As I fought my mounting worry I offered a weak thought, “Even so, he could delegate all of this to an underling. Why risk coming here himself?”
Shaking her head she pressed on, “It’s precisely because of how much he makes that he considers it to be worth his wile to make a personal appearance. I’m sure you know just how fast these hundred seats fill up, right?”
In hindsight I shouldn’t have been shocked by her explanation but I was. I was so shocked that I was unable to reply. Fortunately she didn’t need a verbal cue, she was able to read me as if I were a guilty two year old. “So with all these wealthy contributors to his personal bank of course he’s going to make a personal appearance. It’s what his clientele expect. Oh and as to your other reason, let’s just say that it’s highly unlikely to deter him. He simply has nothing to fear from either the law or the police, local, state, or even federal. He has enough of the right people on his payroll that they always manage to find out where we were just in time to clean up.”
She slowly raised her glass to her lips to take a quick sip of her martini before educating me on all of Dempsey’s legal freedoms. “Every official east of the Mississippi knows about this tournament, they even know that it’s an annual event. But with the people he has working for him, no one is able to do anything about it. So I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but nothing is going to stop him from greeting the people who are lining his wallet.”
Scratching the back of my head I couldn’t think of anything else to say other than the obvious. “Not when you put it like that. I just didn’t think…”
“It’s nice to know that there are still some na?ve, innocent men around.” She muttered just loud enough for me to hear and then only because I was straining my ears in order to catch it.
Lounging in her chair she took another sip from her glass and I could only laugh at the comment, because she was right. I had been incredibly foolish in my assumptions. If Dempsey had people in the feds then the rumors of his empire stretching up to the capitol were absolutely true. Or was that just another assumption? What if he really did have an empire as big as the rumors? Or was it possible that he just controlled this city, maybe even just the state while allowing his lieutenants elsewhere as long as they remained loyal to him.
That made sense. What was Dempsey’s official business again? I bit my lip as I tried to remember what the man did day to day, besides overseeing a criminal organization. I thought I remembered what it was, but every time I tried to reach through the haze in my mind its shadowy edges eluded my fingertips. I had already shown a certain level of ignorance that could get me killed had I been talking to the wrong person. As it was, I preferred not to rely on luck any more. But since no one else in this room was googling anything I guessed I was going to just have to remain ignorant of the man’s legal business, at least for the time being. And I hoped that was one of the topics that never came up in natural conversation.
Looking into her eyes I could tell that she wanted to ask me another question, which only lifted my spirits. It looked like I was getting to know her about as well as she was getting to know me, only that was when the door opened again. Since I had made sure to retain a clear line of sight to the door I just sifted my glance so I could see who was joining us, whereas Bella had to turn around. But once she caught sight of who it was, she turned back to me, slumped in her chair, and grabbed her drink so she could gulp the rest of it down.
As had I mentioned to Bella earlier, by my rough count we had our hundred players in the room, so that meant our host was arriving. So this was Dempsey. But why had Bella reacted like this? Was my count off? Was this another player? And if so what had he done to her? Wanting to confirm who it was, I leaned in to the table and asked, “So is this our esteemed host?”
With a voice to match her apparent displeasure Bella replied. “Yes, that is our host. Though I’m not quite so sure that ‘esteemed; is the appellation he deserves.”
I would have to figure out her dislike of the man later, for now I satisfied myself with studying this notorious man. After all he had a reputation that was larger than life. Which was most likely why the reality of the man just didn’t match my mental image of him. At first glance the man who was still standing in the doorway was nothing exceptional, at least physically. The only thing about him that jumped out at me was his clothing. But other than the outer wrappings, and judging by their look they appeared to be very fine silk, the man looked perfectly ordinary.
A man of average height and weight, there appeared to be no physical trait that marked him as special. If pressed, I would say that he was lean. Built with muscles crafted from a life of constant running. He had close-cropped black hair that contrasted perfectly with his pale skin. In fact Dempsey was so pale I wondered if he ever went outside. I had the idea that Dempsey had little desire to do anything that didn’t directly benefit him, like tanning white skin.