Read Online Double Strike (A Davis Way Crime Caper Book 3) by Gretchen Archer - Free Book Online

casino later, honey. Right now I need to take a power nap.” She wobbled up. “Let’s bounce.” She shuffled in the direction of the main aisle that led to the casino entrance. I snatched her good luck charms off the Diamond Doozy slot machine and caught up with her, just in time to stop dead in my tracks. At a blackjack table to my right, sitting at third base, was my coworker, Baylor, hiding under a Braves baseball cap and sunglasses. Beside him, on second, under a Center for Disease Control hat and silver reflective Costa Del Mars, was none other than fifteen-year-old Thomas Sanders. Chewing on a toothpick. Tossing out hundred-dollar chips.
    I snuck up between them. “Never split tens.” I grabbed Little Sanders by the ear and dragged his happy ass out.

FIVE

      
    No Hair paced in a threatening way. He planted each foot slowly and deliberately, like he was rubbing out a scorpion with every step. He tapped his chin, occasionally studying us, and when he turned to pace the other way, I could see the bulge of the butt of his gun beneath the fabric of his jacket stretched across his wide back.
    “Let’s see if I’ve got this straight.”
    Baylor, Little Sanders, and I were lined up on one of the sofas in our basement office. The one at the receiving end of No Hair’s wrath.
    “You.” (Baylor.) “Are supposed to be taking care of Thomas.”
    We all heard Baylor swallow.
    “Do you need to be reminded there are surveillance cameras in the casino? Five dedicated cameras trained directly on every single blackjack table? Recording everything?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Yes, what? You need to be reminded?”
    “No. I remember. I knew. I know. I didn’t know there were five cameras, but—”
    I leaned past Little Sanders. “Baylor, shut up already. The whole thing is rhetorical. Sit there and take it like a man.”
    No Hair turned on me. “I’ll get to you in a minute.”
    I zipped my lips.
    “And are you aware, Baylor,” No Hair was fists on hips, “that it is against the law for a minor to even be in the casino unless accompanied by security and passing through?”
    “He was accompanied by security,” Baylor said. “I’m security.”
    “You were.” No Hair let that sink in a minute before he moved over a spot. “And you, young man.”
    “Dude.”
    No Hair inhaled sharply.
    “If the Gaming Commission, who happens to be crawling all over this place at the moment, caught you in the casino, they’d close the doors. The fines would be through the roof, which you might remember has a big hole in it right now, and not only would your father be extremely disappointed in you, he’d probably fire Baylor.” He cut his eyes back to Baylor. “Not that I’m not going to.”
    Baylor assumed a fetal position.
    (No, he didn’t.)
    “And you.” (Me.) “Somehow managed to get fired before the job even started.”
    I shrugged. “That guy’s a real hard ass, No Hair.”
    “Yeah? So am I.”
    “Baylor.” No Hair whipped around. “You get the waitress job for Strike it Rich.”
    Baylor’s eyes popped. I snickered. Thomas said, “Dude.”
    “Get to uniform distribution, get yourself fitted for a uniform, and I hope it’s the most ridiculous, humiliating getup you’ve never even dreamed of,” No Hair said. “Then go sit through orientation for the rest of the day.”
    Baylor whimpered. I snickered. Thomas said, “Dude.”
    “You.” (Dude.) “Get upstairs with your father. Grab a book or a laptop or just sit quietly in the corner.” Little Sanders’s left leg started going a mile a minute. “Spend an afternoon seeing what your father deals with all day every day and see if you can’t drum up a little respect for how much is at stake here.”
    “And you.” It was my turn. “You’re the new Social Media assistant. You’ll be working with Elzbath. Get ready to do twitters.”
    Oh, no. Hashtag, no. No, no, no.
    “MOVE.”
      
    *     *     *
      
    “You’ve reached the Wilcox County