The Good Thief's Guide to Vegas by Chris Ewan

a casino cheat to jelly.
    ‘What’s their story?’
    ‘How’s that?’ Ricks asked. He had occupied himself with the items Victoria had emptied out of her handbag. He undid her compact and checked beneath the circular foam pad, then unscrewed her lipstick and searched inside the lid. Victoria tutted loudly, but he ignored her.
    ‘The Fisher Twins,’ I went on. ‘They look too young to own a casino.’
    ‘Internet.’
    ‘Excuse me?’
    Ricks lifted Victoria’s purse and prodded his finger inside the zipped compartments. When he failed to find anything of interest, he cast the purse aside and did the same with her handbag.
    ‘Made it big in Silicon Valley. Forget millionaires. These guys have more money than Elvis.’
    Finally, Ricks grew bored of Victoria’s handbag and his hand settled upon her passport. He flipped to the laminated back page and lifted his pen to begin jotting down her details. His eyebrows jerked up a fraction and a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.
    ‘Newbury, huh?’
    Victoria lunged forward and snatched her passport from his hands. She began to re-fill her handbag.
    ‘Used to know a Brit by the name of Newbury.’
    ‘Fascinating,’ Victoria said, gathering her lipstick and compact together.
    ‘Alfred Newbury. He a relation of yours?’
    ‘I very much doubt it.’
    ‘I guess I could check my records.’
    ‘I’m sure that whatever you choose to do with your time is no business of mine. Now, may I go?’
    Ricks pursed his lips and shook his head. ‘Not my call.’
    ‘Listen,’ I told him. ‘Victoria wasn’t involved in any of this. She didn’t know what was going on.’
    ‘Tell it to them.’
    And with that, Ricks closed his cardboard folder, stood up from the table, gestured with his pen through the tinted glass window at the Fisher Twins, and left us alone in the room.
    ‘I can’t believe you,’ Victoria hissed, as soon as the door had clicked shut behind him. ‘We haven’t even been here a day.’
    ‘Careful. This room’s probably bugged.’
    She tensed her jaw and tightened her hands into fists. I could see her nails digging into the flesh of her palms.
    ‘I’m so angry with you right now, Charlie. I can barely even look at you.’
    ‘If it’s any consolation, I’m not having the best of evenings myself.’
    ‘It’s no consolation whatsoever.’
    ‘I was afraid you might say that.’
    Gingerly, I slid back the chair alongside her and sat myself down. If there was anything to be thankful for, it was that I had a few moments to think. Unfortunately, I couldn’t decide what I should be thinking about. The whereabouts of Josh Masters? The plight of his unfortunate assistant? The casino chips that I’d so recently forfeited?
    As it turned out, I didn’t focus on any of them, because I was distracted by what was happening next door. The croupier was pleading, red-faced, with spittle flying from his lips, but the twins appeared completely unmoved. I couldn’t hear a word of what was being said, and I figured that was because the walls and the tinted glass had been soundproofed. I can’t say it was an altogether comforting realisation.
    ‘You have much planned for the rest of the night?’ I asked Victoria.
    She groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose, as if she was suffering from a migraine.
    ‘Oh, lighten up,’ I told her. ‘I’ve been in police cells a lot longer than this. And we’ve given them what they were after. They have their precious casino chips.’
    ‘They have some chips, Charlie. Not all. And since they seem to think we’re both involved in a casino scam, I’d say they’re not going to let us leave anytime soon.’
    ‘Sure they will. There’s nothing more we can give them.’
    ‘I don’t imagine they’ll see it that way.’
    ‘Wanna bet?’
    Let me just say, the glare I received was hands-down the most ferocious I’ve ever known.
    ‘Trust me,’ I told her. ‘We’ll be fine.’
    But of course we weren’t fine. We were a