Chapter Fourteen: Cheechako

Lizzy had trouble sleeping that night. She tossed and turned well into the early hours before giving up. Tried everything to distract her, take her mind off the circles it was running, but nothing seemed to work. Not television, not cards, not the internet, not the view of the city. She got so desperate, she even tried the pay-per-view porn. It amused Lizzy a bit to imagine Catherine's face if she saw Lizzy's room bill, which she was basically paying for. But that was only a fleeting diversion. No, she was thinking about Richard Fitzwilliam, Charlie and Caroline Bingley, and most of all, Will fucking Darcy. Picasso, possibly the greatest living grifter, the man with a sister in prison, a trail of broken friendships, the man who was supposedly retired. She was replaying every horrible interaction with him, searching for anything she had missed. Because she knew something smelt bad, her senses were telling her that all was not as it seemed. It just didn't quite make sense. But fuck, she couldn't even begin to figure it out. Was she paranoid? Was she just so determined to distrust and dislike him that she was projecting something that wasn't there onto him? Trust your instincts, that's what grifters were always told when starting out, that was what Tommo and Jane had drilled into her. But her instincts had been wrong before, alarmingly frequently of late. So, was she wrong about this as well?

Finally managed to doze off at about four am, but the sleep was still fitful, never getting passed the first phase. Her dreams were strange and vivid, waking her up in fits and starts, but not allowing to be remembered. All that was left was a trail of gas and heightened emotions. This wasn't healthy, it wasn't good. This was supposed to be a holiday.

She woke up properly at around 8 am to the sound of crashing and the smell of fried food. Stumbled out of her room to find Charlotte dressed in her business suit, humming some bland pop song that she would be mortified to know, cooking up some eggs.

"Morning, Lizzy," she said brightly, as Lizzy collapsed onto a chair at the breakfast bar. "You want some eggs?"

"Please," Lizzy confirmed shortly, resting her head on the tabletop.

"Still not a morning person?" Charlotte chuckled.

"Couldn't sleep is all," Lizzy replied.

"Having nightmares about Lady Catherine?" Charlotte laughed. "Me too. She's a fucking bitch, isn't she? You see now why I couldn't explain her to you, it would never have done her justice!"

"I don't know if she's either really fucking horrible or just really fucking bored," Lizzy said. "It was like we were all there just to amuse her briefly…."

"And I can't believe she made me go back to work!" Charlotte moaned. "It's not like I do anything all day anyway. I'm so sorry that I have to leave you on your own, Lizzy."

"No worries," Lizzy waved her off. "Sure I can find something to do…"

"You could give Darcy a call…" Charlotte smirked at her.

"Why the fuck would I do that?" Lizzy snapped her head up.

"Dunno, just a suggestion."

"Well, a pretty shit one. Think I'll just go back to bed for the rest of the morning, then have a wander around, hit the tables for a bit in the afternoon."

"Sounds good," Charlotte plated her up some eggs on toast. "I'll be done by about 5 probably, maybe 6. We'll go out for dinner, maybe go see a show. Not one of the Strip ones, they cost a fortune, but there's this really cool club I know a bit out of town. Should be a band on."

"Sounds good." Lizzy nodded, distractedly.

"Ok, well I've got to go. Don't be too lonely!"

Charlotte gave her a wave and walked out of the suite, leaving Lizzy alone with her eggs. She ate slowly, desperately trying to keep her mind off Darcy and Richard. It didn't matter, she kept telling herself, she was here to have fun, she was being stupid. Finished her food and trudged back to bed, not planning on getting up anytime soon.

Knock, knock, knock.

She sat up with a start, the television illuminating the dark room with flickering light.

Knock, knock, knock.

Checked the time, almost 1pm, she had slept longer than she had wanted to. The banging on the door continued relentlessly. She dressed quickly and rushed to answer it. God, she hoped it wasn't Catherine. Reached the door and opened it.

"Lizzy!" Richard Fitzwilliam greeted enthusiastically. "May I come in?"

He pushed past her without waiting for an answer, striding towards the kitchen area as if he owned the place.

"You got any coffee in here? Had a few too many whiskeys last night and I need a caffeine boost. Mind you, I don't regret it. When in the company of Lady C, one must make sure one is well lubricated!"

He put the coffee pot on, whistling away, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Lizzy had yet to say a word to him. She studied him carefully as he went about his business, but found nothing more to comment on. He turned to her with enquiring eyes after a while, and she quickly put her mask on.

"So," Richard clapped his hands together. "What are we doing today then?"

"We?"

"Well, yes!" Richard smiled at her. "I've grown quite bored of everyone here and it's not like Darcy is much fun. So here we are, two people at a loose end with the whole of Vegas on our doorstep!"

"I'm not going to sleep with you," Lizzy stated with narrowed eyes, Catherine's words about him and women coming back to her from the previous evening.

Richard laughed loudly, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"You wound me, Lizzy," he said, still chuckling. "Believe it or not, it is not my sole aim to attempt to seduce every woman I come into contact with. Alright, so maybe it is, but your insistence is noted and accepted. A shame though….."

Lizzy looked at him.

"Jesus, just kidding, mate," he held his hands up. "Look, the way I see it you seem like a cool girl and I'm bored and lacking in interesting company. As are you by the looks of it. So come on, what's the harm in having a bit of fun?"

Again, Lizzy just looked at him.

"I mean the entirely innocent connotation of fun obviously. You have a dirty mind, Bennet."

"Fine," Lizzy sighed. "Pour me some of that coffee will you, least you can do seeing as you barged in here uninvited."

"That's the spirit," Richard set about the coffee. "A little bit lacking in enthusiasm, but we'll get there."

"Sorry, I didn't sleep well last night," she muttered.

"Anything troubling you?" Richard asked, lightly.

It was probably just a friendly question, a concerned enquiry. But the way Lizzy's mind was working recently, she couldn't help but see it as fishing. Did he know that she was suspicious of him? Did he come here not to make a new friend as he was insisting, but in fact to check up on her, check how much she might have guessed? If he was, he was wasting his time. She knew fuck all and it was killing her. She decided to play along with him for now, maybe even have a good time in the process. Remember, this is a holiday, she kept telling herself….

"No, nothing really." Lizzy dismissed, sipping on her steaming coffee, feeling the elixir flow through her. God, she needed that.

"I never sleep well in hotels," Richard admitted happily. "I'm always just a bit on edge for some reason. Didn't get a wink of sleep last time I came here. I think I was worried that Lady C was going to come into my room and start shouting at me about something or other!"

"You're staying here as well?"

"Oh, no, decided not to this time, much to C's annoyance. Me and Darcy are at the Bellagio. Needed to have a place where we can get away from her. Whenever we've stayed in Rosings before she was always letting herself into our rooms every five minutes with some bullshit or another."

"She seems very fond of you," Lizzy said, diplomatically.

"She's fond of Darcy," Richard corrected. "And she tolerates me."

"I get the impression that you don't exactly try too hard to rectify that," Lizzy smirked.

"Oh, nowadays I just play up to it," Richard smirked back. "That way she mostly leaves me alone. It does mean throwing poor Darcy under the bus somewhat, but hey, man's gotta do what a man's gotta do."

"I'm sure he can handle it," Lizzy muttered, causing Richard to look at her with an expression she couldn't read.

"I'm sure he can," he said after a while, his smile returning. "You wanna get some lunch?"

They strolled down the strip for a while, Lizzy loosening up as they went along. He really was good company. He was relaxed, funny, an expert at putting people at ease. She supposed he had to be, he was a grifter in one of the most legendary crews of the modern day. Found herself letting her guard down around him, a part of her knew that this may well be exactly what he wanted her to do, but she pushed it away. He seemed genuine enough and she was tired of overthinking. Had spent all last night doing so and it had got her nowhere.

Richard had told her about himself as they made their way towards a diner he knew of. Turned out he was from Glasgow, Scotland. He and Darcy were cousins by some slightly confusing family relations but had not been close as children, that had come later, because Darcy had mostly grown up in England at numerous boarding schools and Richard had stayed home. That explained Darcy's lack of accent then. Richard was now based in Edinburgh but had been working with Darcy as his fixer for six years now. The two of them were going out together, Richard said he was ready to move away from grifting. She in turn told him all about her family, what they did, her hopes for the future. When she told him she wanted to play the long con eventually, he smiled widely at her.

"An honourable profession!" he joked as they entered the diner. It smelled of grease and the waitresses looked as fake as they come.

"You want to play the long con then," Richard mused as they sat down. "You think you can do it?"

"I think I could," Lizzy said slowly. "I mean, I know I'm not quite ready yet, and no way can I do it on my own. The problem is I just don't have the sort of friends who would be willing to try with me, hell I don't even really know anyone who plays the game at that level at all…"

"What you need is a teacher." Richard nodded.

"Well, I don't know about that…."

"It's a hard job, Lizzy," Richard warned her, the first time he had turned serious today. "And it's not as glamorous as some would make out. Like Caro for example."

"Caroline…" Lizzy snorted, dismissing the woman with her tone, causing Richard to laugh, yes, but also give her a slightly disapproving look.

"I know she can be hard work, but Caroline is one of the best grifters you will ever meet. Her record speaks for itself. And she did it herself."

"Certainly helped that she had 'Picasso' in her corner," Lizzy said, sarcastically.

"No doubt. But she didn't come to work with him by accident. Charlie and Caroline grew up with very little. They grafted their way up from nothing to what they are today through determination and an extraordinary amount of skill. I saw them first in Manchester, oh seven years ago now. They were pulling off this Gold Brick scam that was just so ridiculous, it had no right to work whatsoever. I stumbled across it by accident, I was supposed to be doing some surveillance on the same mark for a different scam with a different crew, but I didn't think the bloke was a goer. He was too clued up, was unconnable. For some reason, I stayed one more day on him, and that's when the Bouzid's came in. They even had me fooled for a little while, I thought they were genuine, would never have guessed they were grifters. I kept the surveillance up for a while longer, thinking that perhaps this could be a way in. As I watched, I slowly realised that these two kids, because that's what they were, hell it's what I was too, were running a score. It was so perfect, so simple yet complex, one of the best scams I had ever seen worked. It was a privilege to witness. When it was over, and they'd taken him for twenty grand, I introduced myself. Darcy was looking to play the long con, he was much like you are, he didn't have the contacts. So I put them in touch and there we have it."

Lizzy flagged down one of the ridiculous waitresses as she thought about Richard's revelations. She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised. Just because someone was a bitch, didn't mean they weren't good at their job. In fact, the two often came hand in hand.

"Oh, can you give us five minutes?" Richard smiled flirtatiously at the pretty waitress as she came over. "We're waiting for someone…."

"We are?" Lizzy asked, confused.

"You want to play the long con, right? As I said, you need a teacher," Richard smirked. "And by happy coincidence, it turns out that the greatest living con artist happens to be a mutual acquaintance of ours and only about five minutes away…"

For fuck sake.

Darcy walked in ten minutes later, looking as immaculate as ever. Even though he was dressed down by his standards, his shirt sleeves rolled up and a couple of buttons undone, he still looked every bit the Armani model. She saw him smile at the waitress as she greeted him by the door, disconcerting her a little. She had seen him smile more in two days here than he had done in the whole time they'd been together in London. He spotted them and quickly walked over, settling himself down next to Richard with a nod to both of them.

"Darcy!" Richard greeted. "How are you today?"

"I saw you two hours ago, Richard."

"A lot can change in two hours," Richard shot back. "Especially with you. I'm sure you've found something minor that has got on your nerves and put you in an even worse mood than normal."

"In fact, I had been thoroughly enjoying my day until you called. You are that minor annoyance, Richard."

"Glad to be of service," Richard bowed. "God, I'm bloody starving, where's that waitress gone?"

He stood up to chase her down, leaving Lizzy alone with Darcy.

"Miss Bennet, how are you?" Darcy asked, stiffly.

"Fine, thank you," she replied shortly.

God this was fucking awkward. They just sort of sat in silence, Darcy pretending to read the menu, and Lizzy pretending to stare out of the window.

"I … um… trust your family is well?" he eventually broke the silence.

"Yes, all fine."

"Good."

"Good."

They were saved by Richard coming back.

"Don't bother with that menu, Will," he sat down. "I've ordered for us. The biggest, best and greasiest burgers in town!"

"Sounds delightful," Darcy said, sarcastically. "So, why did you drag me here, Rich?"

"Because you need to get out more," Richard joked. "No, truth is, I was having a good time with Lizzy here and she mentioned to me that she had ambitions to play the long con in the future. So, I thought you could maybe give her a few tips over lunch, whilst also attempting to socialise like a normal human being…"

Lizzy looked down in embarrassment at Richard's words. Darcy would probably just laugh at her, after all, she was just a 'small time chancer', direct quote. She could feel his eyes burning into her.

"It wasn't my idea," Lizzy mumbled, feeling the need to say something.

"I'm not sure if Miss Bennet is interested in what I have to say," Darcy said. She could hear the frown in his voice but she still couldn't bring herself to look at him.

"Nonsense, course she is," Richard enthused. "Aren't you, Lizzy?"

"I suppose it couldn't hurt." she sighed, finally bringing up her gaze to Darcy. He was looking at her not with the mockery or raised eyebrow she was expecting, but instead, his eyes held a hint of surprise and curiosity.

"Ok then," Darcy nodded slowly. "Where do you want to start?"

"At the beginning obviously." Lizzy said, easing the tension as both men laughed slightly.

So, Darcy began.

"Firstly, you need to decide what kind of grifter you want to be. It is an art form and like every art form, there are different styles. Ask yourself, what are you in this for? If your answer is purely results then you can go down that road, the efficient style of grifting, tectonic, the German way if you will. Pick marks because you know they are as close to a sure thing as possible, leave no room for manoeuvre and no room for mistakes. Many have had great success doing this. However, it has its drawbacks. It can lead to complacency, a loss of morals, and simply put, it's not as satisfying.

Or, you could go the complete opposite. The Dogma approach. You trust your instincts, make it up as you go along, get a bigger rush than you could ever hope to. Flying by the seat of your pants, it is truly living. Flexible and confident, ready to change up at a moments notice, rely on grift sense. The purest form of the game, what it is all about for some. Your friend George Wickham chooses this way. But, it takes an extraordinary amount of skill, of willpower, of sheer arrogance. Everything can go wrong in an instant and you can end up in prison, or worse, at the drop of a hat."

"So, where do you fit in?" Lizzy asked,

"I try to find a middle ground. When I was younger, I leaned more towards the second approach, and I look back at those days with both pride and horror. The risks I took, the danger I put myself in and, more importantly, the danger I put others around me in, were just plain stupid. But, God, it's a rush, you know? And I don't regret it because it taught me to compromise. In our heyday, my crew attempted to blend both styles and we had extraordinary success in doing so."

The bragging aside, Lizzy was fascinated by his words. Because whatever she thought of him, whatever her suspicions of him, Will Darcy was widely recognized as one of the greatest grifters to have played the game. And when he talked about it he came alive, a whole different side of him came on display. He was passionate, knowledgeable, and interesting, qualities Lizzy had only ever glimpsed when he was talking about his profession. It was a welcome change and it suited him.

"How do you start then?" Lizzy asked, leaning closer to him across the table. "What do you need to do?"

"You need to get your mind right," Darcy shrugged. "Because if you want to be a real grifter you have to be devoted to it. It's a lonely existence, no doubt. You sacrifice your life for it. And you have to get used to being on constant alert. For example, both me and Richard could tell you that the man behind us on the second table on the right is carrying a handgun in his inside jacket pocket, that the girl four tables across is an underage prostitute waiting for her next client, that all three CCTV cameras in here are just for show. We could tell you that there are four possible escape routes if we need it. That's how we now see a room, how we now see people. And to be the best grifter you can be? Friends, lovers, fuck even your own family come second to it in the end, whatever your intentions."

"But you have family," Lizzy narrowed her eyes. "You have friends, Charlie, Caroline and Richard. Are you telling me they come second to you?"

Darcy was silent for a while, weighing up the question and the ramifications of his answer. Richard looked across at him uneasily. She'd pretty much forgotten he was there, and considering his personality, that was a hard thing to do, so enraptured was she with Darcy's words.

"Whether I have intended it or not," Darcy said, slowly and with regret. "They have all come second to my pursuit of the long con. Richard will tell you the same thing. It's just how it is, how a grifter is wired. Grifters are all sociopaths, there is something in us that is not present in other people, some deficiency maybe, I don't know…."

"Jesus, you're a real hoot, Darcy…" Lizzy chuckled, causing Darcy to direct one of those rare smiles her way. She felt something warm stir in her.

"I know, I know," he laughed. "As my cousin has undoubtedly told you, I am quite the bore."

"Not at all." Lizzy shook her head, and she meant it too.

"You see, Richard?" Darcy looked slyly across at his cousin. "Some people find my conversation interesting."

"She's just being polite, Darcy," Richard laughed as their food was brought to the table. It looked good in the way that bad food always does. "Don't go getting any ideas…."

"I'll bear that in mind," Darcy said through slightly gritted teeth. "So, anyway, yes, first off you get your mind right. You work out whether you can really do this, whether you really want it enough."

"I do," Lizzy said, looking him dead in the eye, trying to convey just how serious she was.

"Good, I think," Darcy nodded, taking a bite of his burger and looking suitably disgusted in the aftermath. "So, then you start with the con itself. The trap that most people fall into when coming from a short con background like yourself, no offence, is that they see the long con as an entirely different beast, they mythologize it too much, and they overcomplicate it. But grifting is grifting. The stakes get higher as the money involved increases, and the scams get wider and wider, but in the end, they still work on the same principles as something as small as picking a pocket. It's all just misdirection. Misdirection, misdirection, misdirection. What it's all built on. Smoke and mirrors, distractions and disguise. Making people look at the big show when the important stuff is happening behind them. That's all it is."

"You make it sound so simple." Lizzy sighed.

"In a way, it is that simple," Darcy frowned. "In other ways, however, it is not. Perfection is required at every level, at every stage. This is where your crew comes in. I planned the scores, but I couldn't have done any of it without the people around me. They need to challenge you, excite you, understand you completely. The chemistry has to be potent, otherwise you may as well go home and be ordinary. Fuck knows they're crying out for more robots out there. So yeah, your crew has to be as perfect as you are. You need a roper to reel the mark in, a fixer to take care of the tech, a banker to take care of the money, and then an inside man or woman, the one who is the face of the score. That is the minimum required. We were lucky in the fact that Richard, Charlie and Caro were all capable of working outside their remit, they could all work the inside if it was required."

"You give me too much credit, Will," Richard snorted. "I distinctly remember that time in Hong Kong when you commented that I was perhaps the worst inside man you had ever seen in action."

"Ok, Charlie and Caro could work the inside," Darcy smirked, nodding.

"But none of you could ever be bothered to learn any of the tech," Richard argued.

"Richard, you were an invaluable asset."

"Thank you." Richard nodded in a superior tone.

"So, choose what type of grifter you want to be, keep it simple and find the best crew you can. Anything else?" Lizzy asked, dipping a fry in a salt and pepper dip.

"Abide by the rules, but I'm sure you already know them. You can't cheat an honest man, never give a sucker an even break, always give the mark an out, etc etc. Oh, and the most important thing of all, the thing that will set you apart from most of the field. By no means gospel, but it is the one unique piece of advice I can offer you."

"What's that?" Lizzy said, intrigued.

"It's not about the money," he said simply, leaning back and pushing his half-finished plate away from him. "Once you get that then you're halfway there."

"It's not about the money." Lizzy nodded, to herself more than anything. It was a sentiment she had heard him express before all those months ago in Bingley's hotel, but now it hit home more than ever. After her struggles the last few months, her feelings of boredom and standing still, she now thought she understood the words better. Because it wasn't about the money. It was about the game, always had been. They did this because they weren't ordinary people, they chose to take control of their lives, not be presided over by law, government, banks and newspapers. Was it as Darcy had said, some form of deficiency in their souls? Or was it something altogether more simple, more enlightened? Lizzy couldn't answer that, maybe she never could, but she knew she wanted to do this. She wanted to take his words and fucking soar with them.

She looked across at Darcy to find him looking straight back at her. His eyes were as intense as ever, but Lizzy finally detected a hint of warmth. And she was ashamed to say that she liked it. Because with this conversation, Will Darcy had finally come alive, at least to her. It was beginning to make sense, the reverence he was treated with by his friends, the reputation he had carved for himself. When he talked about grifting, he was a different person, a better person, someone who she could actually stand to be around. The realisation worried her a little.

But still, the doubts were there, and at one point she had detected a slip. 'I try to find the middle ground', he had said. Try. Present tense. Not tried. Try. It wasn't in the past for him, he was still active, still grifting, still playing the game. His claims of retirement rang false. The fog was lifting slightly again, the shapes coming to the foreground, still obscured, still nothing more than wisps on the wind, but slowly becoming something resembling a clear landscape. She didn't know, couldn't begin to work it out, but she knew it was there. And she also had the feeling that the endgame was nigh, that she would find out sooner rather than later.

"Lizzy… Lizzy!" Richard brought her out of her suspicions.

"Yes, sorry," she said quickly, pulling herself together.

"You want a coffee?"

"No, no, you guys go ahead. I'm going to go back to Rosings and try to get my head down again. Charlotte wants to go to this club tonight, so I want to be at least passably awake."

"I can give you a little pick-me-up if you want?" Richard suggested with a smirk.

"No," Lizzy laughed. "Not necessary. Just need a few hours shut-eye. Thanks for lunch and for your advice, Will, it was appreciated and enlightening."

"I hope I didn't totally bore you." Darcy half smiled.

"You didn't at all. Seriously, thank you. I'm sure I'll see you soon."

Lizzy got up and nodded at them, exiting the diner and beginning to walk down the strip back to the hotel, her mind racing with uncertainties.

Will Darcy sat back as Richard moved across to sit opposite him. He watched through the glass as Lizzy Bennet walked quickly away, soon disappearing in the throng of tourists and chancers.

"What do you think?" Richard asked him softly, a frown etched across his brow.

"I'm not sure." Darcy sighed.

"Best guess?"

Darcy looked at his cousin.

"She knows something."

"Shit." Richard breathed out.

"Shit indeed." Darcy nodded, wondering whether everything was going to crumble around him because of a short con player from North London.

AN: Hello, thank you for reading this far if you're here. Going back over this story after many years away and minorly editing it has been interesting. If I were to rewrite it completely there would be some things I would change but overall I still enjoy it and think it's a fun story, albeit with some issues! I do think that the story sort of begins to hit its stride properly in the Vegas chapters and beyond, and I can definitely see years ago's me's confidence increasing in the upcoming chapters. Anyway, I'm editing at about a chapter-a-week pace and am looking forward to posting the completed story. Understandably as this is a repost reviews are thin on the ground (or there just isn't the audience for this sort of story anymore!) but consider dropping one if you feel like it. Have a lovely week!