outfit and was back into her jeans and pea-coat, something her personality could fit into more easily. The pearl was locked in the safe under the sofa in the motor home, and Roger-the-Dodger had been assigned to stand guard while they went out and ordered New England clams. Beano had also ordered a steak and a Bud Light to go for the dog.
Victoria could tell that John and Beano were still holding back with her. But that night she was strangely elated. She would never have imagined that playing a dumb hooker would be so much fun. It was actually liberating, and her encounter with Tommy really did “put a little kerosene in the deal.” She remembered the hours her mother had spent trying to get her to loosen up. Yet this con man with the dazzling smile had somehow accomplished it in one afternoon. For the first time she understood the exhilarating thrill of the unreasonable risk.
“This thing with the pearl,” she said, “I still don’t know how it works. How are we gonna get a hundred and fifty thousand dollars? We paid fifty; you said the pearl we bought is only worth forty. I know we’re increasing by diminishing, but I don’t get it. So far we’re losing money, not making it.”
“We’re multiplying by dividing, so it doesn’t matter what it’s really worth,” Beano said. “Tomorrow, first thing, I’m gonna go into that same store and try and buy another one just like it. We’re gonna offer to pay as much as it takes.”
“But we don’t have any seed money left,” she reminded him.
“Ouch … there’s a showstopper”—he grinned—“I never thought of that.”
“Stop fucking around with me, Beano,” she said. “I’m not used to being played like a mark. If I’m in on this, I wanna know what I’m doing. I’m sure we’re breaking half-a-dozen laws here.”
“We might have to break a few before this con is over, but not on this pearl gag. We’re not doing anything illegal. Least not yet,” Beano said.
“Don’t forget, I’ve read your yellow sheet. You’re no choirboy.”
“That’s true,” Paper Collar John said, straightfaced. “Once, when he was ten, in Bend River, Arkansas, I was doing a faith healer con. I was the Reverend Yancy L. Anthony of the Church of Christ Manors. I let Beano sing in the choir. He’s got a terrible voice … chased most of the faithful right out of the tent. Hadda make him into ‘Little Lord Angel’ … youngest faith healer in the Southwest … Even at ten, you was damn good, Beano. You should a heard him preach. He could talk the money right out of a banker’s pocket.” Beano reddened slightly at the compliment. Finally, in a courtly gesture, he bowed his head to acknowledge his talent.
“Come on,” Victoria pushed, “I want to hear it. Just start with the pearl. How are we going to turn a ten-thousand-dollar loss into a hundred-thousand-dollar profit?”
So Beano filled her in. When he was finished, she looked at him, her mouth slightly open. It was close to brilliant, and he was right … she couldn’t find one single law that they would be breaking.
“Increase by diminishing,” she said, slowly. “Hold on by letting go, multiply by dividing. It’s really true, isn’t it?”
“If you do it right,” Paper Collar John said.
Then they started talking about members of the Bates family, evaluating traits and skills, eliminating and accepting candidates. It was, in her opinion, a very colorful voir dire. Besides Fit-Throwing Duffy Bates and Dakota Bates, there were the Hog Creek Bateses, whom they didn’t talk about much, but who seemed to be important if there was ever any trouble. There were also “singers” to give background information to Tommy Rina when he was checking Beano out, and inside men who, she learned, were the stars of the con. Beano and John were inside men. There were outside men who roped the mark, then steered or stalled him. They were assigned to control his movement. There were “shills” and “luggers,” who she found out, to her dismay, were basically extras. She was determined to somehow upgrade her category. John and Beano discussed each candidate thoroughly before putting his or her name on the list. They divided up half-a-dozen names and agreed to start calling them first thing in the morning.
Victoria Hart sat there, eating cooked crab and wondering if this was going to be the worst situation she’d gotten into in her life … or the best.
The next morning Beano was