"Counselor? Look, this is Benny." I recognized the voice and name. Benny was one of the cabbies that I'd done favors for in the past. "What's the trouble, Benny?" "Oh, no trouble. I just got a little tip you might be interested in." "Fire away." "Well, the D.A. and some of his boys went into the Golden Casino about ten minutes ago, and now they're closin' up the place. Just for a little while, I understand. Hour, maybe. They're chasin' everyone out of the roulette room." "Thanks, Benny," I said, "thanks a lot." "Well, I knew you was working on that Howley case, and I thought this might be important, so I--" "Sure, Benny. Come by my office this afternoon. And thanks again." I hung up and started moving. Within ten minutes, I was pulling up and parking across the street from the Golden Casino. I locked the car and dodged traffic to get across the street, as though I'd never heard of laws against jaywalking. There were still plenty of people in the Casino. The bar was full, and the dice and card games were going full blast. The slot machines were jingling out their infernal din while fools fed coins into their insatiable innards. But the roulette room was closed, and a couple of be-Stetsoned deputies were standing guard over the entrance. I headed straight for them. Both of them stood pat, blocking my way, so I stopped a few feet in front of them. "Hello, counselor," said one. "Sorry, the roulette room's closed." I knew the man slightly. "Let me in, Jim," I said. "I want to see Thursby." The men exchanged glances. Obviously, the D.A. had given them orders. "Can't do it, counselor," said Jim. "We're not to let anyone in." "Tell Thursby I'm out here and that I want to see him." He shrugged, opened the door, stuck his head inside, and called to District Attorney Thursby to tell him that I was outside. I could hear Thursby's muffled "Damn!" from within. But when he showed up at the door, his face was all smiles. "What's the trouble?" he asked pleasantly. I smiled back, giving him my best. "No trouble at all, Thursby. I just wanted to watch the experiment." "Experiment?" He looked honestly surprised, which was a fine piece of acting. "We're just checking to see if the table's wired, that's all. If it is, your client may be in the clear; maybe we can hang it on the croupier." "And get a conspiracy charge on my client, too, eh? Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to watch that table check myself. You know how it is." Thursby hesitated, then he scowled. "Oh, all right. Come on in. But stay out of the way." I grinned. "Sure. All I want to do is protect my client's interests." Thursby just grunted and opened the door wider to let me in. He was a shrewd lawyer, a good D.A., and basically honest, even if he did have a tendency to bend under pressure from higher up. * * * * *