Bill started the engine and pulled onto the highway, pointing the Volvo back toward town. A long minute passed.
    “It’s like this, Tony,” his friend said. “Yesterday, I was given twenty-four hours by the governor of Nevada to produce hard evidence that there was cheating taking place at the World Poker Showdown. If I couldn’t prove there was cheating, I was told in no uncertain terms to leave the tournament alone. That also meant letting you go.”
    “The governor told you to end the investigation?”
    “That’s right,” Bill said.
    “Is he being pressured?”
    “Yes. The World Poker Showdown is helping every casino in town get business.”
    “So the casino owners asked the governor to squash the investigation.”
    “Bingo.”
    “Shit.” Valentine’s eyes shifted to the ruler-straight highway. It resembled a tunnel, the desert scenery compressed. If he left Las Vegas, George Scalzo won, and Valentine wasn’t going to let that happen. He had never run away from a fight in his life.
    “What if you could prove there
was
cheating at the tournament? Would the governor let the investigation continue?”
    “He’d have to,” Bill said.
    “Would you keep me on the job?”
    “Of course I’d keep you on the job.”
    From his jacket pocket Valentine removed the Silly Putty and paper clip he’d discovered in Celebrity’s poker room the night before. Sticking the Silly Putty on the dashboard, he plunged the paper clip into it like a flag.
    “I didn’t know you were into toy figures,” Bill said.
    “They help pass the time,” Valentine said. “Guess what this one is.”
    Bill stared at the dashboard. “A bug?”
    “That’s right. Rufus Steele found it stuck beneath a table in Celebrity’s poker room last night. There’s a mucker scamming the tournament.”
    The Volvo slowed so they were actually doing the speed limit. Bill removed the bug from the dash and held it in his hand.
    “Skip DeMarco?” he asked.
    “No, it’s someone else. The folks running the World Poker Showdown should be watching for stuff like this, considering there’s already been one allegation of foul play. But they’re not. They’re running a loose ship.”
    Bill frowned. He had joined the Nevada Gaming Control Board twenty-five years ago, and had spent much of that time changing Las Vegas’s image from a mob-run town to a family-friendly destination. One bad incident could change that overnight.
    “Are you suggesting I ask the governor to stop the tournament?” Bill asked.
    “No. Tell him you want him to keep the tournament going so you can nail the mucker, and show everyone that Vegas doesn’t tolerate cheating. It would be good for business, and there will also be another benefit.”
    “Which is?”
    “While we’re catching the mucker, we can scrutinize DeMarco’s play, and figure out what the hell he’s doing.”
    “What about Scalzo? I’d bet my paycheck he’s going to hire another hitman to whack you.”
    “I’ve got a bodyguard, remember? Rufus cracks a mean bullwhip.”
    “Be serious.”
    Valentine
was
being serious. The truth was, Scalzo was afraid of him. That gave him the upper hand, and he planned to take full advantage of it.
    “I’ll deal with Scalzo,” he said.

12
    “D etective Davis wasn’t seriously hurt,” the doctor at the Atlantic City Medical Center emergency room told Gerry. “He landed on a piece of glass on the