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They left the Pomroy residence and drove to the house Mattie and her cousin rented. The small dark compact car sat in front of the house. Forensics had left and a deputy stood watch over the place.
“Deputy.” Quinn flashed his badge and they walked over to the car.
“Forensics went over the car, too,” the deputy said.
“Thanks. We’re going to take a look anyway.” Quinn sat in the driver’s seat and started pushing and thumping on the inside of the car.
“Pop the trunk and the hood,” Dela said.
He pulled on the levers.
She leaned into the trunk pulling back carpet and looking for hiding spots. When she’d been over every inch of the trunk, she backed away and slammed the lid down.
Quinn had moved to the back seat, digging his hands in between the cushions and tapping the door panels.
Dela raised the hood. A faint sliding sound caught her attention. There was a slit between the two sheets of metal that made the hood. “Quinn.”
He appeared beside her.
“There’s something in the hood.” She put it down and raised the hood, again. This time there wasn’t a sound. “It must be sitting down there.” She pointed to the end of the hood nearest the windshield.
Quinn went over and talked to the deputy, then came back. “He’s going to call someone to come out here and take the hood apart.”
Dela’s stomach rumbled. It was getting close to seven. The lunch her mom had made had worn off.
“You want to take my vehicle and grab some burgers?” Quinn asked, holding the keys in his hand.
She didn’t like driving vehicles she didn’t know. Her prosthetic right foot was hard to regulate the pressure on the accelerator. She knew the right pressure in her car to not go too fast.
“I’ll wait.” Her stomach rumbled again.
“I get it. You don’t want to wreck a Federal vehicle. What do you want to eat?”
“A burger, fries, and iced tea, please.” She was glad he hadn’t pushed the point, but she hoped he hadn’t thought she was such a bad driver she didn’t want to take his vehicle.
“I’ll be back before the other guy gets here.”
As soon as Quinn pulled away, she opened the passenger door and sat in the car, with her feet and legs on the ground. She thought about moving to the back seat and pulling her body in to elevate her leg but decided that wasn’t a good idea. There would be no way she could get out of the car quickly.
♠ ♣ ♥ ♦
Quinn returned before the wrecking yard truck, but by only five minutes. Dela was chowing down on the burger when the wrecking truck pulled in front of the house. Quinn set his food down and walked over to talk to the man.
Dela took another large bite and wrapped the rest of the burger up, setting it on her seat in the SUV, and joined Quinn and the newcomer at the front of the compact car.
“You think there’s something in between the metal of the hood? And you want me to saw through?”
“Unless you have a better idea,” Quinn said.
“I think we should take the hood off and shake it, see if there is anything in there before you ruin the hood.”
Dela agreed. She and Quinn went back to eating while the man started up an air compressor and took the bolts out where the hood hinged.
The food was finished and they slurped the last of their tea when the man called for help. He, Quinn, and the deputy picked up the freed hood and tipped it to the front. The sliding sound moved from the back of the hood to the front, now sitting on the ground.
“See if you can shake whatever it is over toward the hole,” Dela said, pointing to the opening she believed was used to insert the book.
Quinn and the deputy shook and moved the lid around like they were panning for gold.
“Stop!” Dela shouted when she saw the corner of the book at the hole. She slipped two fingers in on top of the corner and pulled it out. She grinned at the two law enforcement officers and gave the man who freed the hood a high-five.
“Thank you,” she said to the deputy and wrecker driver as she carried the book back to Quinn’s SUV.
Quinn slid behind the steering wheel and started the vehicle. “What does that book have that is so important?”
“You mean besides the amount he was blackmailing people?” Her gaze landed on a number that had to be the bank account in the Caymans. “I believe a number Paula would like to have. His bank account.”
“Let’s drop that off at the office. Then I’ll get you back to the casino. I’d like to get information on Paula’s parents and see if that’s where she went.” Quinn drove away from the car without a hood and onto the street.
“Why would she leave without this book and number if she knew about it?” After hearing how the woman liked money and knowing she knew about the book, it didn’t make sense that she would just drive off without trying harder to find the bank number.
“Maybe she thought we were getting close and she wanted to distance herself from the two murders.” Quinn turned onto the interstate.
Dela could understand the woman wanting to put space between her and the deaths. Especially if she did the killing.
She wanted to see her dog but didn’t want to ask Quinn to make a detour. She’d check on things at the casino then drive to the clinic and check on him. Maybe tell him they might have a home when he was ready.
Her curiosity about what Paula had left on the door handle of room 834 was niggling at her. She’d go see Teresa at the gift shop before she went to the security offices.
They didn’t say much as Quinn drove to the casino. He pulled up in front of the entrance, leaving the vehicle running. “Call if you come up with anything new. I’ll take this book to the office and see what they have come up with. Catch up to you in the morning?”
“I’ll be here. Though technically, it is my day off. I don’t plan on taking a day off until this is settled. I can’t have Bernie Moon thinking I don’t care about the casino’s reputation.” She pushed off the seat, remembering to put all her weight on her good foot when she landed on the ground.
Arthur greeted her inside the door. “Did you work all day and are back tonight?”
She smiled. “Yes. I’ll be staying here until we find out who killed Tristan.”
“I heard Jeff is missing.” Arthur tipped his head toward the gaming table area.
“He was skimming from the casino.” She wasn’t surprised when the old man nodded his head. “You knew?”
“Didn’t know for sure. That’s why I didn’t say anything. But the nights the casino was busy, he’d meet with a pretty woman when she’d arrive and before she left. Thought they were a couple, but I asked her one night when I got her car. She said they were just old friends.”
Dela studied him. “Did she happen to say her name?”
“No. But here’s her car’s license plate number.” He grinned and opened a small book he drew out of his breast pocket after moving a gray braid. Ripping out a page he handed it to her. “Something told me to write it down a couple weeks ago.”
“Thank you. This might help us find Jeff.” She walked toward the gift shop. The large windows facing the casino floor gave her a glimpse of Teresa working in the shop. Passing through the opening, her senses were awakened by the floral and herbal scents. Candles, potpourri, and colognes all battled for air space. There were many souvenirs and local artists’ items for sale in the shop.
“Dela, what can I help you find?” Teresa asked, straightening from plucking items out of a box.
“Every time I come in here there are more wonderful things from the local artists.” She scanned the wall with framed art. There was one painting of a horse and woman that if she bought the house, she would purchase for her bedroom wall.
“I have a question for you. Do you know Paula Pomroy?”
Teresa walked over to Dela. “Why does Pomroy sound familiar?”
“Her husband was killed on ten Wednesday night.”
The woman snapped her fingers. “That’s why. No. Why?”
“She was in here Wednesday and purchased something. She took it up and gave it to a man in room eight-thirty-four. Any chance you would remember?” That her friend would remember something purchased on Wednesday and not know the person who purchased it would be a miracle.
“Wednesday? I remember it was slow in here. Do you have a photo of her?”
Dela texted Quinn to send her a photo of Paula. She chatted with Teresa about the painting and the artist until her phone dinged. Raising the phone up, she showed the photo of Paula.
“Oh, yeah, I remember her. Only because I had never seen her before and she walked straight in, over to those corkscrews, picked one up, and bought it without saying a word.”
“A corkscrew?”
“Yeah. Not a cheap one either. It was one of the decorative ones, not the easy pump kind.”
She followed Teresa over to the display. Not being a wine person, she hadn’t known there were different kinds of corkscrews.
Teresa held up one with a beautiful, solid wood handle painted in a Native motif and a four-inch solid metal spiral with a wicked point on the end. “This is the one she bought.”
Dela took a picture of the tool. “Thank you.” As she walked out of the gift shop, she sent the photo to Quinn. This is what Paula purchased. Could it be the murder weapon?
I’ll send the photo to forensics.
She also texted the car license plate number to him. Arthur says this is the woman who helped Jeff Twigg steal from the casino.
I thought you were going to take a night off.
Not until we find the murderer.
She headed across the casino floor to the door leading to the surveillance offices. Her leg and body were telling her to make it a night, but she wanted to catch up with Marty and find out what he might have uncovered on the surveillance videos.
The personnel watching the monitors all glanced her way as she walked through the room.
“Shouldn’t you be home, resting?” Lionel, the oldest member of security and surveillance since Godfrey was arrested, asked.
“I should, but with two murders now connected to the casino, I’m afraid, I won’t be head of security much longer if I don’t solve these.”
“What can we do to help?” Lionel asked.
Dela smiled at the man. He could have been the assistant to the head of security when she was hired. In most places, a man in his position would have held a grudge, but he’d told her he didn’t want to give more than his forty hours a week. He had a family that needed him at home. He went to work for the surveillance side of security instead.
She studied the night crew members that were present. Even though she trusted all of the surveillance and security personnel, she trusted the four at the monitors right now the most. “You are the group that are here helping out when the casino is the busiest. It’s not easy, but what I want to know is have any of you seen a security member talking to Tristan Pomroy?”
“The dead guy?” Mick asked.
“Yes,” Dela clarified.
They all said they had never seen him talking with anyone from security. She sighed heavily. “Okay. I know none of you were here Wednesday night when the murder occurred, but you have all been here long enough to know what to do if a camera goes down.”
They all started telling her the protocol.
“Correct. So why do you think a member of surveillance didn’t do that when their monitor went black?” She listened to each one. They all pretty much said, she either knew it was going down or had caused it.
“Whoa! You can make a camera go black? I thought you just watched them.” She scanned the keyboards in front of them.
Mick waved her over. “Godfrey showed us the code to stop the filming of a camera when it had sensitive imagery.”
She shoved her hands on her hips and glared at him. “What do you mean sensitive imagery?” Apparently, her former boss had been skimming from somewhere longer than he’d been working for the human trafficking ring.
Mick’s face reddened. “When we started, and each time someone new comes along, we were told to teach this to them when some political officials go up to a room with someone other than their spouse.”
Double frickin’ shit! “You’re telling me that you have all been covering sexual rendezvouses for local officials because Godfrey told you to?”
Lionel cleared his throat. “Not all of us. But there were times when Godfrey would see the person enter the casino and come stand behind us watching what they did and tell us when to black the camera.”
The rage shaking her body made it hard for her to calm her voice. “From now on, that is not to happen. Do you hear me? And I want that passed along to every one of the security team. We are here to keep this casino clean and to be able to hand over any information law enforcement needs. We can’t do that if we are helping the wrong people hide their acts of debauchery.”
They all murmured and nodded. She shifted her attention to Lionel. “I would like you to give me a list of the people Godfrey had you erasing on the surveillance cameras.”
He nodded. A grin spread across his face. “This is why we will do whatever you ask to catch the killer and show the board you are the best person for head of security.”
“Thank you all for your vote of confidence.” She walked into Marty’s office half ashamed that she hadn’t caught on to her boss’s greased palms earlier and elated that so many of security wanted her to remain as their boss.
Marty swung his chair around. “How goes the fight?”
“Slow and dirty,” she replied, easing down into the chair next to him and propping her leg up. “Did you find out anything helpful?”