Lucas barely noticed the shocked faces of the other team members as they faded back into the crowd. His entire attention was arrested by the firm hands gripping his arms as he was propelled gently but steadily toward the casino entrance.
“But I’m a guest at this hotel!” he managed at last, still trying to make sense of what had happened.
“Not anymore, you aren’t, sir,” the sergeant informed him. “You’ll find your luggage waiting for you outside.”
“But I didn’t do anything! Honest!”
While he might have accepted the risks of his chosen profession, Lucas shared everyman’s disbelief and indignation at being found guilty of a crime when he was, in fact, innocent.
“I know that, sir.” The sergeant winked. “We just got tired of waiting for you is all. Now, if you’ll step this way?”
Things suddenly snapped into focus in Lucas’s mind.
“Wait a minute,” he said. “If my luggage is waiting, then somebody had to have packed it before you …”
Wrenching his arms free from his captors, he stopped dead in his tracks and pointed an accusing finger at the sergeant.
“You set me up!” he proclaimed. “There wasn’t anything wrong with the dice I was holding! And he … he planted that extra pair in my pocket!”
“Quite right, sir,” Moustache said smoothly. “The dice were yours, though. We just took the liberty of moving them from your room into your pocket is all.”
“My room?”
“Yes, sir. If I might suggest, sir, it’s unwise to keep an extra couple dozen pairs of dice in your luggage when staying at a casino. It tends to make nasty blokes like us suspicious, and not everybody’s as nice and understanding as we are.”