The Poker King Returns novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Marked

On Wednesday the eighteenth, two of Kray's men carried a black chip case through the front doors of the Wren.

A third man followed with a wooden crate of sealed card decks on his shoulder.

They set both on the cage counter, and one of them dropped a typed sheet in front of me.

"Freeze-out terms," he said. "Mr. Kray's chips and Mr. Kray's cards, counted into your vault tonight."

"Mr. Kray's cards," I said.

"Tour rules."

"There aren't any tour rules at the Wren."

"Then take it up with Mr. Kray on Friday."

They left without waiting for an answer.

Bea locked the front doors behind them and came back across the carpet with her arms crossed.

"I've wanted to get my hands on that case since they walked in," she said.

Cade was already at the counter.

He had a plain white shirt on, and a pale, still look I knew by now.

He did not touch the crate.

He tipped his head toward the cage drawer.

"Bea. The counterfeit lamp."

"The little purple one?"

"Yes."

She went behind the grille and came back with a flat black pen light.

The cage clerks use it to check hundred-dollar bills for the watermark.

Cade took a sealed deck from the crate, with its cellophane still on, and laid it on the counter.

"I'm not breaking the wrapper," he said. "This stays exactly as Kray sent it."

He clicked the lamp on and held it over the deck.

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