James Chase - Eve

As I moved towards them, they went into the roulette room. He had his hand on her elbow and she was looking happy.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

I DID not want Eve to see me. Anyway, not just yet. I was not able to stand in the doorway because people kept crowding in. The room, although large, was pretty tightly packed. From the door, I could not see the tables, although I could see the shaded arc lights that illuminated them.

I moved cautiously forward until I reached the first table. I was wedged then, and looking around, I saw Eve was not there. I guessed she would be at the far table and I tried to make my way there. The crowd was too thick and I had to wait.

The croupier was singing out, “Faites vos jeux Messieurs.”

There was a concerted movement towards the table and I was carried along with it.

A moment later the croupier said, “Les jeux sent faits.” The pressure eased and I was able to back away from the table and drift down the room. Even then it was not easy. I picked up some black looks as I squeezed through the crowd, using my elbows and trying to be pleasant about it.

It was a full ten minutes before I reached the other table. Eve was standing behind Jack Hurst who had managed to get a seat.

The croupier was saying, “Onze, noir, impair.”

After he had raked in the losing stakes, he pushed a small pile of chips across to Hurst.

“Messieurs, faites vos jeux.”“

Eve leaned forward and whispered in Hurst’s ear. Her eyes were bright and she looked almost beautiful. He shook his head impatiently, but did not look around. He staked on black and Impair.

While other players were staking, I eyed him with interest. He was big, broad shouldered and powerful looking. His eyes were deep set and his nose straight. He had no top lip. His mouth looked like a hard line drawn with a ruler and pencil.

His tuxedo fitted him well and his linen was flawless. I guessed he would be about forty.

So this was the guy Eve had fallen for. I did not blame her. Whatever else he was, he was a man. I found it hard to admit, but Jack Hurst looked all right.

I glanced at Eve. She had her hand possessively on his shoulder and she never took her eyes off him for one second. Every move he made she watched excitedly. I hardly recognized her. She was animated and I had never seen her look so happy.

All the same, I was sick with jealousy. If Hurst had been a little rat of a man, it would not have been so bad. But he wasn’t. I could not help comparing him with myself. The comparison wasn’t so good. He was better looking, more interesting and more powerful. He looked like a man who would get his own way in everything he did.

The wheel spun and Eve leaned forward. Hurst just sat with his eyes on the wheel, cold and disinterested.

The croupier said, “Rien ne va plus.”

The ball gradually slipped down the ledge and finally lodged in one of the compartments of the bowl.

The croupier paid out. He shoved more chips at Hurst and smiled at him. Hurst didn’t catch his eye.

I began a slow move around the table. It was difficult and Hurst won more chips before I got behind Eve. I had to elbow a fat old woman out of the way before I got right behind her. I could smell the perfume in her hair. I wanted to touch her, but I didn’t.

She said in a whisper to Hurst, “Double your stakes.”

“Shut up,” he said.

He put down six chips on the line between 16 and 13. I reached over and put three one hundred dollar chips down on the red.

Eve turned. We looked at each other.

“Hello,” I said.

Her face became wooden and she turned away.

All right, you slut, I thought. If that’s the way you want to play it.

The croupier said, “Les jeux sont faits,” and tossed the ivory ball into the wheel.

It came up red.

The croupier took Hurst’s chips before he shoved mine over to me.

“I’ll leave it there,” I said, “O.K?”

The croupier nodded.

Hurst had lost about fifty dollars. He put more chips on the table. It came up red again.

“Leave it there,” I said.

Hurst lost his chips.

He glanced over his shoulder at me and a slight smile came into his eyes. I grinned right back at him. I could afford to.

He did elaborate things with his chips this time laying them out on the first and third dozen.

The red came up and they took Hurst’s chips again. I guessed he had lost about two hundred dollars. I had about eight hundred dollars on the red now. The croupier looked at me inquiringly. I nodded.

As Hurst was about to stake again, Eve said, “It’s no good tonight. Let’s go.” She looked worried.

“Shut up,” Hurst said.

That seemed to be the only thing he could say to her.

Again the red came up and again Hurst lost his chips.

I put two hundred dollar chips on Passe and left the pile of chips on red.

People crowded close behind me. I had quite a piece of money on the table now.

Hurst didn’t stake.

The wheel spun. The ivory ball hovered over red 36, then dropped lazily into black 13.

The croupier raked in all my chips and shook his head at me. I tried to grin, but it didn’t quite come off.

I’d seen fifteen hundred dollars slide through my fingers and that hurt. I let it ride.

Hurst began to stake again. This time he won. It looked like he couldn’t win when I was playing. I waited a couple of rounds then I staked two hundred on the black.

The red came up.

All right, I thought, then I’ll play red. I was crazy not to play the red.

I was four hundred dollars down.

As I reached forward to place my stake, I touched Eve’s hip. It was like touching a live wire. She moved quickly away and that told me she knew who was touching her. I didn’t care. It was enough just to stand by her and watch the man she loved losing his money.

I put down five hundred dollars on the red.

Hurst staked too.

The red came up and Hurst lost.

It went on like that for fifteen minutes. I did not stake every time. Twice I was going to take the pile of chips off the table, but something stopped me.

The red came up eleven times. I could hear all the people letting their breath out.

“Leave it on the red,” I said. There were fifty two hundred dollar chips there.

The croupier said, “No bet.” He didn’t start the wheel.

Then, right off, an argument started. A little man with a scar across his face started shouting that they had to take the bet and spin the wheel.

The croupier just sat there and shook his head.

Hurst said suddenly, “Spin that goddam wheel.” There was a crack like a whip in his voice.

The croupier whispered something to a tall, thin bird who had pushed his way up to the table.

Hurst said, “Tell him to spin the wheel, Tony.”

The tall thin bird looked at my pile of chips and his lips pursed. He looked at Hurst and then at me. Then he said to the croupier, “Well, what the hell are you waiting for?”

The croupier lifted his shoulders. “ Messieurs, faites vos jeux.”

Everyone crowded forward. It was an exciting moment. I put my hand down and found Eve’s. She did not look at me, but she let me hold it. I got more of a bang out of that than I did watching the wheel spin.

The ball seemed to be taking a long time to make up its mind. It dropped into the red and seemed about to settle, then at the last moment, almost as if an unseen hand had given it a flip, it rolled into the black.

There was a long drawn-out sigh from the crowd.

“Why didn’t you stop, you weak fool?” Eve said, snatching her hand away.

Hurst looked over his shoulder, stared at her and then at me. Everyone was looking at me. I just stood there, feeling weak at the knees. By just one throw too many I had gypped myself out of ten thousand dollars.