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situation which has us sitting here at midnight,” Nina said to the girl. “I understand that you won a jackpot.”
    “On the Greed Machine. A progressive slot machine. I never heard of it before. I just played some dollars. I had been there less than five minutes.”
    “More like three,” Leung said.
    “With him yakking nonstop the whole time,” the girl said. “I had about twenty dollars left when the banks lined up. I was just about to leave. I was actually getting off the stool when I saw them stop—kachung kachung kachung—in a perfect row. I didn’t know what it meant. But then the bell went nuts. Everything went nuts.”
    “Seven million, seven hundred sixty-seven thousand, three hundred thirty-nine dollars and sixty-four cents,” Leung said, and he wasn’t consulting any notes.
    Silence rang like bells in the small room. What a stunning amount of money. Nina thought, This can’t be true. People actually won that kind of money on slots? The girl, hand pressed to her jaw, appeared thunderstruck, but Leung recited the amount calmly.
    Of course, he wasn’t the winner.
    “I can’t believe this!” the girl said to Kenny. “Did it really happen?” She combed a hand through her hair. “Why me? I can’t even imagine—what if it’s really true?”
    “Might as well be struck by lightning,” Nina said.
    “I—I just don’t believe it’s true,” the girl went on. “How can I jump up and down? People like me don’t have this kind of luck.”
    Paul said to the girl, “That’s a lot of silver dollars. It is going to change your life. Unless you’re already rich?”
    She answered him with a short laugh. “I have two hundred sixty dollars left in my checking account. I’m staying with my aunt because I can’t afford my own place. I need to buy food. I need to pitch in on the rent. I’ve got a part-time job that pays peanuts, no future at all that I could see, in fact, until just this moment.”
    “Why were you gambling?” Paul asked. “I mean, you say you were practically broke.”
    All three of the other people in the room stared at him.
    “Okay, dumb question.”
    “There actually was a reason,” she said. “I thought someone might be following me. I ducked into the casino to hide. I wasn’t planning to stay long. You know, it does bring up another question, though. Why did I throw my money away down that machine? And the answer is—because there’s something so hopeful about gambling, showing you have . . . faith in the future.”
    “Or just believe in good luck or a benign universe,” Kenny said. “Not that I actually do.”
    “It’s a dream, one of those dreams that come around sometimes where you live out your wishes. I just don’t want to give my name and I don’t want anyone to know about this.”
    “I’m sure the casino will demand a photograph and a name,” Nina said.
    “They took a picture already, which I ducked. I don’t think they got much,” the girl said.
    “You didn’t give them your name?” Nina asked.
    The girl looked embarrassed, then evasive. “I’m afraid I won’t get the money after all, but I do need it. I need it! So I thought a lawyer could think of something and I called Sandy”— Nina noted this use of Sandy’s first name—“and she said she’d call you. I know it was lousy timing.”
    “The way it was described to me, I wouldn’t have missed coming here for anything,” Nina said. “I’m not going to insist that you tell me your identity right now. It’s plain that you have some reason you don’t want it known, and there’s no confidentiality privilege at this moment because Paul and Mr. Leung are here also. You understand that? We can talk alone in a few minutes.”
    “Okay.”
    “What happened when you refused to give your name?”
    “They said, ‘You have to.’ This was while we were still on the casino floor. I couldn’t answer. But then I got an idea.”
    “She told them to call her Mrs. Leung,” Leung said,