Wyatt - 06 - The Fallout Read Free Page B

twenty-five
years older than the girlfriend.

    Now there was a sight for sore eyes.
Allie Roden had thick auburn hair like flames around a finely boned face, a
kind of slow deep consuming fire in her green eyes, white skin, a beautiful
shape, a readiness to toss back her head and laugh aloud. When she did that,
Raymond wanted to bite her throat.

    She came around the table while the
croupier was making ready for the next spin of the wheel. Raymond felt her hand
touch his wrist briefly, smelt hera hint of plain soap and talcas her lips
brushed his ear and she murmured, Lets have a drink when youre ready.

    Raymond didnt take his eyes away
from the croupiers hands. He nodded, sensed Allie step back, her fingers
brushing his shoulder. When next he looked, she was standing behind Vallance.
They both looked keenly at him and Vallance flashed a grin.

    Raymond played on, losing, winning,
pushing chips onto the board, pulling them toward him. Then he won five grand
on one play and that was his signal to stop and have a drink with Vallance and
Vallances woman. He raised an eyebrow, inclined his head, and left the table.

    That was a daring play, Allie
said, coming around the table and winding her slim hand into the crook of his
arm.

    He liked the bouncy quality of her
affection and generosity. No-one minded, least of all Vallance. Vallance wasnt
possessive or jealous. Raymond couldnt see what she saw in him, though. There
was the age factor, the hint of weakness in the man, her own energy and
enthusiasm. She deserved better.

    You win some, you lose some,
Raymond said.

    Vallance, at his other elbow as they
walked to a secluded table in the lounge, said, You win more often than you
lose, Ray. Ive been watching. Its a real education. Youre careful. Youre
not a man to throw his money away.

    Raymond played that coolly. He wasnt
about to tell Vallance that hed borrowed ten grand from his fence, the lawyer
Chaffey, meaning that the five grand hed just won was no longer his. With any
luck, Chaffey would allow him a further five for the travellers cheques and
wipe out the debt completely.

    They sat down, ordered champagne to
celebrate. The talk circled around money and expert and inexpert gambling play.
It emerged that Raymond was independently wealthy, from a good family, and
gambled because he liked it. I can take it or leave it, though, he said. He
was no mug. Nothing desperate or pathetic about Raymond Wyatt.

    They talked, they ordered a bottle
next time, Dom Perignon, Raymond forking out the best part of two hundred bucks
for it. And then, unmistakably, Allies shoeless foot scratched his ankle and
he felt the hot press of her thigh as she reached across him for the bottle.
For the first time, Raymond thought that with a bit of skilful manoeuvring on
his part he could extricate her from Vallance.

    They relaxed, and into the warm glow
of the endless nightit could have been a bright spring day outside for all
Raymond knew or caredVallance slid a tin of shoe polish across the table. Take
a gander inside that, young Raymond.

    The tin felt hefty in Raymonds
hand. If it was shoe polish, it was very dense. He shook the tin and something
shifted within it, a sense of heaviness and solidity transmitting itself to his
fingers.

    Go on, it wont blow up on you.

    Raymond pressed where it said press
and the lid popped open. He lifted it off, stared in and saw what accounted for
the heaviness and the bulk.

    Gold guinea, dated 1799, Vallance
said. Silver florin, too worn by saltwater corrosion to establish the date but
roughly the same vintage. Spanish silver dollar, dated 1810, and the one with
the hole in it is a holey dollar, scarce as hens teeth.

    He paused. Ive got an airlines bag
full of similar stuff at home. Whats more, Im the only man alive who knows
where the rest is buried.

    Something stirred in Raymond, a kind
of hunger, a hazy dream of adventure on the high seas, flintlock pistols and
treasure chests. He looked up at Vallance