Never Play Another Man's Game Read Online Free Page B

jump.
    â€œIt’s my son. He needs the money.”
    â€œTell me everything,” I said.
    â€œHe’s into some people for a lot of money.”
    â€œGambling?” I asked.
    Ruby looked at the floor and nodded. “Poker.” She was ashamed that her son had inherited her vice.
    â€œHow much?”
    Ruby shook her head. “Just under a hundred. He doesn’t have the money and neither do I. I already paid his debts once. The cancer took care of what I had left. I don’t have a drug plan and the medicine that makes me look so goddamn ravishing isn’t free. I’m pretty much down to the house and a few wigs.”
    Her kid being in debt made the whole deal even worse. People who owe big to bad people do stupid, unpredictable shit. Worse, you already know they’re a liability because smart people don’t get in over their heads with loan sharks.
    â€œSo, he’s in deep and you’re cleaned out. His solution is to knock over an armoured car.”
    Ruby nodded. “I know it seems like a bad idea, but he’s desperate. The money is there and he’s going to do the job no matter what. I can’t stop my son; I lost control of him years ago. That’s why I gave him money the first time. I didn’t want him to get into more trouble, and I felt responsible. It was my fault he started gambling in the first place. I tried to talk him out of robbing the armoured car, but he won’t listen. I thought if I could get someone involved, someone like you, who knows what he’s doing, then maybe you could make it work. Make it so my son doesn’t go to jail, or worse.”
    â€œIt’s got bad written all over it, Ruby. You’ve got a stake in it, but me — I’m not signing on for your kid.”
    â€œI can pay you to help plan the job. Like a consultant.”
    â€œPay me how, Ruby? You said yourself that you don’t have any money, and I don’t have any faith in your boy being able to pay me after he does the job. Just let it go. Forget about me and start putting all your energy into talking your boy out of doing this job.”
    I got up and threw a five-dollar tip down on the table. If Ruby was as hard up as she said, she could steal it before she left.
    â€œBye, Ruby.”
    I got to the door when I felt a hand on my arm. Ruby had a hell of a grip for a woman sick with cancer.
    â€œI can give you the house.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI read the paper. I remember that house, Wilson. I know what happened. I can replace what you lost. I can give you my house when I die. If you plan the job, you can have it. He gets the money, maybe, but you for sure get the house.”
    â€œWhy not sell it and give the money to your son?”
    â€œHe doesn’t have time to wait for the house to sell. In this market, in that location, a sale would take months. He needs the money now.”
    I thought about the house. I didn’t know much about real estate, but I knew the house was worth well over a hundred grand — a hell of a payday for a consultant. That was if I sold it; the house was worth more to me as a place to live. A place, if I did the right paperwork, that would never have my real name attached to it.
    â€œTell your son I want to follow the truck around on its delivery route. He needs to be along for the ride. Have him get a hold of me tonight on the cell I gave you.”
    Ruby brightened. “Thank you, Wilson. Thank you.”
    She hugged me tight and I felt how frail she was under her clothes.
    â€œWhat’s his name?” I said as I backed out of the hug.
    â€œRick. I named him Rick.”
    She looked at me funny when she said it, like we were sharing an inside joke.
    â€œAfter my uncle?” I asked.
    â€œAfter his father,” she said.

CHAPTER FIVE
    T he phone rang at nine thirty. I was sitting in a folding chair in my apartment watching an all-news channel while I cleaned my Glock, both chair