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“I can get past the guard,” Snuggy said. “I can be real sneaky when it comes to people. I have this thing. Take your eyes off me, and I disappear.”
“I hear leprechauns can do that,” Lula said.
“Exactly!” Snuggy said to her.
Diesel looked down at Snuggy. “You don’t disappear. You have a knack for knowing when people are distracted.”
“I’m almost positive I disappear,” Snuggy said.
“If you’re wrong, the Marines are gonna cut your balls off,” Lula told him.
“I’d hate that,” Snuggy said. “I’m attached to my balls.”
Diesel scanned the lobby and looked beyond it into the gaming area. “I wish Briggs would show up.”
I dialed Briggs, and we all waited while his phone rang. Fin
ally, his service kicked in.
“Call me!” I said. “Now.”
“Let’s assume you can actually get past the guard,” Diesel said to Snuggy. “Can you open the locked door to the safety deposit box room and get into the box?”
“Piece of cake. Problem is, I’ll get caught by the security cameras. For some reason, television picks up my image.”
“I can scramble the television,” Diesel said, “but you can’t waste time once you’re out of the elevator. You’ll only have a couple minutes before they send someone to investigate.”
“I can do it,” Snuggy said. “Doug is depending on me.”
My phone rang, and I snatched it out of my pocket, hoping it was Briggs.
“Plum?”
It was Lou Delvina. Easy to recognize his croaky voice.
“You better be on the road with my money,” Delvina said.
“Not yet, but I’m working on it.”
“You have until three o’clock. First, I kill the horse, and then the old lady. And then I’ll come get you. Or maybe I should go for your mother next. Or your sister. Or even better, one of your little nieces.”
Delvina disconnected, and Diesel wrapped an arm around me. “Are you okay? Your face just went white.”
“We need to get Delvina his money.”
Diesel looked over at the registration desk and then at Snuggy. “I know I’m going to regret this,” Diesel said.
“How do you want to do it?” Snuggy asked. “Do you want me to just slip behind the desk and go to the elevator?”
“No. I need to go to the elevator with you. That means I need a diversion, so we’re going to play some slots.”
Ten minutes later, Lula had a bucket filled with quarters and nickels.
“I love when they have nickel slots,” Lula said, two arms around the bucket. “I like seeing all that money drop into the tray. It don’t matter that you only won eight dollars. It’s the experience of the money coming out at you that counts. And I can’t believe how lucky we were. I never was able to fill a bucket like this.”
I cut my eyes to Diesel.
“I’m a lucky kind of guy,” Diesel said.
