Triple Diamonds (Mystic Nights #2)(6)

“Can we move on?” she suggested, with a flick of her long brown braid over one shoulder. There were murmurs of assent, and avoiding Joseph’s questioning looks, she brought up the issue of their recent theft problem. “The loss reported in the merchandise departments, food service, and on the floor of the casino needs our attention. We also have had a few rooms broken into recently. We need to budget more money for security.”

Glenna stood to pass out a report that she and the secretary had prepared while Jonathan was away his honeymoon. “As you can see, last month we had four hotel rooms robbed. We have over eighteen thousand in merchandise stolen from our five shops. The items taken have been clothing, costume jewelry, cigarettes, perfume and Cologne, mostly high end items that are not necessarily behind lock and key. But easily resalable on black market trade. About nine thousand stolen from the ATMs using some kind of fraudulent devices we haven’t been able to figure out. Merchandise theft has climbed since January about ten percent each month. We have never had four rooms robbed in a month. Last year we had only three rooms broken into the entire year. And the ATM issue really has me worried. We need to bring in some tighter controls, and figure out how it’s being done.”

“Do you think it’s related?” Jason Paralta asked.

“I really don’t know, but that’s why we need tighter security. More cameras in the halls. More on the ATM machines. More men watching monitors. And more men on the casino floor and near the areas where merchandising is being brought in and sold. We need to stop what’s going on, but we have to figure out how it’s being done too, to prevent it from reoccurring.”

Her words made Joseph think of the incident last month with the sous chef. His first instinct in that incident had been to question her. She had been extremely nervous, and that had made him think of theft. But she had explained it was donations to the food bank of nearly perished produce. He had let it go since then, and frankly, he’d avoided her because his reaction to her had been so intense. But he hadn’t forgotten her. In fact, he had thought about her on more than one occasion. Mostly in his dreams. She was gorgeous. Exactly his type. So shapely. He’d always hoped he’d meet a native woman pure of heart who wanted to be by his side and pursue his dream of instilling cultural pride in his people, and getting them the recognition they deserved politically, while helping them become economically independent.

He’d had one wreck of a relationship in college with a woman he thought could be that someone. But it hadn’t worked out. He didn’t like to think about her. Clearing his thoughts with a shake of his head, he asked, “Do you think part of the problem could be employee theft?”

“It could be,” came his mother’s terse reply. “But we need more cameras and more security to determine that.” She hated to think it was her employees. Many were from the reserve and the local community.

“What is your budget on that?” asked Josephine.

“If you’ll turn to page twelve of the packet Glenna passed out . . .” Her words were lost to him as the whisper of pages being turned and his mother’s words droned on while she explained the prospectus before each of them. He decided he might need to check in on the kitchens. The loss was significant, and he didn’t want to have his suspicions come back to haunt him knowing he’d done nothing about it. Plus, it was something he could do to appease his disappointed mother. Help her catch some of the theft that was going on in the casino. Seeing Jewel Diamante again wouldn’t be the worst thing either. She was a true beauty, he told himself. Not that he wanted to see her, or was looking for an excuse to go down there, but to help his people . . .

His mother’s words, infiltrated his wayward thoughts once more. “And so, if we add the cameras at an expense of thirty thousand dollars to those locations it would give us the most bang for our buck. And I think adding six more security personnel, the salaries, and the cost of the equipment over time, would pay for itself in six months in loss prevention. Plus, we don’t want to develop a reputation that theft is a common occurrence. We could lose business. And then there is the added bonus that we are creating more jobs for the community.”

The board members began to vote. And it was a sweep. Six more people, sixty more cameras, and his mother got her way. But he too had a small victory today. At twenty-nine years of age, he was finally beginning to pursue his own dreams, and not those of his mother.

The meeting ended and he stopped to chat with Myrtle. Clearly avoiding the look his mother gave him that said we need to talk, he listened to the wise woman before him who was giving him ideas on how to proceed with his campaign. But behind him, he heard his mother sigh, and only when he could no longer feel her eyes boring into his back, did he leave. With promises to come see Myrtle this week, he left for the kitchens. He had some investigating to do.

His trip to the kitchens was made hastily. And not just out of a sense of guilt, a way to make it up to his mother. Although he felt he needed to show her he could do both, work with her, and work on the reserve. That was there. But deep down inside, he knew he’d been looking for just such an excuse to take another trip into the bowels of the kitchens to see a certain raven haired beauty with dancing brown eyes. And curves that he just could not forget. As he headed in that direction, he also wondered if that jolt of electricity he felt the one time he’d seen her, and touched her, would still be there. Yes, he was very curious about that too.