Triple Diamonds (Mystic Nights Book 2) (16 page)

“
Mohegan
’s caught that and fingerprinted it, but they won’t know anything for a while. Pretty stupid, but if the perp has no fingerprints on file anywhere it won’t matter.”

“No tats, or defining features,” Jonathan added as his eyes followed the two taller men who approached a room nearby and made quick work of entering the room. They had some electronic device that easily popped the lock and then they were out of view. The two figures were lean. An image of Lesley and Wesley popped into his head, and he had a bad feeling. Very bad. He avoided making eye contact with his mother or brother. He hoped they didn’t pick up on his sudden unease.

Two very tall figures.
Joseph knew from seeing Lesley and Wesley this morning that their overnight had not happened. Or they came home early. He didn’t want to suspect them, but he couldn’t help it. The clock on the top of the screen showed the break in to be last night at one in the morning. Two minutes ticked by as the shortest of the three, pushed the button for the elevator a fourth time. Another minute passed, and then the two taller men emerged, and came out. They approached the elevator and passed it. Instead they took the stairs.

“Anything else?” he asked succinctly.

“No,” Tom put in. “They have a camera at the bottom of the stairs. They must have gotten off on another floor, waited awhile and then came down separately in different ways, or had a room.”
Mohegan
’s examined all the footage of those getting out of the elevator and out of the stairwells and no three people together, or anyone with those approximate heights up until eight this morning.

His head snapped up. He’d seen the boys around seven thirty. If it had been them, their height would have interested
The Mohegan
security team. The coil of nerves he felt abated somewhat. They were good boys, and he hoped to God they were not involved. But something about the way they moved still bothered him. They walked eerily similar. They had the swagger of youth.

He cleared his throat as they watched the video again. “We need cameras in the stairwells.”

Tom agreed and approached Tawny. “Definitely. It’s not much, but at least having a height and size, gives us something to be on the lookout for, but it’s still not much.” Tom scratched his head, eyes not leaving the screen.

“You see anything?” Tawny asked giving Joseph a perplexed look. He shook his head in the negative. He didn’t want to get the boys in trouble, but he’d definitely want to keep a closer eye on them. And he didn’t want to jump to the wrong conclusions either. His brother had done that and nearly destroyed his relationship with Aliya. He didn’t want to do that with Jewel. The mask bothered him though.
A chef?
Was it coincidence? What were the odds of that?
Had she ever gone out as a famous chef for Halloween, and her brothers had used it? He would check her Facebook and look at her pictures though he hadn’t recalled seeing any like that. He could check the brothers’ accounts too. If they had one.

“No, nothing,” he lied. “But we definitely need our blind spots covered with surveillance.”

“Agreed,” Tom added. “I’m going to do a walk through and then send my recommendations up to you for approval on where we need those new cameras.”

“Good,” Tawny praised her chief of security. “I’d like to see that report as well.” Tom nodded curtly and then headed into his own office.

Leaving security, Jonathan, Joseph, and Tawny headed back upstairs. It was going to be another long day. But his worries about these thefts kept leading him back to the twins and wondering just what had happened to them last night.
Where had they been?
He wanted to ask Jewel about it. But just how to do that without making her worry or question his motives perplexed him. But it was too important not to. He would bide his time until Jewel started her shift at four, he decided. And then he’d pay her a little visit downstairs and see if he could think of a way to bring it up. He could always ask her why she left, and if something had happened to the twins this morning. It was as good an idea as any.

*

The day flew
in a flurry of activity. The installation of the cameras was arranged. And he’d managed to get an extra fifteen cameras with motion detectors for the stairwells. Tom had suggested them. They would be activated by movement and that would save them valuable time in any future investigations.

When Joseph glanced up after assuring they were sent out the next day, he noticed it was nearly four and jumped out of his seat. He wanted to have that conversation with Jewel before it got too busy in the kitchens. He had done a quick inspection of the boys on Facebook and had been slightly relieved to see no masks on display. But still he remained somewhat concerned. Doubt was a killer.

*

The moment Jewel
saw him enter the double doors of the kitchen through one of the dining rooms, she smiled. Joseph took her breath away. She didn’t know where this was going, but after she’d left this morning to pick her brothers up from their overnight trip, she had decided to just go with it. See where it lead. She had regretted leaving so early, but her brothers had made arrangements to come back early after the field trip so they could retake their SAT test. They had scored well, but both had been studying hard to improve their math scores. She had picked them up at the high school where one of the chaperones had dropped them off and drove them home to get the truck they shared. They had a quick breakfast after telling her about the play they had seen in Manhattan, and then they left to head to Meriden where they were taking the test.

Joseph saw her smile as he approached, and he took that as a good sign. From the corner of his eye he saw Louis frown so he approached him first. He didn’t want to be seen as a nuisance, knowing chefs could be peculiar about things of that nature in their kitchens. They tended to be predatory when it came to interruptions at work. Giving her a wink, he bypassed her and headed to see the Frenchman. He conversed with Louis about the upcoming convention, discussing the menu, and then when the man was in good spirits, asked if he could have a brief word with Jewel.

Louis gave him a quick nod and went back to his own work of supervising the kitchen with an eagle eye.

When Joseph turned in her direction, Jewel felt suddenly nervous. He wasn’t smiling. After last night, she had felt things were going pretty well. She regretted slipping out without leaving a note, but she had to rush in order to meet Mr. Travis at school, and she didn’t want to wake him either. They had a long night and she didn’t know his home well enough to look around for paper and something to write with. She had meant to text him too, but then after dropping her brothers off, her grandmother called needing her to drive her to a doctor’s appointment as her car had stalled. Time had gotten away from her then.

By the time she got home, her brothers had arrived and she had been busy with them hearing about the test, and making lunch. When they asked about her date, she had gotten shy not wanting to share too much, and so instead of calling him with them around she had decided to wait on him to call her. And here he was. She let out the breath she hadn’t known she had been holding.

Joseph reached her position, saw her eyes dilate, and saw the rise and fall of her chest. It brought back memories of last night. The woman was a true beauty and she didn’t know it. Not wanting an audience, he could already feel the stares from the kitchen staff, he softly placed his hand on the small of her back and directed her to the office she and Louis used for keeping track of inventory and ordering supplies.

The simple act had Jewel’s heart racing. She could feel that hand guiding her, and it sent shivers down her spine. When she turned around to face him, that amazingly sexy smile of his that gave her goosebumps was in place, and when he shut the door behind him she giggled like a school girl.

“I have a bone to pick with you,” he teased like he had some kind of big secret. He pulled her towards him planting a kiss on her lips, and then pulled back his head so he could see her face.

“A bone, huh?” she remarked as he pressed her closer to his body so he could feel every inch of her.

“I know how busy you are, but damn I would have liked to wake up with you.” He tilted his head to the side and nuzzled her neck before planting a soft kiss there. He could feel her pulse beneath the skin. Her scent enveloped him and her nearness almost made him forget why he’d come. “I woke up so hard. I was hoping you could have helped me with that.”

“Is that a frequent problem?” she teased.

“Would you complain if it were?” he returned huskily, already feeling his cock swell in his pants.

“No, I don’t think so.” She sounded breathless as he felt her arms reach around him to return his hold. Her arms around him felt good.

“I’d like to try that with you, Jewel. Morning sex,” he nipped at her ear. “And with your brothers away, I was hoping you’d stay.”

“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “I should have left a note or something. But I have responsibilities . . . ,”

“A note would be nice. Next time,” he murmured against her cheek before pulling back and looking down into her eyes. He didn’t want it to sound like a recrimination even though it kind of was.

“Yes, I should have texted, but like I said I had a bunch of stuff I needed to do.”

He wanted to ask what those things were, but didn’t want to come off as being nosy. “So you were busy?” he attempted to lead her.

“Yes, busy,” she evaded and gave him a perplexed look.

This was going to be harder than he thought. Perhaps a bit of the truth would help to get her to open up. “Well, I’ve had a pretty busy day myself. We are having some serious problems with theft. This morning when I came in we got some bad news.” This time he stopped what he was doing and gave her his full attention. He wanted to gauge her reaction.

“What was it?” she asked suddenly aware that the mood had shifted. His tone worried her.

“We have been having some problems with theft. Rooms getting robbed. Last night there was a robbery at
The Mohegan Sun
. We don’t have all our hallways video recorded yet, but they do. They sent us copies of the tapes. We are trying to see if the crimes are connected.”

She didn’t like the sound of that. Robberies would be bad for the casino. It could ruin their reputation. But she thought it was strange, too, that he would be bringing that up with her. “That’s horrible.”

He nodded his agreement. “The only clues we have are that they seem to be working in a group of three. A triple threat. Three people, two tall, one short. We are assuming at least two are men, from the looks of it. But all wore masks, so we can’t be sure. The third person was the lookout and much shorter.”

“Okay, well that’s good. It gives you something to go with.” Jewel was a tad lost. It had been awhile since she’d been in a relationship. Perhaps he was just sharing his day with her.

She saw his face reset into a grim expression, as he leaned back against the desk. “But not much.” He sighed in his frustration. He’d decided to be upfront with her. Direct. He’d learned from his brother’s mistakes about going off halfcocked.

Jewel could tell he had something else on his mind as he searched her face, but still didn’t know why he was confiding all of this into her. It was something about the way he was looking at her that made her ask her next question. “Why are you telling me all this?”

He shook his head morosely before speaking. “I’m sorry,” he stopped, and then started again, “I, um . . . saw your brothers this morning. I thought they were on an overnight.”

Her face fell. Her eyes went round in shock. “You think they . . .,” she stammered at a loss for words.

His hands went straight to his cropped hair. She was in shock, and she could tell he was having difficulty looking for just the right words. “I know crazy, but I saw the tapes, and both of the men that got into the rooms were about their height and build. It’s stupid.”

She lost it. Her brothers would never do anything of the sort. “They had nothing to do this with this,” she lifted her chin in anger. Her eyes pierced his.