CASINO SHUFFLE (33 page)

“Someone else’s soap?
 
Eww.”
 
She yawned.
 
“Now my feet are cold without you.”

Max tossed the soap into a trash bin in the kitchenette.
 
“Just a sec.”
 
He went into the bedroom and retrieved the extra blanket from the armoire.
 
He spread it over
Shannon
’s legs and tucked it in around her feet.
 
“This is better than a wet butler.”

“Not as much fun, though.”

“You need to get some sleep.
 
Want me to leave the movie on?”

She shook her head.
 
“I don’t want to sleep.
 
Take me to bed, Max.”

“You want to sleep in the bed?”

“With you.”

“Oh.”

“I need someone to be nice with me.
 
Gentle.
 
Loving.”

“For an hour?”

She stood up, removed her clothing and took his hand.
 
“I’ll be asleep way before that.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Antonio casually stepped forward, hand outstretched.
 
“I see that your evening has been as interesting as my own.”

Max had just exited the corner suite and was standing immobile in the pile of snack food.
 
He took Antonio’s hand and worked his way through the small landfill.
 
“How long have you been out here?”

“Twenty minutes.”

“It must’ve been more like thirty.
 
Maybe thirty-five.”

“Perhaps,” said Antonio.
 
“Let us call a houseman to bring around a trash container.
 
I am guessing that we have a few things to discuss.”

“I should probably let you know something…”

“Shannon Moon is inside your suite.
 
I presume she’s sleeping soundly?”

Max said, “That’s half of it.
 
How’d you know that?”

“I saw you both enter the suite on the security cameras.”
 
He motioned over his left shoulder and then pointed behind Max.
 
“They are placed every twenty feet on the ceilings of the hotel corridors.
 
There are, of course, no cameras in the rooms.
 
So whatever may have happened may remain a secret for the cosmos.”
 
He paused momentarily before adding, “I would suggest you attend to your trouser front, however, before we proceed.”

Max zipped his fly.
 
“I’m going to let her sleep in there tonight.
 
I gave her the suite.”

“That is quite a sacrifice.
 
How are you feeling?”

“Pretty good, actually.
 
She’s not like I thought she would be, you know.”

Antonio raised an eyebrow.
 
“Indeed?”

“She likes Robocop.”

Antonio brushed some cheese from the sleeve of Max’s tuxedo.
 
“That
is
surprising.”

“And she’s funny.
 
But tough too.
 
He cheated on her.”

“Please put that last phrase into a complete sentence of its own.”

“
Brandon
cheated on
Shannon
with another woman.”

“When did this happen?”

“Just tonight,” said Max, turning and pointing down the hallway.
 
“In the Sachem Suite.
 
I had to go in there, but
Brandon
heard me and came downstairs.
 
Then
Shannon
came in.
 
She was probably worried because she said he carries a gun.”

Antonio inhaled sharply and promptly choked.
 
Max thumped him on the back.

“Want me to get you a glass of water?”

Antonio shook his head.
 
He roughly cleared his throat a few times and attempted to gather his wits.
 
“I believe that I will need to hear this story from start to finish, Max.”

“Okay.”

“And I will require a brandy to do so.
 
How about if we retire to my office quarters?
 
It’s been a very long day.”

“You can say that again.”

The butler office was a tidy room with sparse suite furniture that had been nicked, or was visibly worn along the upholstery, and thus relegated to the butler offices.
 
There was a large rosewood desk with a green blotter and library lamp shining on a single
Mont Blanc
pen aligned perfectly with a blank legal pad.
 
On a sidetable was a stack of three folded towels and assorted miniature toiletries.
 
An open door across the room revealed a half-bath.
 
Next to a full-length gilded mirror was a large armoire, atop which were silver framed photographs of celebrities caught in the tangles of their own inked signatures.
 
Antonio motioned for Max to take a seat on the couch and opened the heavy armoire doors.
 
Inside the cabinet proper were three rows of leatherbound books.
 
On the bottom of the cabinet sat two bottles of unopened wine, both adorned with shiny bows and ribbons, next to an oak box fitted with a brass clasp.
 
Antonio thumbed the clasp, opened the box and withdrew a dusty bottle of cognac.

“A gift from a guest,” he explained, sliding open the top armoire drawer and taking out two short glasses.
 
“I trust you’ll join me, Max?”

“I don’t think I’ve ever had brandy.
 
Is it gross?”

Antonio smiled patiently.
 
“The term
brandy
comes from the Dutch word
brandewijn
, meaning ‘burnt wine’.
  
That is how the Dutch traders introduced it to
Northern Europe
.
 
The process involves boiling wine in order to distill it.
 
I believe the ratio is ten gallons of wine for each gallon of brandy.”
 
Antonio held up the six-ounce glass of dark liquid.
 
“This is
Cognac
, from the
Cognac
region of
France
.”

“Shouldn’t we be drinking it in those glasses that look like fishbowls?”

“A myth,” said Antonio, handing the small glass to Max.
 
“Though favored by movies, the fishbowl glass concentrates the alcohol, causing it to overwhelm the aroma of the brandy.”

Max sniffed the glass.
 
“Ugh.
 
Maybe that wouldn’t be so bad.”

“Take a sip, like so.”
 
Antonio brought his own glass to his lips for the briefest of moments and then closed his eyes.
 
“Let it coat your mouth to ready the palette.
 
You should taste jasmine, fig and orange flavors, some more subtle than others.”

Max sipped his
Cognac
and his tongue started to burn.
 
He managed to get it down his throat.
 
“All I taste is lit match.”

“
Cognac
is as individual as people.
 
You must search to find the one that is best suited to you.”

“I’ll keep searching,” said Max.
 
“Do you have any Coke?”

Antonio sighed.
 
“Of course I do.”
 
He walked behind the rosewood desk and opened a small minibar refrigerator.
 
He brought Max a Coke along with a Native Sun cocktail napkin.
 
“Now then, perhaps you should begin telling me the events of your evening.”

“You want me to start at the tournament?”

“Where I last left you, yes.”

When Max had finished relaying the events of his evening, there were three empty Coke cans on the glass coffee table in front of him.
 

Antonio had nursed his single
Cognac
while sitting on a chair across the room, jacket unbuttoned.
 
When Max had finished he sat for a moment in thought, contemplating the empty glass held lightly in his fingertips.
 
Finally he said, “I must say, Max, you managed to elicit surprise in me that borders on astonishment.
 
An hour ago I would have said it was impossible to surprise me to such an extent.”

“I know what you mean,” said Max.
 
“I know me pretty well, and I surprised myself a bunch of times tonight.”

“And how do you feel now?”

“Worried.”

“What are you worried about?”

“
Brandon
shooting me in the head.”

Antonio nodded.
 
“A valid concern.”

“But after what happened in my suite tonight…”

Antonio interrupted, “Which will remain undisclosed.”

“…right, the secret cosmos.
 
I feel kind of…alive.”

“At no point did you feel nauseous, anxious or discomfited?”

Max shook his head, thought about it a moment, then shrugged.
 
“Well maybe a little bit here and there.
 
When I was inside the Sachem Suite, and then again when I was trying to clean up so
Shannon
wouldn’t know I was giving her my room.
 
But
not
when she was tickling me with her naked feet…surprisingly enough.”
 
He laughed.
 
“Then she felt this wet spot…”

“I believe I have the pertinent details of your evening, Max.”
 
Antonio stood up and took out his BlackBerry.
 
“Let me see if I can find another room for you to stay in tonight.”

Max looked around at the butler office.
 
“Can I sleep in here?”

Antonio lowered his BlackBerry.
 
“Would you find it suitable?”

“Looks a little like a corner suite.
 
Same furniture.”
 
He bounced lightly up and down on the couch.
 
“Is this a pull-out?”

“Actually, yes.”

“Do you have pillows and blankets?”

“Sonny has furnished a set, I can retrieve another.”

“Cool.”

“There is one question that I have for you.”

“Shoot.”

Antonio placed his empty glass in the armoire cabinet.
 
“During excessively busy weekends I, myself, stay over in the hotel.
 
It allows me instant access to guests, and makes me readily accessible in emergency situations.
 
This weekend is such a weekend.”

Max blinked a few times.
 
“You lost me.
 
Sorry, it’s late.”

Antonio spread his hands.
 
“I was going to sleep here tonight.
 
If you’re not opposed to the idea I will bring in a rollaway bed.”

“Are you kidding?”