Free Chance by Robert B. Parker Page A

banked with windows, the decor was multicolored southwestern mixed with Catskills. The woodwork was dark. The living room was bigger than my apartment in Boston, with a bar, a huge walnut armoire concealing a television, two red couches, four blue armchairs, a large round dining room table finished in black, and six black dining room chairs. There was pottery and there were paintings and there was beige wall-to-wall carpeting. I went across the room and opened the curtains. The volcano was there as promised. Not, at the moment, erupting. But if I were patient… the doorbell rang, and Susan let the bellhop in with the luggage. He put the bags in the bedroom. I tipped him. He left.
    Susan picked up a printed card off the bar.
    "
    "Dear V.I.P Guest,"
    " she read. "
    "Welcome to our V.I.P Level.
    Please call the V.I.P office with any requests you may have. We are at your service twenty-four hours a day."
    " "That's us," I said.
    "V.I.P guests."
    "On the V.I.P Level," Susan said.
    "Is it because you are a famous detective?"
    "No. Hawk knows somebody here that owes him something."
    "Are we paying for this?"
    "I don't think so."
    Susan went into the bedroom. In a moment I heard her say, "Oh, oh."
    I looked in. The bags were open on a black king-sized bed big enough for pony races, and the ceiling was mirrored.
    "Oh? Oh?" I said.
    "The mirrored ceiling," Susan said.
    "I'll shut my eyes," I said.
    "You'll pretend to," Susan said.
    "You can watch too," I said.
    "I'd rather go dancing with Howard Stern," Susan said.
    "Oh come on," I said.
    "It's not that bad to see."
    "And I am desperately oversexed," Susan said.
    "Yes you are."
    "And it's probably better than watching the volcano," Susan said.
    "Yes it is."
    "So." Susan shrugged, her eyes gleaming.
    "So?"
    "So peekaboo," she said.

CHAPTER 15
    Vegas is not a big town, but if you want to gamble there, they have lots of places to do it. All we had for a plan was to cruise the casinos until Anthony appeared.
    "And if he doesn't appear?" Susan said.
    I shrugged.
    "Then we assume he's not here, and we look for him someplace else."
    "Maybe he's in New York," Susan said, "hiding out at Bergdorf's."
    We were at breakfast, sitting in a grotto of tropical vegetation, some of which was real, at the rim of the casino, soothed by the permanent harmonics of the slot machines which, when you're in Vegas, becomes like the music of the spheres.
    "Susan and I will go north on the Strip," I said to Hawk.
    "You go south."
    "What about all the joints off the Strip?" Hawk said.
    "If he's the guy I think he is, he'll be in one of the big casinos.
    Here, Caesars, MGM Grand, that kind of place. What I gather, he's got something to prove."
    "You gonna break the bank, you don't want to do it in some Motel Six in Laughlin," Hawk said.
    I nodded.
    "So first we hit the biggest and gaudiest. He's got a system. So we start with the blackjack tables. Could be something else, but most guys with systems play blackjack."
    "Can a system win?" Susan said.
    "Over a long time," I said.
    "Like most things it depends some on the guy using the system. In some places, for instance, you can surrender early dealer shows a ten card and you don't like your first two you can turn them back to the dealer and forfeit half your bet. Gives you a quarter of a percent edge on the house."
    "My God, that's not very much return on your investment."
    "About a quarter for every hundred you play. But it's sort of illustrative. There are things that will give the player a positive edge. Most systems have to do with card counting; they can work if you play enough."
    "How long is enough?" She was eating half a papaya with some lime squeezed on it. She had cut a small wedge off one end and picked it up and took a small bite. Even when she ate with her fingers, she seemed entirely delicate and proper. After I ate, I always looked like I'd been in a food fight.
    "Two, three hundred hours," Hawk said.
    Susan looked at him with horror.
    "Two or three