Lucky sat behind his desk trying to maintain his calmfacade. With great effort he breathed inslowly and deeply through his nose, counted to five, and then breathed out. He ran one hand through his short croppedblack hair trying to steady himself. "What do you mean exactly by 'abnormal betting pattern?'" Lucky asked the small squirrely looking pitmanager in front of him.
"Sir, I didn't catch it," The manager stammered,"Because the bets came in on three different lines within just a fewminutes of each other. By the time I connectedthem to the same person, the books had closed."
Lucky focused on his breathing for a moment, and then noddedfor the manager to continue. He didn'ttrust himself to say any words at the moment.
"Sir, we've had a single better make a bet on all placesin four different races," The pit manager said hesitantly. "Total of the bets is right at twohundred thousand dollars."
"He bet all nine horses in four different races?" Lucky asked, his pulse pounding in histemples. "You realize that if hehits, if this asshole hits then he'll clean us out to the tune of more than sixmillion dollars, right? Someone bets awhole ticket they get thirty to one odds, and you let four connected to thesame account slip. You gonna cover that sixmillion check if it hits? Cause I gotnews for ya, the big boss sure ain't."
The pit manager's face went pale and he looked like he wasgoing to pass out.
"The only thing that saves your stupidity," Luckycontinued, reigning in his anger, but just barely, "Is that there's no wayanyone could possibly be that lucky. Andif someone had fixed all nine horses in four races, we'd have heard aboutit. Hell we'd probably be the ones doingit. So there's no way he can hit. Now get out of my sight before I start to getirritated."
The pit manager didn't turn to go, though. Instead the man stood shifting his weightfrom one foot o the other, looking for all the world like a schoolboy outsidethe principal's door. Finally, Luckygrated, "Is there something else?"
"The guy that laid these bets," The pit managerstammered, "I'm pretty sure he's the same guy that hit the winner earliertoday and knocked off a big debt."
"So some idiot hits a dead winner," Lucky asked ina deceptively soft voice, "And you don't immediately flag his accounts, ALL of his accounts, for furtherreview?"
"I thought he was a loser that just got lucky,sir," The pit manager whispered, trembling slightly.
The man had reason to be afraid. Lucky was known as a fair boss to work under,but he was also known for his ruthlessness when someone crossed him. Once he ordered an underling to shoot aco-worker who was also an informant and then left the body on the steps of thedistrict attorney that was prosecuting him. The gunman failed to position the body correctly, so lucky cut the man'sright pinky off with a pair of bolt cutters. He was a man who made his expectations clear as well as the consequencesfor not meeting them.
"Losers don't get lucky, you moron," Luckygrowled, "That's why they're losers. Now close the door and tell me everything we know about Dr. SamuelMathis."
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