...Or Your Money Back | Page 9

I could account for its behavior, and I told you one way! There are others!"
"The wheel will be examined," said Judge Lapworth darkly. "Tell us the other ways, Dr. Pettigrew."
"Pure chance," said Pettigrew. "Pure chance, Your Honor. I'm sure that everyone in this courtroom has seen runs of luck on a roulette wheel. According to the laws of probability, such runs must inevitably happen. Frankly, I believe that just such a run has occurred here. I do not think for a minute that Mr. Thursby or anyone else rigged that wheel."
"I see; thank you, Dr. Pettigrew," said the judge. "Any further questions, Mr. District Attorney?"
"No further questions," Thursby said, trying to hide his anger.
* * * * *
"Call your next witness," said the judge, looking at me.
"I call Mr. Jason Howley to the stand."
Howley sat down and was sworn in. I went through the preliminaries, then asked: "Mr. Howley, you have seen People's Exhibit A?"
"I have."
"To whom does it belong?"
"It is mine. It was taken from me by--"
"Just answer the question, please," I admonished him. He knew his script, but he was jumping the gun. "The device is yours, then?"
"That's right."
"Under what circumstances did this device come into the hands of the police?"
He told what had happened on the night of the big take at the Golden Casino.
"Would you explain to us just what this device is?" I asked when he had finished.
"Certainly," he said. "It's a good luck charm."
I could hear the muffled reaction in the courtroom.
"A good luck charm. I see. Then it has no effect on the wheel at all?"
"Oh, I wouldn't say that," Howley said disarmingly. He smiled and looked at the jury. "It certainly has some effect. It's the only good luck charm I ever had that worked."
The jury was grinning right back at him. They were all gamblers at heart, and I never knew a gambler yet who didn't have some sort of good luck charm or superstition when it came to gambling. We had them all in the palms of our hands.
"What I mean is, does it have any physical effect on the wheel?"
Howley looked puzzled. "Well, I don't know about that. That's not my field. You better ask Dr. Pettigrew."
There was a smothered laugh somewhere in the courtroom.
"Just how do you operate this good luck charm, Mr. Howley?" I asked.
"Why, you just hold it so that your thumb touches one strip of silver and your fingers touch the other, then you set the dial to whatever number you want to come up and wish."
"Wish? Just wish, Mr. Howley?"
"Just wish. That's all. What else can you do with a good luck charm?"
This time, the judge had to pound for order to stop the laughing.
I turned Howley over to Thursby.
The D.A. hammered at him for half an hour trying to get something out of Howley, but he didn't get anywhere useful. Howley admitted that he'd come to Nevada to play the wheels; what was wrong with that? He admitted that he'd come just to try out his good luck charm--and what was wrong with that? He even admitted that it worked for him every time--
And what was wrong, pray, with that?
Thursby knew he was licked. He'd known it for a long time. His summation to the jury showed it. The expressions on the faces of the jury as they listened showed it.
They brought in a verdict of Not Guilty.
* * * * *
When I got back to my office, I picked up the phone and called the Golden Casino. I asked for George Brockey, the manager. When I got him on the phone and identified myself, he said, "Oh. It's you." His voice didn't sound friendly.
"It's me," I said.
"I suppose you're going to slap a suit for false arrest on the Casino now, eh, counselor?"
"Not a bit of it, George," I said. "The thought occurred to me, but I think we can come to terms."
"Yeah?"
"Nothing to it, George. You give us the three hundred grand and we don't do a thing."
"Yeah?" He didn't get it. He had to fork over the money anyway, according to the court order, so what was the deal?
"If you want to go a little further, I'll tell you what we'll do. We'll give you one of our little good luck charms, if you'll promise to call your boys off Howley."
"Nobody's on Howley," he said. "You ought to know better than that. In this state, if we get whipped in court, we play it square. Did you think we were going to get rough?"
"No. But you kind of figured on lifting that gadget as soon as he gets it back from the D.A., didn't you? I saw your boys waiting at his hotel. I'm just telling you that you don't have to do that. We'll give you the gadget. There