drawer and pulled out some papers. “Cmere. Sign ’em. You got an itch. Maybe
I’ll take your money. Maybe youll take mine.”
Matlock approached the desk “What am I signing?-
‘Just a couple of forms. Initiation’s five hundred. Cash. You got it? No
checks, no crediL”
Tve got it What are the forms?”
Me first is a statement that you understand that this is a nonprofit
corporation and that any games of chance are for charitable purposes….
What are you 1atighing at? I built the Church of the Blessed Virgin down in
Hamden.”
“Whaes this other? It’s a long one.”
‘Mes for our files. A certificate of general partner- TEE MATLOCK PAPM 297
ship. For the five hundred you get a classy title. Yo&e a parbier.
Everybodys a partner. just in case.”
“In caser
“In case anything good happens to us, it happens just as good to you.
Especially in the newspapers.”
The Avon Swim Club was certainly a place for swimming, no doubt about it.
The enormous Pool curved back nearly two hundred feet, and scores of small,
elegant cabanas bordered the far side, Beach chairs and tables were dotted
about the grassy edges beyond the tiled deck of the pool, and the underwa-
ter floodlights made the setting inviting. All this was on the right of the
open-air corridor. On the left, Matlock could see fully what was only
hinted at from the outside. A huge green-and-white-striped tent rose above
dozens of tables. Each table had a candled lantern in the center, and patio
torches were safely placed about the whole enclosure. At the far end was a
long table filled with roasts, salads, and buffet food. A bar was adjacent
to the long table; scores of couples were milling about.
The Avon Swim Club was a lovely place to bring the family.
The corridor led to the rear of the complex, where there was another
sprawling, white-bricked structure similar to the main building. Above the
large, blackenameled double doors was a wooden sign, in old English scroll:
The Avon Spa
This part of the Avon Swim Club was not a lovely place to bring the family.
198 Robert Ludium
Matlock thought he was back In a San Juan casino -his only experience in
gambling rooms. The wallto-wall carpet was sufficiently thick to muffie
sound almost completely. Only the click of the chips and the low-keyed but
intense mutterings of the players and the board men were heard. The craps
tables were lined along the walls, the blackjack counters in the center. In
between, in staggered positions to allow for the flow of traffic, were the
roulette wheels. In the middle of the large room, raised on a platform, was
the cashier’s nest. All of the Avon Spa’s employees were in tuxedos, neatly
groomed and subservient The players were less formal.
The gate man, pleased with Matlock’s crisp fiftydollar bill, led him to the
half-circle counter in front of the cashiers platform. He spoke to a man
counting out slips of paper.
“This is Mr. Matlock. Treat him good, Vs a personal friend.”
“No other way,” said the man with a smile.
Tm sorry, Mr. Matlock,” muttered the gate man quietly. “No markers the
first time around.”
“Naturally. Look I’m going to wander about. . . .”
“Sure. Get the feel of the action. … I tell you, it a&t Vegas. Between
you and me, it’s Mickey Mouse most of the time. I mean for a guy like you,
you know what I mean?”
Matlock knew exactly what the gate man meant A ffty-dollar bill was not the
ordinary gratuity in Avon, Connecticut.
it took him three hours and twelve minutes to lose $4,175. The only time he
felt panic was when he had
THE MAnDM PAPER 199
a streak at the craps table and had built up his reserves to nearly $5,ooo.
He had begun the evening properly-4or his purposes. He went to the cashier
often enough to realize that the average purchase of chips was $2oo to $3oo.
Hardly “Mickey Mouse” in his book. So his first purchase was $1,5oo. The
second was $jL,ooo; the third, $2,000.
By one in the morning, he was laughing with Jacopo Bartolozzi at the bar
underneath the green-andwhite-striped tent.
“You’re a game one. Lotsa creeps would be screaming ‘ice picle if they went
for a bundle like you did. Right now rd be showing them a few papers in my
office.”
“Don’t you worry, I’ll get it back. I always do…. You said it before. My
itch was too much. Maybe I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“Make it Monday. Tomorrow it’s only swimming.”
‘How come?”
Sunday. Holy day.-
“Shitl I’ve got a friend coming in from London. He won’t be here Monday.
He’s a big player.”
“Tell you what. I’ll call Sharpe over in Windsor Shoals. He’s a Jew. Holy
days don’t mean a fucking thing to him.”
“I’d appreciate that”
“I may even drop over myself. The wife!s got a Mothers of Madonna meeting,
anyway.”
Matlock looked at his watch. The evening-his point of departure-had gone
well. He wondered if he should press his luck. “Only real problem coming
into a territory is the time it takes to find the sources.~
“Whaes your problem?”
“I’ve got a girl over in the motel. Shes sleeping, we
2oo Robert Ludlum
traveled most of the day. She ran out of grass-no hard stuff-just grass. I
told her rd pick some up for her~”
“C=1 help you, Matlock. I don’t keep none here, what with the kids around
during the day. Ifs not good for the image, see? A few pins, I got. No
needle crap, though. You want some pills?”
“No, just grass. Thafs all I let her use.’
‘Very smart of you. . . . Which way you headed?’
“Back into Hartford.”
Bartolozzi snapped his fingers. A large bartender sprang into position
instantly. Matlock thought there was something grotesque about the squat
little Italian commandeering in such fashion. Bartolozzi asked the man for
paper and pencil.
‘Here. Here~s an address. Ill make a phone call. Ifs an afterhours place
right off the main drag. Down the street from G. Fox. Second floor. Ask for
Rocco. What you couldift use, he’s got.”
‘Yoiere a prince.” And as Matlock took the paper, he meant it
“For four grand the first night, you got privileges.
. Hey, y1mow what? You never filled out an applicationl Thaes a gas, huh?”
‘You don’t need credit references. I play with cash~’
‘Where the hell do you keep it?”
‘In thirty-seven banks from here to Los Angeles.” Matlock put down his
glass and held out his hand to Bartoloz2i. “Ifs been fun. See you
tomorrow?”
“Sure, sure. III walk you to the door. Doet forget now. Doet give Sammy all
the action. Come on back hem”
“My word on it.”
The two men walked back to the open-afr corridor,
TM X”TLOCK PAPM 201
the short Italian placing his fat hand in the middle of Matlock’s back, the
gesture of a new friend. What neither man realized as they stepped onto the
narrow causeway was that one well-dressed gentleman at a nearby table who
kept punching at a fluidless lighter was watching them. As the two men
passed his table, he put his lighter back into his pocket while the woman
across from him fit Ins cigarette with a match. The woman spoke quietly
through a smile.
“Did you get them?”
The man laughed softly. “Karsh couldn’t have done better. Even got
close-ups.”
20
If the Avon Swim Club was an advantageous point of departure, the Hartford
Hunt Club-under the careful management of Rocco Aiello-was an enviable fast
lap. For Matlock now thought of his journey to Nimrod as a race, one which
had to end within two weeks and one day. It would end with the convocation
of the Nimrod forces and the Mafiosi somewhere in the Carlyle vicinity. It
would be finished for him when someone, somewhere produced another silver
Corsican paper.
Bartolozzi’s telephone call was effective. Matlock entered the old red
stone building-at first he thought he had the wrong address, for no light
shone through the windows, and there was no sign of activity within -and
found a freight elevator at the end of the hallway with a lone Negro
operator sitting in a chair in front of the door. No sooner had he come in
than the black rose to his feet and indicated the elevator tD Matlock.
In an upstairs hallway a nun greeted him. ‘Very nice to make your
acquaintance. Name’s Rocco. Rocco Aiello.” The man held out his hand and
Matlock took it.
“Thanks…. I was puzzled. I didn’t hear anything. I thought maybe I was in
the wrong place.”
TnE MATLOCK PAPM 203
“If you had heard, the construction boys would have taken me. The walls are
eighteen inches thick, sound-proofed both sides.: the windows are blinds.
Very secure.”
“rhat’s really something.”
Rocco reached into his pocket and withdrew a small wooden cigarette case.