Triple Diamonds (Mystic Nights Book 2) (11 page)

“I always am.” He promised his mother and watched as she turned, headed toward her office. He too had work to do. So like Tawny, he walked back to his office to make a few more calls. He had some digging to do this afternoon, and his number one priority before he left work was to learn all he could about Jewel Diamante.

*

Knowing Jewel was
not working because he pulled up her schedule, resume, and other personal information, Joseph decided to pay Miss Diamante a visit. He saw from her employee records she lived in a trailer just off of the reservation. He didn’t know too much about her. Yet. But he wanted to know more. A Google search showed on old Facebook account. But there wasn’t much activity on it. It hadn’t been used in quite some time from what he could gather.

Glancing at photos she had uploaded or was tagged in, he saw she’d gone to school in Boston. But that was about it. From her account info, he learned she was single and five years younger than he was. She’d graduated from the culinary institute in Boston. There was one photo of her in her graduation cap with two older people. He vaguely recognized them from the reserve. They were probably her parents.

Her employee records showed that she was working towards an online business degree, but had not worked for nearly eighteen months prior to getting hired here at the casino. That was interesting. Why would she have not worked in so long, putting her degree in the culinary arts to use? He very much wanted to learn more. Shutting down his computer for the evening, he headed out. It was time to learn more. First hand.

He stopped at his home on the river for a quick shower and then made himself a light dinner of pasta and shrimp.

Glancing at the clock, he saw it was just a bit after eight. Now was as good a time as any. Not too late for a surprise visit. Not too late at all.

‡

W
hen Joseph pulled
into Jewel’s driveway, he was shocked at the condition of the small trailer. It was quite rundown. He saw lights on, and her car. He was glad she was home. But he also saw another car in the driveway. A small, old beat up Ford pick-up truck, a 150. It seemed Miss Diamante had company, or she did not live alone. And he was very curious to find out which one was the case.

The cool evening air blew as he walked down the gravel drive, and up the few stairs to the dilapidated door. Without hesitation he knocked. The only sounds he heard came from a television on inside.

“No, I said fix it,” he heard her say, as the door was pulled open abruptly.

Jewel’s eyes went round in her heart shaped face when she saw who was standing at her door. Shock, was putting it mildly. “Jo-Joseph?” she questioned.

“Hi, Jewel. I thought I’d surprise you.” He gave her his winningest smile. A smile that some women had told him melted their panties right off of them.

A tall boy stood behind her looking slightly defensive. He recognized him as one of the boys he’d seen her with at the school. A sense of foreboding trickled down his spine. The younger boy approached Jewel and placed a hand on her shoulder and gave Joseph an intimidating glare. But Joseph stood his ground. Obviously the young man was being protective. But why? Joseph kept a smile plastered on his face though a thousand questions rattled through his mind. Who was this young man to her was the most prominent.

“Who is it?” He heard another voice call.

“Never mind who it is. Fix that paragraph.”

“Shucks! Fine.” He heard a disgruntled voice say from somewhere inside. Joseph assumed it was the other young man he’d seen with her this afternoon. The twin. At the high school. On a Saturday.

“Aren’t you going to invite me in?” he asked giving her another megawatt smile, ignoring the twisted face of the teen behind her.

Jewel was befuddled to say the least.
What was he doing here? Why would he show up unexpectedly?
“I’m kind of busy.” She gestured behind her vaguely.

Joseph’s smile remained. “I was hoping we could have coffee. Talk.”

“Who are you?” asked the boy behind her. His tone was one of curiosity as he looked between Jewel and the large man still standing just outside the open front door.

Joseph wanted to deflate the situation. He knew young men could fly off the handle at the slightest provocation. He knew that from his own experience. But again, the thought of who these boys could possibly be to Jewel flashed into his thoughts. Reaching his hand towards the younger man, he answered the question since Jewel appeared too dumbstruck to make any introductions. “I’m Joseph Sassacus. I’m a friend of Jewel’s. I work at the casino. And you must be . . .,” he let his words trail off allowing the young man to fill in the blanks.

He took the bait. “Her brother. And a friend you say?” The young man’s face had relaxed and he saw a smile begin to reach his eyes as he looked behind him.

He heard the disembodied voice of the other teen laugh. “A friend?” He heard the other young man call from somewhere inside. “Let him in, Jewel. It’s cold out there. I’d like to meet your
male
friend.” There was mirth in the young man’s voice, so like his twin. The boy behind Jewel snickered and he saw Jewel’s elbow gut him into silence.

Both boys saw their sister’s awkwardness at the situation and we’re making all kinds of assumptions, Joseph was sure. He knew young men—he was one not too long ago. He saw the wheels turning. And Joseph was thrilled to find out they were her brothers. He knew from looking at the one before him, they were about to tease her mercilessly. He’d better save her, or she would be angry at him for the intrusion into her personal life.

“Thank you.” Joseph smiled at the teenager. “Glad to see someone has manners.” He took their side for now. But he needed to defuse soon.

Jewel’s brown eyes narrowed, and he caught the glint of anger that flashed within them, but she stood to the side and let Joseph pass.

Like her brothers, Joseph’s head was only a few inches from the ceiling of the small trailer. They were just as tall as he was.

Sitting on the sofa with a laptop in his lap, was the other brother. Getting a look at the two of them together, in this proximity, Joseph saw that they were indeed identical. Telling them apart would be difficult, although one had a small scar above his left eye.

Jewel finally found her voice and was getting over the shock of this impromptu visit. She hadn’t expected it at all, but before her brothers bombarded the man with a ton of questions, she decided to make a more appropriate introduction. “Joseph, these are my brothers, Wesley and Lesley. Wes, Les, this is Joseph Sassacus. He is the attorney for the casino.”

“Attorney? You’re not in some kind of trouble, are you Jewels?” asked Wes from the sofa shifting in his seat to get a better look at the man who had entered their home.

Joseph found the question mildly unsettling. Jewel laughed. “No, I don’t think so. Am I?” she asked challenging her uninvited guest.

He took the dare, “Only if you won’t go out with me. To dinner. Or coffee, your choice.” He’d leave it up to her to explain that to her brothers who were exchanging wide eyed looks at that pronouncement.

Both brothers had his complete attention. Lesley laughed and elbowed his sister. She elbowed him back. “Jewels, you never mentioned you met someone,” Wesley teased from his perch on the sofa.

“Oh, I’m wounded.” Joseph clutched at his heart. “That really hurts. She hasn’t mentioned me yet. Ouch!” Both brothers laughed and Lesley offered him a chair at the kitchen table and offered to put on a pot of coffee. Jewel sighed, but nodded her assent.

Joseph took the seat he was proffered. Liking these boys already, he rolled up his sleeves and sat. “Cool tats, what’s it for?” Wesley got up off the sofa to look at the ink revealed by Joseph’s action.

Joseph explained. “Well, these cards obviously represent a poker hand and the casino. And the dice of course, too. On this arm, you see the tiger, but above that I have a dragon. They are doing battle. I just really liked seeing the two powerful animals doing battle. I have a few others too,” he shrugged nonchalantly. He didn’t explain their significance to them. It was personal and had to do with the identity crisis he’d experienced as a young teen, not knowing his father. Knowing he was half white, and that of all his siblings he looked the least Native had affected him. His two identities had been constantly at war within him then. The dragon on his chest with the dagger, and the words emblazoned across his lower abdomen had their special meanings too. But they couldn’t see those. He watched Jewel’s reaction and knew she was wondering about those. He shrugged once more in the silence followed by his words.

“That’s cool.”

“Yeah cool,” repeated his twin.

Jewel had gotten up while he explained the few other tattoos the brothers could easily see. She began to set up the coffee pot but he could tell she was listening with interest.

When she was done, she reminded Wesley to go finish his paper for American Government that he had been working on when Joseph had come in.

“Oh, God! Is that Mrs. Lenore’s dreaded research paper? I remember it well.” The boys laughed that Mrs. Lenore gave the same assignment year after year as their senior project, and claimed to have copies of every paper
every
student had ever written in Lantern Hill for the last thirty five years.

Jewel joined them setting a steaming cup of coffee before him. She had poured one for herself and one for each of her brothers. Lesley joined them at the table. “I finished mine last night.” He lifted his cup and drank some of his coffee after dumping a ton of sugar and cream into it.

Joseph accepted the sugar bowl from Jewel, but preferred to drink his black enjoying the bitterness.

With the boys present the conversation flowed easily. It made him willing to ask his next question. He very much wanted to know why they did not live on the reservation. When he asked, the room got quiet.

Jewel cleared her throat before speaking. “Um, our parents were killed by a drunk driver two years ago. We were able to stay on the reserve for the six months of mourning, but the boys and I had to move after that. This place, well, it’s not great, but I wanted to be close so they did not have to change schools. We could have stayed with Grams, but she’s got a houseful already. My two uncles are both divorced and back home. Their kids are in and out all the time.”

Joseph knew what she meant, and understood. The housing crisis. The reserve liked to keep the young married couples, or single mothers with young children on the reserve. Private ownership of homes was something they did not believe in. Her parents’ home would have been assigned to some else, and they would have been expected to stay with other members of their extended family. He knew when the casino had paid off its debts, they would finally be able to build more homes on the reserve, and that would be coming soon, but not soon enough for this trio.

“Yeah, Jewels gave up a fancy job at
Wahlburgers
in Boston to come take care of us.” Lesley’s words were stated with just a hint of guilt, but he heard the respect for his sister in the young man’s voice. It also explained the two year gap in her employment history.

She quickly brushed off Lesley’s remark. “I gave up nothing.” She smiled lovingly at her two brothers who gave her an affectionate smile in return. He saw the admiration and love in the room through the exchange. The tension in the room had passed. Family, that’s what he saw here. And he appreciated Jewel more for her sacrifice though she didn’t see it that way.

Wesley got up from the sofa with his laptop. “Excuse me,” he politely stated as he placed the computer in front of his sister.

“Give me just a sec.” She held up one finger and read what was on the screen. He watched her eyes scan the screen. They were beautiful. “Much better,” she pronounced. “Now you just need to write that conclusion.”

“Excellent. So then we can go tomorrow?”

“Fine!” She rolled her eyes and granted consent. And to Joseph’s raised eyebrow, she replied, “They forgot to tell me about an overnight field trip. The seniors had a pancake breakfast fundraiser this morning to help pay for it. But I just heard about it this morning. I, um, woke up, and they both were not home,” she murmured slicing a glance at both of her brothers. “I called them only to find out what was going on and that they were cleaning up, but I had to go to the school today to sign the permission forms, and give them money for it.” She shook her head, and both boys looked a tad sheepish at the public recrimination. “And, they have these papers due, and I knew they would never do them if I didn’t force the work out of them in some way.”