Stephen Cannell - King Con

"Whatever you say, Daddy," she said tentatively.

The store clerk caught a glimpse of Beano's wide-brimmed Stetson and fixed on him like a heat-locked missile.

"I'm Matthew; may I help you, sir?" he said, rushing up.

"Well, I s'pose we gonna have to go an' get us a little bauble fer Honeybee here. Ain't that right?"

"Whatever you want, Daddy," she simpered.

"'At's right, whatever I want." He grinned at Matthew." This lady, she already brung me a powerful heap a'luck. Yesterday I got nothin' but losers. Couldn't draw a pistol from a holster. Then I met Sugar Plum, and today I been so lucky, if I was settin' on a fencepost the birds would feed me. Gotta keep the good luck flowin', don't we, Baby?"

"Whatever you want, Daddy." She was beginning to feel like she needed to broaden her responses.

"What did you have in mind?" the young salesman said, as Beano started looking around in the case.

"See, I'm a big un fer lucky charms. How it goes is, I live right smack on the edge of Black Pearl Mesa, in Locadocious, Texas. So fer luck I'm gonna give this little lady the biggest black pearl y'all got in the place."

"Could I suggest instead the diamond choker you were admiring?" he said, pointing to it.

"I ain't about ta go an squat on my spurs here. Y'all don't know much about luck, do ya? Gotta buy some-thin' with meaning, son, gotta be a black pearl."

"Oh boy," Matthew said, "that's going to be hard. Excuse me." The young man rushed off and minutes later he returned with a tall, unctuous scavenger in a three-piece black pinstripe. After one look at Beano he started wringing his hands like a praying mantis.

"I'm Donald Stine. I run this store. Matt said you were looking for a black pearl?"

"'At's right, Don. Justice R. McQueed." Beano shot his hand out, and when Don Stine took it, he got his knuckles cracked, Texas style.

"Gonna buy the biggest, largest ol' black pearl y'all got."

"Black pearls are quite rare," Stine said.

"Then we're at the wrong rodeo. Come on, Honey-bun." Beano started to lead her out. Victoria now knew why girls in five-inch platform shoes all looked stupid. It was impossible to walk. You had to sort of shuffle moronically. She was teetering along behind Beano when Don Stine stopped them. "We have a few small ones in settings… but matching black pearls of any size or quality are almost impossible to find."

"This here is one pearl we're talkin" bout, Bucko. Don't have t'be a match. Only got one girl, only need one pearl… see?" he grinned broadly. "I'm ready t'go to fifty thousand dollars. How's that sound, Sugar?"

"Oh, Daddy, you're so sweet. Whatever you say." Victoria was beginning to get into it.

Donald Stine was distracted. He couldn't take his eyes off her chest. She had to admit the little black stretch dress was providing good energy.

"I could call around, see what's in our other stores. We have reciprocity with the other shops here in Atlantic City. And I'll check the Jewelry Mart."

"Ya got me all spread out like a cold supper here, Donnie. Them tables is a-calling and I'm ready to go… Let's do the deal, that's the Texas way."

"If you would have a seat, I could see what I can get in the next ten or twenty minutes."

"Well, hell, let's give 'er a shake, then."

Stine hurried off and Beano and Victoria moved around the shop, looking at the trashy jewelry in the glass cases while the assistant, Matt, trailed them like a bloodhound. After a few minutes, Stine returned, wearing a greedy smile.

"We're in luck. As you probably know, pearls are measured in millimeters."

"Nope, never bought one before."

"We found a twenty-two-millimeter, perfectly round, opaque black pearl. It's got a beautiful dusky black luster and it's only forty-seven thousand retail, plus tax."

"Well, let's get that little pigeon egg on over an' take us a look-see."

"In the interest of time, could we clear credit now? How will we be handling the transaction? That is, should the pearl meet your specifications," Stine said. Beano wished he'd stop wringing his hands.

"Got me a checking account right here in the hotel," Beano said proudly.

While Beano and Donald Stine went to the casino front desk to arrange the transfer, Victoria went to the ladies' room, which was just outside the store off the casino main floor. A frightening thing happened as she was leaving the restroom. She ran smack into Tommy Rina. They actually collided.

"Watch where the fuck you goin'," Tommy growled.

"'Scuse me," she said and hurried off… She could feel his eyes on her, as she moved off across the casino… She didn't dare turn to see if he had recognized her. She walked across the casino toward the front door, her unbridled excitement suddenly transformed into bile-soaked fear. When she was sure he couldn't see her, she finally doubled back to the store. She prayed Tommy wouldn't come in. Beano was already back there with Donald Stine, so she had no chance to warn him.

The pearl showed up a quarter hour later, and Beano looked it over carefully. He had more than passing experience evaluating jewelry, having spent two years as a jewel thief in Nevada in the late eighties. He gave it up when he almost got shot by a night watchman. He knew natural pearls were never perfectly round. Value was determined by size, shape, color, and opaque luster. He knew a pearl this size would be one of a kind. He guessed that the pearl they were showing him was worth about thirty-five to forty thousand. He was being gouged slightly, but it didn't matter.

"Mighty pretty," he said, looking down through the jeweler's loupe, "this thing's black as truck stop coffee." Then he handed it to Victoria. "Whatta ya think, June Bug?"

"Oh, Daddy, it's so pretty. I simply adore it," she said, her eyes darting out the front windows searching for Tommy Rina.

"Can we make it up into a necklace?" Stine asked, trying to improve on his good fortune. "Perhaps a nice platinum chain with a three-prong setting?"

"Let's see how lucky ol' Justice is gonna get 'fore we get ta buyin' a mess a platinum rope. We got more'n one category we're workin' on, don't we, Sugar?"

"Whatever you say, Daddy." She almost lost her balance and hugged his arm.

The deal was closed quickly. The fifty thousand dollars was immediately transferred to Rings 'n' Things.

Beano and Victoria walked out of the jewelry store, through the casino, and into the sunlight, with the black pearl in an ugly purple box with green felt. She didn't see Tommy Rina anywhere. The Atlantic Ocean was sparkling just beyond the Boardwalk. As they moved out into the late-afternoon chill she started shivering and Beano took off his Western jacket and draped it over her. "That guy gouged us a little; it's only worth forty grand, at most," Beano said, as he spotted John across the street, behind the wheel of her car.

"Then why'd we pay fifty?" she said, confused, as she hugged the coat around her.

"We're increasing by diminishing, holding on by letting go. Didn't I tell you?" Seeing her look, he smiled. "Don't worry. Trust me. This is our lucky day," and then he proved it as they walked across the street and were just missed by a speeding cab. Once they were in the car and pulling away, she told him about running into Tommy.

"Did he recognize you?" Beano asked.

"I don't know. In this outfit, probably not."

Beano was quiet for a long time, then he turned to her and smiled. "Then we'll play it like it never happened. Kinda ups the ante, and puts a little kerosene in the deal," he finally said, and hoped they stayed lucky.

They had dinner at a crab house on the garden pier. It jutted two hundred yards out into the Atlantic. The seven-thirty sunset tinged the slate-gray sky and the ocean whitecaps with a subtle but beautiful flamingo-pink. Beano stopped his conversation for a minute to watch it, something that surprised Victoria. She never stopped to look at a field of flowers or a pink and orange sunset. Her mother had once criticized her for this, saying that these were God's gifts and should not be ignored. Victoria saw beauty in other places: in a carefully prepared brief, in a goal attained, in a job well done. She saw beauty in the precise organization of her own thoughts. She now looked at Beano, who had fallen silent, watching the changing colors of the sunset. He was like a child fascinated by a wonderful new gift. She wondered if her mother would approve of him or be appalled. She couldn't decide.