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Van was checking out the speakers around the casino floor feature when Dela and Quinn approached. The waterfall fountain that splashed water down around the feet of the bronze horses in the scene covered the sound of their footsteps. Van crouched with his back to the floor, looking at something behind a fake rock.
“Van, can we speak with you?” Dela asked as she and Quinn stopped at the railing at the edge of the scene.
The man shot to his feet. When he turned to them, he held what looked like a corkscrew in his hand.
“Where did you get that?” Quinn asked.
Van held it out. “Behind here. I think it’s what shorted out the speakers.”
“Could you bring it to us?” Dela asked, watching the man. He seemed as surprised to find it as they were at seeing him holding what could be the murder weapon.
The maintenance man nodded, walking toward, them watching his step as he crossed the high spots to keep from getting his feet wet.
Quinn pulled a latex glove out of his pocket and tugged it on. When Van stood on the other side of the railing, the special agent reached across and took hold of the corkscrew.
“Could you step over and answer some questions for us?” Dela asked, watching the man. He seemed stunned to find the bottle opening device in the display. She studied the corkscrew as Van climbed over the railing. It looked like a replica of the device Teresa had shown her as the one Paula had bought.
“I’ll be right back,” Quinn said, heading for the casino entrance.
She had a feeling he was going to put the item in an evidence bag. Dela turned her attention to Van. “How did you come to be checking out these speakers?”
“When I came on shift, Harry told me what they’d been doing and that he’d checked all the speakers on this end of the floor except the ones in the feature area.” Van waved his hand. “I take over whatever tasks Harry hasn’t finished when I come on shift. Everyone has someone they take over for.”
Dela nodded. It seemed a bit of a coincidence one of their suspects found the corkscrew. But he’d look frightened when he’d turned around. As far as she knew, no one outside of law enforcement knew Tristan had been killed by a corkscrew.
“The reason Special Agent Pierce and I wanted to talk to you is because we came across a video that shows you and the murder victim, Tristan Pomroy, having a discussion about a week before he died. When we asked you if you knew him, you said you didn’t.” She pulled out her phone and found the video of the two men.
Van stared at it. “That’s the guy who was killed?”
“Yes, Tristan Pomroy.”
He stared at the exchange.
“What were you...or I guess I should say, what was he talking to you about?” Dela continued to watch Van’s face. It had gone as blank and unseeing as the expression he’d worn during the conversation with Tristan.
“I don’t remember. Something about he wanted me to spy on someone in the maintenance department.” Van shrugged and peered down at her. “He thought someone was purchasing items to then sell elsewhere.”
“What did you tell him?” She studied his eyes. They looked familiar.
“To go find another snitch. I wasn’t going to help him.” He crossed his arms as he had during the conversation with the victim.
Quinn returned. He glanced from Dela to Van and back to Dela. “What’s going on?”
Dela told him what she’d learned.
Van confirmed with a nod of his head. “Can I fix the frayed speaker wire?”
“Did you ask him all your questions?” Quinn asked.
“Yeah. You can go back to work.” Dela led Quinn away from the feature. “Did you see how scared he looked when he’d turned around? Do you think he knew about the corkscrew and was trying to get rid of it?”
“I don’t know. You questioned him without me present so I can’t make any assumptions on what is hearsay.” His eyes narrowed.
“It felt awkward standing there saying nothing.” She headed to the security office. “What did you do with the corkscrew?”
“I locked it in the glovebox of my vehicle. I’ll run it to the OSP forensic lab and see if it has blood on it.” Quinn put a hand on her arm, stopping her. “We need to see if we can find a link between Verna, Paula, and possibly Van.”
“I’ll ask Wallace to check into Verna and Van in the morning. You’ll have to check on Paula on your side.” Dela continued to the security office.
“Where are you going? We need to go to the field office and question Verna. Unless you want me to do it.”
She faced Quinn. “You and Verna can both wait for me to finish up asking questions here. I’m going to see if Poppy thinks that corkscrew could have messed up the speakers, and then I’m going to ask Marty to see if he can find any instances where Paula met up with Verna or Van, and leave a note for Wallace.” Dela took a deep breath and said, “You can wait for me or I will catch up to you at the field office in thirty to forty minutes.”
“That will be close to midnight. We can wait and interview Verna in the morning,” Quinn said.
“How? Are you going to let her loose and say come back in the morning? You had Shaffer haul her in. She’s going to know we are adding up the evidence against her. She’s not going to come back tomorrow.”
“I can question her. This is your day off. Let me do the questioning and you go get some sleep.” Quinn started to put a hand on her arm.
Dela took a step back. “I’m not a child who needs to be told when to go to bed. I will go to bed when I have exhausted all I can do for the night.”
“I’m not saying you’re a child. I’m saying you put everyone else first and hurt yourself.” Quinn pivoted and marched off toward the casino entrance.
Damn the man. Every time she started putting some space between her and her feelings for the guy he did or said something that made her wonder ‘what if.’
♠ ♣ ♥ ♦
Parking the car in the spot closest to the FBI field office door, Dela turned off the ignition and drew in a long breath. She’d nearly dozed off on the fifteen-minute drive to the office from the casino. But she’d discovered from Poppy the corkscrew had been in a trickle of water. She figured the corkscrew had been tossed behind the rock and the vibration from the speaker had shifted the bottle opener to slide and touch the metal where the wire entered the speaker, thereby shorting out the system.
The door opened and Quinn walked out of the building.
She exited the car and walked up to him. Her leg had started bothering her as she’d talked to Marty about linking Paula, Verna, and Van in any videos.
“I saw you pull up on the surveillance cameras. Thought I’d escort you to our office on the second floor.” He smiled and held the door for her.
The first thing that popped into her head was hoping they had an elevator. However, it was doubtful given the building only had two stories.
Thankfully, Quinn walked over to a narrow elevator door and punched a button. The door slid open and she entered. The building wasn’t very old and the front half of the first floor was a church. It seemed like an odd combination.
The elevator dinged and the door swished open. Quinn motioned for her to exit first. She spotted a door with Federal Bureau of Investigation printed on the frosted window and walked that direction.
Quinn reached the door ahead of her and opened it.
She studied him as she walked by. Why was he being so gentlemanly? “Have you already questioned Verna?”
“No. I’ve been waiting for you.” He motioned to the shorter man with the same haircut and a suit that had brought Mattie’s cousin to the house. He stood by a door. “You haven’t been formally introduced. This is Special Agent Shaffer. Shaffer this is Dela Alvaro, Head of Security at the casino.” Quinn nodded to the door behind Shaffer. “He brought Ms. Pyle in about forty-five minutes ago. We’ve left her sitting by herself until now.”
“Did she ask you why you wanted her to come to the FBI office?” Dela asked Special Agent Shaffer.
“She said she didn’t understand why the FBI wanted to talk to her. And looked pretty shook up.” Shaffer grasped the door handle and opened the door.
Verna sat at the table, tears ran down her cheeks, and her hands shook. This is what Dela had expected to see, given the other times they had questioned Verna at the casino. She still didn’t see her as a murderer. But what if she had been coerced into helping?
“Verna, sorry you were brought here. But we have many questions for you.” Dela took the chair across from the surveillance employee.
Quinn sat down beside her and pressed a button on a recording device. “Could you state your name and why you think we brought you here?”
Verna glanced at Dela. She nodded for the younger woman to go ahead.
“I am Verna Ruth Pyle. I’m not sure why you brought me here. I know I made a mistake the other night by not following protocol. I thought the casino would deal with it, not the FBI.” She flicked her gaze to Quinn then right back to Dela.
“Verna, we’ve found that you were watching the monitors for several other instances when the cameras were turned off. If it had been the one incident, I would have said, yes you were being overzealous to show us you could be second in the surveillance team. But with it happening again and again... Now I’m thinking you were helping someone cover up a murder.”
The woman’s eyes widened. “I wouldn’t do something like that! I want to work in surveillance. I wouldn’t jeopardize my career.”
“Then how do you account for all of these instances?” Dela wanted the woman to be innocent but she also had to keep an unbiased frame of mind.
“When were they?”
Quinn laid a paper on the table in front of Verna. “These are the days, times, and location that the cameras were turned off and then back on.”
She read the information and shook her head. “I didn’t black anything out. I don’t know how.”
Dela starred at her. “I just found out through this investigation that everyone who works surveillance was taught how to turn off the camera when a local official takes a woman up to a hotel room.”
Quinn made a sound in his throat. She ignored him.
“I know you were shown how to do it when you started working. Lionel told me it was by order of Godfrey Friday, the last head of security.” She zeroed her gaze on the special agent so he knew she wasn’t pleased with what she’d found out.
“I may have been shown but I never did it.” Verna stared at the paper in front of her. “Before I noticed the camera feed was down, I had used the restroom.” She moved her finger down. “And this time, Robin asked me if I had something for a headache. I had to go to my purse in the lockers and get it.”
Dela stared at her. “You left your station for ten to fifteen minutes and didn’t get anyone to watch it for you?”
“Robin said she would keep an eye on things.” Verna stared at her. “She sits beside me. And this one, today. I wasn’t feeling well. I asked her to watch my monitors while I got a pill for my migraine and laid down for a while till the pill kicked in. Then the speakers started buzzing and it became worse, so I asked to leave.”
“What’s Robin’s last name?” Quinn asked.
“Everly.”
“R.E.” Dela and Quinn said, locking gazes.
It hadn’t been Ronald Edmond that Tristan had been blackmailing. But what did the accountant have on the surveillance employee that got him killed?