Raylan_ A Novel - Elmore Leonard [61]
“She gets square with you,” Raylan said, “then what? She gives herself up?”
“She be picked up before too long, way before she gets to Vegas. Understand, Jackie wants to play her way to the Poker World Series. See, but once you spot Jackie at a table anywhere, you look twice. You might even watch her play for a while, wonderin who she is. Jackie won’t get anywhere near Vegas.”
Raylan said, “She’s not one of the girls in the bank tapes, I know that.”
“I bet they chicks can’t pay the rent,” Reno said, “and will die for some blow. I think a dude’s usin them for his needs. They not chicks’d think of banks, they too loose. Any time now they gonna walk out and see policemen waitin behind cars holding guns. See, not one of those girls has Jackie’s way of movin. The cops find out they don’t have her and act surprised. ‘Man, the girl sure looked like her.’ All the time Jackie’s at a table someplace peekin at her hole cards.”
“You don’t think she’ll give herself up.”
“She won’t have to,” Reno said, “she’ll get picked up on the warrant and brought back here. I get one of my lawyer buddies, I doubt she does any time. Jackie don’t have a record of any kind, knows how to act polite.”
“You don’t walk on a fugitive warrant,” Raylan said. “They got the stuff on you. What you have to do is find her, get her to come in before she’s picked up. She tells her story and might only get a year or so probation.”
“You want you could help me out,” Reno said. “You the one knows how to find people.”
“I’m giving you a break,” Raylan said. “I find her before you do, she’s under arrest.”
Chapter Twenty-five
Harry took her to the races at Keeneland and sat at his table in the Blue Grass Room: Jackie having crab legs and a Guinness, Harry, a pair of lobster tails and a double whiskey collins, while they watched the races on a rainy day, staring at the giant screen. Harry had won close to five thousand betting across the board on most races. Jackie wasn’t that interested in picking horses. She made side bets with Harry and took him for half of what he’d won. Harry said, “I’m getting an idea how you win at poker. You don’t bet your hand, you bet on the serious guys at the table folding.”
Jackie said, “What’s the difference?”
She was looking past Harry, seeing a woman with teased blond hair, cool in dark shades of designer sportswear, and a guy following her through the dining room, trying to keep up in his tan suit that looked like a uniform. Closing in, the woman was looking at Jackie, not smiling until she turned to Harry and said, “Carol Conlan, Harry,” placing a hand on his shoulder, a wide porcelain bracelet slipping on her wrist, “how’re you doing?”
Holding his drink Harry took time to come around enough to look up at Carol telling him, “The last time I saw you was the day you won the Maker’s Mark. Remember?”
“Running Black Boy,” Harry said, “I won three hundred thousand off that stud.”
“What I meant,” Carol said, sounding pouty now, “you do remember I was here?” Smiling now to show the pout was for fun.
“Yeah, Cuba and I did our routine and I sat down at your table. But hey, I want you to meet Jackie Nevada, my guest.”
Jackie watched Carol raise her eyebrows and say, “Really,” surprised for a moment.
“I want you to know,” Harry said, “I have a keen interest in this little girl.”
“Sounds like fun,” Carol said.
Harry said, “Guess what she does.”
Carol took a moment. “She’s a jockey?”
“You aren’t even close.”
“But she has something to do with horses,” Carol said. “She whispers in their ears and they nod their heads?”
“She’s got nothing to do with horses. Jackie’s out in the world associating with people.”
“She’s an exotic dancer,” Carol said.
Jackie smiled and looked at the guy in