Mississippi Raider (18 page)

“
Only
to somebody who knows you as well as I do. So what is
it?”

“
I’ve
seen somebody I know and I think she may have recognized
me.”

“
Hm!’
Brambile breathed noncommittally, and although there was no
difference in his face or manner, Belle sensed an air of controlled
tension. “Is she a friend, or going by the way you looked likely to
prove an enemy?”

“
More
of an acquaintance,” the girl admitted, thinking of the night she
and the redhead put on what they turned into only a pretense at
fighting. Then she gave a shrug and went on, “Well she hasn’t done
anything yet and I may be wrong about her recognizing me, so we may
as well see if we can do what we came here for.”

“
I
don’t know about
you, but I believe we should steer clear of her for the time
being,” Joseph Brambile decided sotto voce, glancing at the
attractive redheaded woman whom his companion contrived to indicate
while prattling on in a louder tone about the way in which the
bubbles from the glass of champagne she had been given were
tickling her nose. “Let her make the first move, if there is going
to be one.”

“
I
agree,” Belle Boyd answered, dropping her voice and giving the
appearance of nibbling at the gambler’s ear in a flirtatious
fashion. “But I hope there won’t be one that could interfere with
our plans, because I rather got to
like
her.”

“
Come,
Maggie-dear!” Brambile boomed rather than just said, as befitted
his well-performed impersonation of Colonel Ebediah F. Culpepper
the Third, wondering how the acquaintanceship had occurred, as the
curvaceously close-to-buxom redhead—regardless of being expensively
dressed and bejeweled—did not strike him as belonging to the social
circles in which his companion mingled before the murder of her
parents. In fact, she struck him as being a financially successful
“lady of the night” indulging in a passion for gambling while
possibly hoping to be brought into contact with a wealthy customer.
Another solution could be that she was a shill for the house,
intended to encourage others to bet on various games, but he did
not consider this likely or she would have found some way of
warning her employers that Belle and he were not what they were
pretending to be. He extricated himself from the girl’s arm and
placed his empty glass on the tray of a passing colored servant,
who had paused to accept the one she had contrived to drain while
engaging in the low-spoken, flirtatious, yet seemingly innocuous
conversation. “Let us away and see whereabouts we shall acquire the
wherewithal for the little present I promised you.”

Although scrupulously honest
himself, Brambile had considered it imperative that he acquire very
thorough information about the methods employed by professional
cheats. Having faith in his ability where such things were
concerned, he was convinced that he could detect any malpractices
that were being employed by the staff of the gambling house
operated by Martin Jacques and David Hunt. As he had told Colonel
Charles Jeremiah Mason when summoned to help discover whether the
suspicions regarding the way in which the gambling house was being
used to help the Union
’s cause were correct, he had never heard of the
pair but believed he might be able to provide proof if any existed.
He had not anticipated being given the assistance of the beautiful
and clearly most competent daughter of his old friends Electra and
Vincent Boyd, but had soon become satisfied that her presence would
be an asset. What was more, going by all he had heard when she was
not present from Captain Alexandre Dartagnan and the little Cockney
criminal who clearly revered her, he felt sure she would be far
from a burden in need of his protection if trouble should
occur.

Memories of how Belle had been
prominent in the amateur theatricals often forming part of the
entertainment at Baton Royale Manor when he was visiting there and
stood out from most of the other performers by virtue of her
ability to inject every role she was assigned with realism, the
gambler had felt sure she would prove beneficial to him at the
gambling house, and that was the reason he had been adamant in the
face of Ole Dixie
’s opposition. Nor had he had any reason to regret the
choice since they arrived. As they started to walk across the big
room toward a table where draw poker was being played, watching the
way she continued to behave in the manner of somebody with the
personality she was giving to her alter ego Magnolia Beauregard, he
felt there were professional actresses as well as female
participants in confidence tricks and others seeking to lure
gullible males by a pretense of featherbrained irresponsibility who
could not have bettered her performance.

Feeling certain that there
would be nothing he could achieve at any of the tables where poker
was the game, Brambile took advantage of the way in which the
girl
’s
deliberately frivolous chatter was continued to such effect that
even the younger players—who at other times would probably have
shown an interest in her all too openly flaunted physical
attributes—directed glances of annoyance her way. Acting in
accordance with the instructions she had received, her declaration
that she would sit next to him so she could bring him good fortune
by kissing the cards he was dealt—which he had told her was
anathema to all dedicated aficionados of the game when carried out
by kibitzing members of her sex—aroused the hostility to a point
where he used it as an excuse for them to move on with a gesture of
what appeared to be apology for her conduct from him.

While Belle and Brambile continued the
circuit of the various games of chance being played, in addition to
maintaining the convincing rendering of her part as his
far-less-than-intelligent mistress, she kept darting surreptitious
glances at the red-haired woman she knew as Roxanne
Fortescue-Smethers, who gave the appearance of not being
accompanied by anybody else. What the girl noticed did nothing to
relieve her concern over what the outcome of the chance encounter
might be. On more than one occasion, she found that she was
receiving a similar covert scrutiny that was brought to an end as
soon as her own gaze was detected. Deciding that the wisest thing
for her to do was to follow the suggestion from her companion, she
put the matter from her mind and concentrated upon the work they
were in the gambling house to do.

When explaining to Belle what
the plan was, because of his expert reading of the possible
situation, Brambile had said that he considered his best chance of
detecting any malpractices would be at one of the games supervised
for the house by a banker. Therefore, knowing it would be expected
of Colonel Culpepper, he had done no more than look briefly at the
poker games, even though they were being controlled by a dealer who
took a percentage of each pot for the running expenses instead of
allowing the handling of the cards to be done by the players.
Because of this, his knowledge of how dishonest gambling houses
operated caused him to assume that there would be no need of
cheating tactics for a continuous profit to be made that more than
covered the financial outlay involved, since no layout upon which
various bets could be made
was required and only one man was needed to run
things. Furthermore, even if there were other employees present in
the guise of players, he knew exposing them would not be so useful
for his purposes as elsewhere.

Having similar feelings where the few games
of whist were being engaged upon by elderly men—most of whom were
senior officers in the Army and Navy—the gambler had had no
intention of participating. Therefore, when he was offered a place
by a ruddy-faced admiral of advanced years and the remaining
players gave indications of expecting him to accept it, Belle
provided him with an excuse to decline by producing what in
theatrical terms was a piece of brilliant ad-libbing.

“
Why,
you go right ahead, Third-honey,” the girl said, and waved her
right hand languidly toward where a number of younger men, civilian
and military, were noisily playing a less demanding type of game.
“I’ll just go and
entertain
myself over there at the birdcage.”

“
Thank
you for your offer, sir,” Brambile said, showing no sign of the
delight he felt over the response from Belle. Rather, he darted a
frown redolent of annoyance from her to the young players and back
before continuing, “And my apologies for declining, gentlemen, but
my inclinations are directed elsewhere tonight.”

“
Did I
do the right thing?” the girl inquired in another of the whispers
disguised as flirtatious behavior while walking away, followed by
knowing glances and winks on the part of the men at the whist table
that implied the required inferences behind the refusal were being
drawn.

“
You
know you did, you little minx,” the gambler growled, still
continuing the pretense of being annoyed over her hint at being
willing—even eager—to spend time in company younger than he. “So
stop fishing for compliments and keep keeping your eye on your
red-haired friend.”

“
I
wish I could work out what she’s here for, because I’m certain it
isn’t just out of a love for gambling, and although she’s alone as
far as I can see, she looks far better off than I would expect her
to be,” Belle said in the low voice, then raised it to a point
where it could be heard by everybody close by and even farther
away. “When are
we
going to start playing, Third-honey?” She paused before
going on archly, “At
gambling,
I mean, of course. And I don’t mean at one of
those stuffy games where li’l ole me can’t join in.”

Still concealing his amusement
and satisfaction over the way in which the girl was playing her
part with such skill, Brambile did not bother to show any more
interest in the four tables given over to pinochle. He knew there
were ways of cheating at both this game and whist, but discounted
the possibility of any being employed on the same general grounds
that caused him to dismiss the games of poker. In fact, he believed
he would achieve his purpose by concentrating on the two kinds of
card games involving the use of a bank controlled by members of the
gambling house
’s staff.

Although the gambler knew there
had been no justification for the apparent concern he had shown
over the supposed interest
“Magnolia” had displayed in the game frequented by
the rowdy younger element, this had not caused him to rule it out.
Cheating by loading the three dice that were caused to turn over
and over in the rotating wire cage was sometimes practiced at
chuck-a-luck. However, the results that accrued could only be
attained over a long period, and there was always the danger that
more astute players would notice and take advantage of how certain
numbers kept showing up more frequently than others by placing bets
accordingly. With that in mind, knowing Jacques and Hunt would in
all probability follow the example of those who ran most other
dishonest gambling houses—by putting their reliance solely on the
most favorable percentages offered by the incorrect odds given for
the various types of wagers—it was to the bank-operated card games
that he intended to devote his attention. Having already made his
selection, he guided Belle toward the one upon which he intended to
concentrate.

A preference for faro rather
than a lack of knowledge where
chemin de fer
—which had been imported from
Europe—was concerned caused the gambler to select the table at
which the basically American game was being played for the highest
stakes. Following him, regardless of her “Magnolia” behavior
remaining in full flower by declaring loudly that she never could
stand that foreign game because of all the ciphering of numbers it
required, Belle felt a sensation of anticipation and not a little
excitement rising as she realized that they were approaching a spot
where he hoped to obtain evidence upon which he could make his
move. Without deserting her pose for a moment, she met another
brief glance from Roxanne without showing the slightest indication
of awareness that it was being made. Being vacated by two naval
lieutenants whose expressions suggested they were leaving in a
worse financial condition than when they had started to play, the
place to which her companion guided her was at the opposite end of
the long table where the redhead was now sitting.

Because her mother and father
had never been addicts of gambling, only mingling with a few people
such as Brambile who were, and then never indulging in games of
chance, the girl had only a basic idea of how faro was
played.
^xiii
Not that she had expected she would
have any need to do so at more than the level of a novice as
featherbrained as she was purporting to be. Brambile had told her
what part she was to play, and because of their simplicity, she
felt certain she could carry out his instructions. However, she had
also decided to add an embellishment as an experiment with one of
the devices given to her by Captain Anatol de-Farge. The ruse she
intended to employ was a test of whether the means she had devised
for its use would be practical under actual conditions.