The One Who Got Away

“Did you bring your cue?”

She shook her head. “Didn’t know if there’d be time.”

“Let’s make time.”

She took a bite of toast to hide her ridiculously happy grin. He liked pool. Excellent.

“So what else?” he asked. “Besides being a pool shark?”

“I ride my bike on weekends a lot.”

“You said you have a Shadow, right?”

She nodded.

“What got you into that?”

“A guy I went out with. He was kind of a dick, but he did turn me on to bikes. I got hooked immediately.”

“Not afraid you’ll get hit?”

“Nope, not really. I operate on the principle that everyone’s trying to kill me.”

He laughed, and she felt all squishy inside.

“What about you?”

“Yeah, I think people are trying to kill me, too.”

“No, I meant what you do. When you aren’t being a private eye.”

He frowned a little, two lines appearing on his forehead. “I read too much.”

“How can anyone read too much?”

“Trust me, it’s possible.”

“What kinds of books?”

“Everything.”

“I doubt that.”

He grinned. “Okay, so I’m not real big on romance novels. Or fantasy. But pretty much everything else.”

“Cool.”

“And I hike.”

“Where?”

“Wherever I can. I go out to the Catskills from time to time. And upstate New York. There are some nice places in Connecticut and Vermont, too.”

“How strenuous.”

“Have to be able to run. Remember, people trying to kill me and all that.”

She leaned forward. “Has anyone really?”

“Tried to kill me? Yep.”

“Oh, God.”

“They didn’t succeed.”

“Obviously. Why?”

“I was faster. From all the hiking.”

“No, why did they try to kill you?”

“I found out stuff they didn’t want known.”

“Scary.”

“Yeah. I try to avoid that kind of thing, but sometimes you get surprised.”

“That’s not the kind of surprise I like.”

“But you do like surprises?”

She nodded. “Love ’em. Especially when there are gifts involved.”

He laughed. “Hey, let’s finish up here. I’m starting to feel lucky.”

She quirked her head to the right, but he was busy with the check. She wondered if his idea of feeling lucky involved a locked door, a bedroom and getting naked.

4

THE CASINO WAS HOPPING, tourists and locals all focused on winning the big one, the one that would change their lives forever. Ben knew the odds of that happening were slim to none, but he didn’t care. He wanted to play, and to watch Taylor.

“You like blackjack?” he asked.

She nodded. “The last time I was here, I won two hundred dollars. I spent the whole wad on a pair of shoes that hurt my feet.”

He grinned, took her hand. “Let’s see if we can get another pair.” He led her past the machines, surprised as always at the silliness of the glorified tic-tac-toe slots: Little Green Aliens, The Beverly Hillbillies, Elvis and The Munsters, just to name a few. Then they hit the banks of video poker machines, which was a little more understandable, but still confusing. If he was going to play poker, he wanted to do it with other people, preferably in someone’s basement, with plenty of beer, sandwiches and good cigars.

Now blackjack, he liked. The only exception to that was when some obnoxious twit came to the table. He’d walk away before he’d play with a drunk who hit on seventeen, and doubled down on face cards.