James Swain - Gift sense

"Only W. C. Fields didn't like dogs," Nick said, flexing his arm as the doctor tried to apply a bandage.

"It was self-defense."

"Me, I love animals. Sherry says she has a dog, I say, 'Bring it over.' Dog comes into the house, sniffs my leg, I bend down to pet it, suddenly the little monster attacks me."

"You let her move in?" Valentine asked, unable to hide his astonishment at Nick's lack of judgment.

"No! I invited her over for some sex and a little dinner," Nick said, feigning innocence. "The next thing I know, she's got a U-Haul parked at the front door. I tried to talk some sense into her, but she wouldn't listen." He shook his head. "Crazy broads. I'm a magnet for them."

"So you moved out."

"Temporarily. If she's not gone by tomorrow, Hoss and Tiny will toss her." The doctor was packing his bag. Nick dug out his wad and tossed him several hundred dollars. "Hey, Doc, I really appreciate you coming over. You're a lifesaver."

Pocketing the money, the doctor handed him a vial of white pills. "These are antibiotics. Take three a day for the next two weeks. And no alcohol."

"Sure thing. Thanks, Doc."

The doctor showed himself out and Nick threw the vial into the garbage. "So, on to more important things. You find any trace of Nola?"

Valentine told him how his day had gone, leaving out Higgins's visit. Bill had stepped over the line by sharing police evidence with him, and telling Nick now would only compromise his friend for the rest of his days. In conclusion, he said, "Look, Nick, you may not want to hear this, but the way I see it, Fontaine's going to show up in your casino again, and Nola's going to be with him. Maybe not physically with him, but with him nonetheless. The more I look at what happened, the more I'm convinced she's the one pulling the strings. Shakespeare said all the world's a stage, and this is Nola's stage we're playing on."

Nick's face was emotionless. His fingers fumbled with a half-smoked stogie that lay in a heart-shaped marble ashtray on the table. As it reached his lips, the tip magically turned orange.

"I still want to see her."

Valentine said, "I just wanted to warn you."

"I want to make peace, you know? Clean the slate."

"She might gouge your eyes out."

"You're a real positive guy, you know that?"

Valentine nearly told him to go to hell. His argument with Gerry was eating a hole in him. It was growing dark outside, and across the street, the Mirage had turned its lights on, the mammoth structure glowing like a thousand-watt bulb.

"You think Fontaine will try to rob us when Holyfield's fighting tomorrow night?" Nick asked.

Valentine gave it some thought. The casino would be dead during the fight, and he said, "Probably not."

"Good. Being that Sherry won't be joining me, I was wondering if you wanted to come."

Valentine did not know what to say. Why was Nick offering him the hottest ticket in town? Then it dawned on him: Nick had lived in Las Vegas for over thirty years but didn't have any friends. He suddenly felt sorry for the guy, even if he was a flaming jerk.

"Sure," he mumbled.

"I'll give it to the bellman if that's the way you feel about it."

"No," Valentine said. "I'd like to go."

"You could have fooled me."

"Seriously."

"You a fight fan?"

Valentine acknowledged that he was. Nick slapped his hand on the empty seat beside him, begging for company. Valentine moved to join him. Then it hit him like a thunderbolt: He hadn't called Roxanne. He glanced at his watch. It was nearly seven. He imagined her at home right now, the steam pouring out of her ears.

Nick practically pulled Valentine into the chair.

"Sit down, sit down," the little Greek said. "I got a story about Muhammad Ali you're not going to believe."

Valentine didn't sleep much knowing that Mabel was in jail, Roxanne was angry at him, and he and Gerry had come close to never speaking again. While doing ceiling patrol at three A.M., he realized that his propensity for angering the people he cared about most had gotten steadily worse since Lois's death, and he came to the sad conclusion that his unerring ability to find the negative in everything came from missing Lois as much as he did. And so he made others suffer.

He got up for good at six, ordered coffee and some plain white-bread toast from room service, then got on the horn and started making noise. It was nine o'clock back east, and he located the captain of the Clearwater police without much trouble. Luckily, the captain remembered a cruise ship gambling case Valentine helped the department solve, and he promised to move Mabel into a private cell once he got out of a staff meeting. As a rule, cops didn't lie to other cops the way they lied to practically everyone else, and Valentine hung up feeling better than he had before making the call.

Breakfast came, and he munched on toast while watching the sun rise. It was going to be another brutally hot day, and down the block he saw bare-chested men putting the finishing touches on the outdoor arena that had been erected behind Caesars Palace for tonight's extravaganza. He had seen many prizefights, but never one in Vegas, where probably every member of the audience, except him, would have a financial stake in the outcome. He had never placed a bet in his life and did not think tonight's bout would be any different. But it would still be fun to watch.

The food lifted his spirits, and at six-thirty he began trying to reach his son with a renewed sense of purpose. He'd done a real number on Gerry the night before and had probably made him feel a lot more guilty than he should have. It was time to fall on his sword and start over. He felt certain Gerry would let him.

Only… he couldn't find his son. No one answered at the saloon, and Gerry's cell phone emitted a frantic busy signal. He waited a few minutes, then called Gerry's cell phone again. This time Gerry's Puerto Rican girlfriend answered sleepily.

"This is Tony Valentine. I'm looking for Gerry."

He heard the phone hit the floor, then cursing. When Yolanda came back on, she was on fire. "Jesus Christ. Can't I get a decent night's sleep once in a while? First, some guys bang on my door; now, his old man's looking for him. I work late, you know."

Valentine mumbled a lame apology. "You work in a club or something?"

"A club? You think I'm a stripper?"

The sun was streaming into his suite, and Valentine covered his face with his hand. "No. I figured you were a bartender or a waitress. Gerry owns a bar, so I assumed that was how he met you."

"You think I hustle tips?"

He took a deep breath. "I didn't say that. Look, I didn't mean to offend you. Your name's Yolanda, isn't it?"

"That's right."

"So what do you do, Yolanda?"

"I'm an intern at Bellevue."

It was Valentine's turn to lose the phone. Retrieving it, he said, "You're studying to be a doctor?"

"That's right," she said icily. "Not your usual Puerto Rican success story, huh?"

"I didn't mean that."

"Sure you did, Tony. Because I'm Puerto Rican, you took me for some lowlife. Gerry was the same way when we first met."

"No, I didn't," he said forcefully. "I was just surprised to hear that my son is seeing someone who didn't flunk out of high school."

Yolanda let out a laugh. "Gerry likes them stupid, huh?"

Valentine wanted to say, "No, they like him," but he decided to shelve the line. As voices on the phone went, she sounded trustworthy, what the Jews called a mensch, and he said, "Used to. Listen, you said some guys were banging on your door."

"That's right."

"You know them?"

"Never seen them before," she said.

"Can you describe them?"

"Sure. Big, Italian, midthirties. One didn't talk; the other had a zipper scar down the side of his face. Kind of scary looking."