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Lunch wasn’t as bad as Dela had anticipated. Her mom didn’t bring up embarrassing things and Quinn, while being inquisitive, didn’t ask questions that she didn’t want answered.
Once he had left, with her agreeing to meet at the casino to see what Marty had come up with, she hugged her mom. “Thank you for lunch. It was what I needed.”
Her mom’s eyes glistened with tears. “You and any of your friends are always welcome here. I don’t care if you are thirty-eight or sixty-eight, you will always be my little girl.”
She eased out of her mom’s arms and picked up the bag she’d used to hold the crutches she’d taken apart so no one would know she needed them. Other items in the bag were Epsom salt, more liners and socks for her socket, and more slacks and polo work shirts.
“I hope you find out who killed your employee soon,” Mom said, as she opened the door.
“Me, too.” Dela walked out to her car and tossed the bag into the passenger seat. Turning the key, her phone rang. Bernie Moon, the chairman of the Board of Trustees.
“Hello, Bernie,” she answered more cheerful than she felt.
“Dela, good to hear you are in such good spirits. Does this mean you have found the person who wronged our casino?”
She backed out of the driveway and headed toward the casino. “No. We haven’t found out who killed a casino employee. I am working with the FBI and the tribal police. We have leads, and I hope to have this cleared up by the end of the weekend.” She crossed her fingers. They’d be lucky if they cleared up both murders in that amount of time.
“I see. I can keep it out of the CUJ, they know how important the casino is to our economy. But the editor at the East Oregonian always wants to spread things before he has the truth.” Bernie’s voice held disappointment.
“I’m sure you can easily talk the editor into holding off until we have more information.” The Confederated Umatilla Journal, a newspaper run by Umatilla members, wouldn’t write anything harmful to the casino. However, the editor at the Pendleton newspaper always wanted to dig up more gossip than truth.
“I had hoped you would have good news for me to relay to both papers.”
Ah, here was his way of making her feel like she might not have Head of Security much longer.
“We are following two possible leads.” She pulled into the casino parking lot. “I really need to go. Special Agent Pierce is waiting for me so we can go over the forensic report and see if we can put either of our suspects at the scene.” She was blowing smoke. Quinn had said he had the forensic report, but whether they could learn enough from it to go after anyone was still up in the air.
“Do keep me informed of your investigation.”
“I will call you as soon as we know enough for you to contact the media.” She ended the call and carried her bag into the casino. Walking up to the registration desk that wasn’t as busy at this time of day, she handed the bag over to Faith Whitebird. They had attended school together. While Dela went off to join the army, Faith married and now had two teenaged children. “When you get a chance, could you run this up to the room I’m staying in?”
Faith smiled. “I can do it when I get off work. Is that soon enough?”
“That works. I need to catch up to Special Agent Pierce. He has some new information.”
Her friend leaned across the counter and whispered, “I hope you and he are talking about more than the murder. He’s cute.”
Dela shook her head. “Always the matchmaker. We aren’t a good match. Too much bad past.”
“Oooo, that means your next night off you have to come to my place and tell me and Molly all about your past with the handsome FBI agent.” Faith wiggled her eyebrows.
Dela laughed. “Have you learned anything about my life in the army?”
“No.” She studied Dela. “Was your life in the army so bad you don’t want to share it?”
She shrugged. “It was a different life. One I enjoyed while I lived it, but one I don’t care to revisit.”
“Fair enough.” She winked. “But you still have to come hang out with the girls your next night off.”
“I’ll try.” She walked across the casino floor, smiling. She’d only been back at the reservation a year and had taken back up with several of her friends from school. It had been awkward at first. She didn’t know how they would accept her considering her injury and having been gone for so long. Having grown up a part of the community, she shouldn’t have worried.
Dela entered the security offices. She walked up to the podium, a small office, where Kay was on duty keeping things running. Could it have been one of the day security guards who were friends with Tristan? Wouldn’t that person have come forward after his death if they were?
Kay said, “Bruce and Ross didn’t find anything that looked like a weapon on the tenth floor. They also went the length of the stairway and didn’t find anything other than cigarette butts.” She scrunched up her face.
“Thanks. Anything happening I need to know about?”
“Kenny hasn’t come in yet.”
“I’d asked him to do something for me before he came in.” Dela headed back to the door, “I’m headed over to surveillance if you need me.”
She walked the distance from the security offices to the surveillance offices and held her ID card up to the hidden door. It opened and she crossed the large monitor room and entered Marty’s office.
Marty and Quinn were watching a video up on the monitor. “What is this of?” she asked, taking a seat on the other side of Marty.
“Footage of Pomroy every time he came to the casino after his work hours.” Marty held out a bag of popcorn. “Want some?”
She grabbed a handful. “Anything interesting so far?”
“He was watching Jeff and the other tables, but mostly Jeff’s table. And he seemed to be studying a local who comes in often.”
“Find more footage on that man. Kenny hasn’t arrived yet with Jeff.” Dela stood, pulled out her phone, and scrolled through her contacts for her second in command.
“Hey,” Kenny answered.
“Do you have Jeff?” Dela asked.
“Can’t find him. I’ve been looking everywhere. I think pulling him in last night scared him.” Kenny blew out a breath. “We might need to get some help on this.”
She glanced at Quinn. “I know who to contact. Come on in to work.” She ended the call and shifted her attention to Quinn and Marty. “He can’t find Jeff. Looks like he’s running.”
Marty stopped the video and dug through papers on his desk. “Here’s information on Jeff. You might want to get the local police to look for him.”
Quinn grabbed the papers from her hands. “I’ll get my guys on it.”
“Good. I really don’t want to hand this over to the city or state police. Bernie called. He doesn’t want bad publicity in the local papers.”
Marty groaned. “I suppose if you don’t solve this fast, you will be demoted.”
“Something like that.” Dela studied the paused video. “Did you put together footage of the hall outside of room eight-thirty-four on Thursday night?”
“Yeah, you can watch it on the right monitor.” Marty tapped the keyboard and the monitor in front of her chair came to life. She sat back down and propped her foot back up.
Quinn walked over to a corner of the room and pulled out his phone. She turned her attention to the monitor. The time stamp showed Paula leaving her gift on the door at 11:26 pm. She disappeared from sight. Around 12:30 am she and Ronald Edmond entered the room, taking her gift bag with them. Who was the woman that Van said told him there wasn’t a plugged toilet? Was it Paula? A busboy arrived with a cart. Ronald let him in. The person left five minutes later, without the dishes that were on the cart. She fast forwarded to 1 am. Van walked down the hallway, knocked on the door, and Paula talked to him. He looked upset, but walked away. As he’d said, he walked toward the stairs.
A few minutes later, Paula exited the room wearing a robe. She didn’t go to the elevator, she walked toward the stairs.
“Look at this,” Dela said, pointing to the monitor.
Quinn stood behind her, staring at the image. “What?”
She rewound the footage.
“Mrs. Pomroy took the stairs in our time frame of the murder.” Quinn’s tone was thoughtful.
“Let’s see when she comes back.” Dela fast forwarded. The woman never returned to the room. “She must have had the robe on over her clothes to keep them from getting bloody.” Dela thought back. “I wonder if there was a bloody robe in the chute with the body?”
“I’ll ask forensics.” Quinn wandered to the corner to make his call.
She wondered what was on the forensic report he’d received during lunch. They needed to either find the small black book or get into Tristan’s computer.
“We need to go see if Wallace has had any luck with Tristan’s computer. We need to know what he was up to.” She glanced up at the monitor. “I think he had help from someone in either security or surveillance.”
Marty stopped sliding his chair back. “We have a breach, again?”
She sighed. “I hope not, but Paula Pomroy said one of Tristan’s friends worked in security. That could mean either security or surveillance given the camera on ten was compromised.” She studied him. “You need to keep watching video of Tristan Pomroy the nights he came back to the casino. We want to know the people he focused on the most. We already know he was on to Jeff Twigg skimming money from his table. I want to know what else he found.” She glanced at Quinn who was still on the phone. “We believe Tristan was killed because he was blackmailing people and one of them didn’t want to pay anymore.”
Marty whistled. “Who would have thought he had the guts to do that.”
“He was more complex than any of us imagined,” Dela said, sitting back down to rewind and watch the video aimed at the hall of room 834.
Quinn walked over. “I have two people searching Twigg’s house, seeing if we can determine where he went.”
Dela nodded. She fast forwarded after Paula left the room. Around 5 am Ronald entered the room. “What the...?” She rewound and fast forwarded again. “Either there was another breach in the video or Ronald Edmond left the room hidden in the cart the busboy brought up.”
Quinn pulled a chair up beside her and watched the film. “You’re right in your assumption. It doesn’t show him leaving, and yet, there he is going inside the room.”
“Not to pull you from that, but did you know Tristan was studying this guy?” Marty pointed to a still shot.
“If that’s Luke Saxton, yes, we did know.”
“Did you know it was probably because I’ve watched this guy lift wallets from women’s open purses?”
Anger and frustration shot heat through Dela’s body. How had this man’s actions not been noticed by her security? “How obvious is it?”
“He sits next to a woman with an open purse. He talks to her a bit, then plays the machine. When someone comes along and talks to the woman, he reaches in, takes the wallet and walks away. But he comes back in a few minutes and drops the wallet back in the purse.” Marty kept the video running.
“That’s why no one reports having their wallet stolen. They probably figure they gambled more money than they thought.” Dela leaned back in the chair.
“Here’s the thing.” Marty fast forwarded the video. Over in a corner Tristan stood talking to the man.
“Bingo!” Quinn said. “That proves Pomroy was blackmailing the people in his book.”
“No wonder Jeff ran when I confronted him last night.” Dela stood. “He couldn’t have killed Tristan, the cameras had him working the hours when the murder happened.” She stood up.
“We’re going to have a talk with Luke Saxton. Can you pull up more footage of Tristan? We need to find out who in security or surveillance he had mess with the camera on ten.”
Marty heaved a sigh. “I know this murder is top priority. I could really use Verna’s help.”
Dela shook her head. “Sorry, I don’t trust her. She is the one that didn’t follow protocol when she noted the cameras weren’t working the night of the murder.” She walked over to the door, hand on the knob, waiting for Quinn.
As they left the surveillance area, Quinn asked, “I thought you wanted to ask about a bloody robe?”
“Was it in the forensic report?” she asked, holding the door open.
“No.”
“We need to know when Paula left the casino.” Dela grasped her mic. “Marty, do you copy?”
“Yo.”
“Also go through footage of the entrances after one-thirty. I want to know when Paula Pomroy left the casino.”
“I’ll get on it.”
“Thanks.” She released the mic as they walked across the casino floor, dodging the colorful slot machines and the growing number of players. The smoke from cigarettes hung head high and higher, the scent fading when she walked by a person doused in cologne.
“I don’t think word has gotten out about the problem the other night,” Quinn said as they walked up to the security door to pass through into the bowels of the casino’s operations.
“Or people are curious and have come to see if they can learn more.” Since losing her friend in high school, Dela had become a cynic. She knew it about herself, but didn’t care. Seeing the worst in people never had her being disappointed in anyone.
Quinn snorted.
“What is that for?”
“Always looking for the silver lining, I see.” His sarcasm wasn’t lost on her.
“It’s a good way to never get hurt.”
They stopped outside of the laundry. Quinn stared at her. “Someday you’ll have to tell me about the people who have hurt you.”
She shook her head. “We will never become that close of friends.” Pushing the door open she walked into the hot, humid laundry room. There were three times the number of staff as at night.
Dela walked over to the supervisor’s room. Ester Sanchez sat at the desk her head bent over a schedule. “Ester?”
The Hispanic woman was in her sixties. She pressed her palms to her chest. “Dela, you give me a heart attack. I don’t hear anything over the noise of this place.”
“I’m sorry. We have a question for you regarding the morning the body was found on ten.”
The woman’s lips pursed and she made the sign of the cross. “That was a terrible morning. Bloody sheets and towels. They had to soak before we could put them in the washers.”
“Did there happen to be a robe with the bedding?” The video of Paula sneaking to the stairs in a robe, might be enough to have Quinn pick her up for questioning, but she didn’t know if it was enough to actually arrest her for her husband’s murder.
Ester nodded. “There were three robes that had blood on them.”
Dela glanced at Quinn. If there were three, they could have just been in the chute under the body and soaked up the blood before his heart stopped pumping. Which drew her to the fact, she didn’t know what the forensic report had said.
“Thank you.” She led Quinn back out to the gaming floor. “Let’s grab a cup of coffee and you fill me in on the forensic report.”
He nodded and led the way to the coffee shop.
Dela liked his choice. There would be less traffic in the coffee shop than at the deli.
When they were seated, Quinn pulled out his phone, messed with it, and placed it in front of her on the table. He’d pulled up the forensic report.
She scanned the obvious information- name, gender, race. A puncture in the carotid artery on the right side of the neck. It was described as a round hole with jagged edges. Perhaps a round tool with a serrated edge caused the wound. No other injuries were reported.
Sipping her coffee, she stared at the report. “Right side of the neck. If the killer was facing him, they would have been left-handed.”
Quinn nodded. “But if he was attacked from behind, it would be a right-handed person.”
“You had to go and ruin our first good clue.” She glared at him and sipped more coffee. “What would cause a wound with jagged edges?”
“Something with a serrated edge.” Quinn raised his cup to his lips and she caught a glimpse of mischief in his eyes.
“Stop mocking my comments.” She focused her gaze on the report. “He didn’t weigh as much as me. I bet a woman could have doubled him over and shoved him down the chute.”
“When you looked in the chute was there a robe or anything on top of him?” Quinn asked.
“No.” She caught on to what he was saying. “Damn. That means Paula didn’t stab him, put him in the chute, and then toss the bloody robe in on top of him.” She stared into her coffee. “There had to be a lot of blood. Did forensics find any sign of blood on the floor or wall around the chute?” The room had looked spotless when they’d entered.
“It had been cleaned but there were still traces. It was the victim’s blood.” Quinn nodded. “I don’t know how the killer managed to get out of the room without blood on them. And it’s strange that Edmond secretly left room eight-thirty-four and then Paula wore a robe to walk up or down the stairs.”
“We really need to know more about good ole, Ronnie,” Dela said.
“I’ll see if Shaffer has written up his report on talking to the Pomroy neighbors and if anything more came up about Edmond.” He pulled his phone across the table. He slid his finger across the screen, and tapped on it.
As he talked, Dela watched the people walking into the coffee shop and the people wandering around outside the door. Who could Mattie have talked to about the book besides her cousin? Had she called Paula about the book? So many questions and so few answers.
Quinn ended his call. “Shaffer got the name and address of Mattie Collier’s boyfriend. He also sent subpoenas for Mattie, Paula, Edmond, and Tristan’s phone records.”
“Why did he subpoena Ronald’s phone records?” She understood the others.
“Because according to the neighbors, he’s been hanging around the Pomroy residence a lot the last month.” Quinn finished off his coffee. “And now I know why his name was familiar. He’s a bounty hunter out of Portland.”
Dela stared at Quinn. “Bounty hunter? I didn’t think that occupation still existed.”
“They usually work for bail bondsmen. Bringing in fugitives who jump bail.” He stood. “We’re going to have a talk with Edmond.”
“Is he still in the hotel?” She stood and followed him out of the coffee shop.
“There’s only one way to find out.” Quinn walked over to the registration desk.