Triple Diamonds (Mystic Nights #2)(35)

“Oh, the new sous-chef. I interviewed her. Pretty girl. Isn’t she raising her brothers? Family killed in an auto accident. I remember that happening. Horrible.”

“Yes, that’s her. Nice kids. A tight family.”

“That’s good. Well, I’d love to meet her when you think the time is right. Perhaps we can do something with Aliya. The four of us.”

Joseph nodded his assent. It was still too soon, but perhaps down the road.

They headed down to their security operations on the second floor together. It was next to the spa, which reminded him that he had a dinner engagement with a new supplier for the lotions and face creams they used there. A local company that used local ingredients in their products. It was something his mother very much wanted. Help the local community and they help you was one of her many mottos. And she was right about that.

They met their mother at the entrance to the security suite. Taking Jonathan’s arm she nodded briefly at Joseph as he held open the doors to the inner sanctuary of the security hub. His thoughts returned to Jewel and her brothers. He hoped his worries about them were for naught. But the silence as they made their way to see Tom sent his hackles up. He felt in his bones that his mother and brother were keeping something from him.

Tom was at the door to greet them when they arrived. After he repeated what they already knew, they entered the darkened room that held the wall of monitors that showed various locations of the casino.

“Pull the tapes up on this monitor, Henry,” Tom instructed. A burly Henry complied and soon grainy images of a hallway at The Mohegan Sun came into view. Jonathan watched the grainy images on the screen. It wasn’t long before he made out the three figures.

When the elevator opened, one man got out, and perused the hallway. He was short and slightly built. He could be young, Jonathan thought. He had on a mask, but they couldn’t make it out. “What is the mask? Did you look at it close up?” It looked vaguely familiar.

“Emeril.” Joseph shook his head in confusion until he placed the name with the face. It was the famous chef from New Orleans, Emeril Lagasse. Again, he had a very bad feeling. It started in the pit of his stomach. Jonathan glanced his way and looked at him with concern. Joseph focuses on the screens. Already he saw two more figures come out of the elevator. Large men. He could easily discern that by their broad shoulders and height. These men had on ski masks. They also had on gloves. They quickly passed the shorter man who appeared to be the look out.

“The guy in the Emeril mask has no gloves. He keeps pushing the button on the elevator so it doesn’t go anywhere.” Joseph spoke up.

“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.