‘Well, look at the pack. It’s all squared up, isn’t it?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, let’s take a card. Any card will do. The top card. I take this card, turn it round and put it back in the pack the other way round and you can feel it … only just … projecting out of the pack very slightly … you can feel it as you run your hand long the edge of the pack.’
He handed the pack to her.
She felt the pack and nodded in agreement.
‘How’s that happened, then?’
‘Well, he has had the pack deliberately trimmed. The long sides have been guillotined so that the short sides are very slightly different lengths, making the cards the shape of a trapezium, which means if a card is inserted the “wrong” way the dealer can instantly feel the card projecting out of the pack, and it is easy to slide out to deal at will. What a delight for a card sharp! That’s the secret. They look exactly the same. The cut is so small. It’s something you feel not see.’
‘I think that’s rotten,’ Mary said. ‘You’ve cheated me! You couldn’t lose.’
Angel smiled.
‘Yes, Mary. Don’t you see? That’s why Gumme was called “The Man Who Couldn’t Lose”.’
By the Same Author
IN THE MIDST OF LIFE
CHOKER
THE MAN IN THE PINK SUIT
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING HONEST
MANTRAP
SALAMANDER
SHAM
THE UMBRELLA MAN
© Roger Silverwood 2007
First published in Great Britain 2007
This edition 2012
ISBN 978 0 7198 0780 0 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7198 0781 7 (mobi)
ISBN 978 0 7198 0782 4 (pdf)
ISBN 978 0 7090 8320 7 (print)
Robert Hale Limited
Clerkenwell House
Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
www.halebooks.com
The right of Roger Silverwood to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988