The Poker King Returns novel · Chapter 22 of 24

Chapter 22: The Case

"Don't," Cade said.

He did not raise his voice.

Kray's hand stopped an inch above the black lid.

"I need my pen from the case," Kray said smoothly. "I'm entitled to my pen."

"Leave the case alone, Desmond."

"This is a ridiculous scene."

"Then you won't mind if the room sees what's in it."

Kray laughed, and nobody laughed with him.

Cade stood up.

He put both hands flat on the walnut table and looked at the man across from him for the first time that night.

"Three years ago I carried a box to a prosecutor," he said. "You told a judge it had no chain of custody.

"You were right. It didn't.

"This one has a chain, and every link of it is standing in this room."

He turned to the crowd.

"Bea?"

Bea stepped up to the rail with her phone in her hand.

"Wednesday, seven fifteen at night," she said. "Floor manager opens Mr. Kray's chip case for the count, with me filming. Put it on the screen."

The young man with the phone on a stick looked at the tour director, and then at me.

I nodded.

He plugged Bea's phone into his cable, and the screen above the Roost bar went white.

Then it filled with my own hands, lifting out the fourth tray.

The hush in the Wren was absolute.

On the screen, the foam lifted.

A flat black box lay in its hollow, taped down, with a cable running up to the silver clasp.

Someone near the stairs said, "Oh my God."

Kray had gone the color of paper.

"That was planted," he said. "The girl was alone with my property for hours."

"I wasn't alone for one minute," I said. "Bea was with me. The cage camera was on. The time's in the corner."

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