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Brenny Loomis locked eyes with Joe “I’ll call your est a nice dark suit for your coffin”

Loo partner for Mean Mo Mullins, was said to have a punch like a bag of cue balls He killed people for Albert White Not for a living, exclusively, but rumor was he wanted Albert to know, should it ever become a full-time position, he had seniority

Joe had never experienced fear like he did looking into Looun nonetheless, quite surprised that his hand didn’t shake Brendan Looot on his knees Once he did, the others did the same

Joe said to the girl, “Come over here, miss We won’t harm you”

She stubbed out her cigarette and looked at hi another, irl near his own age, maybe twenty or so, inter eyes and skin so pale he could alh it to the blood and tissue underneath

He watched her come as the Bartolo brothers relieved the cardplayers of their weapons The pistols made heavy thumps as they tossed theirl didn’t even flinch In her eyes, firelights danced behind the gray

She stepped up to his gun and said, “And ill the gentle?”

Joe handed her one of the two canvas sacks he’d carried in “The money on the table, please”

“Coht up, sir”

As she crossed back to the table, he pulled one pair of handcuffs from the other sack, then tossed the sack to Paolo Paolo bent by the first cardplayer and handcuffed his wrists at the small of his back, then moved on to the next

The girl swept the pot off the center of the table—Joe noting not just bills but watches and jewelry in there too—then gathered up everyone’s stakes Paolo finished cuffing thethem

Joe scanned the rooainst the wall under the stairs He counted three blackjack tables and one baccarat table Six slot machines took up the rear wall A low table with a dozen phones on top constituted the wire service, a board behind it listing the horses froht’s twelfth race at Readville The only other door besides the one they’d coh was chalk-marked with a T for toilet, which made sense, because people had to piss when they drank

Except that when Joe had coh the bar, he’d seen two bathrooms, which would certainly suffice And this bathroom had a padlock on it

He looked over at Brenny Loo the wheels turn in Joe’s head Joe watched the wheels in Loo And he knehat he’d known the moment he saw that padlock—the bathroom wasn’t a bathroom

It was the counting room

Albert White’s counting room

Judging by the business Hickey casinos had done the past two days—the first chilly weekend of October—Joe suspected a small fortune sat behind that door

Albert White’s small fortune

The girl ca “Your dessert, sir,” she said and handed hiaze was She didn’t just stare at hih him He was certain she could see his face behind the handkerchief and the low hat Soarettes, hear her yell, “That’s him!” He wouldn’t even have time to close his eyes before the bullets hit him