Closing the drawer she hurries back out. I look at the time on one of the cameras. She did that in a minute. I’ll give it to her, she was fast. I bet that was the only reason why they didn’t catch her. Knox has to be right. There had to be a bigger commotion going on somewhere else at that time of night the surveillance team did not notice an employee stealing handfuls of chips.
I frown. “I don’t understand, why am I being framed for this? What is their proof that it was me? She looks nothing like me. I’m shorter and half her size.”
Knox takes the laptop back and types more into his computer before pulling up pictures where the name tag comes into focus. She’s wearing my name tag.
Mary gasps. “They stole your tag!”
I shake my head. “If I was trying to keep my identity hidden from the camera, why would I make it obvious with something like that?”
Knox looks at me. “That’s why I’m thinking someone is trying to frame you. Otherwise, none of this makes sense. I want you to be careful while out and about. This could be part of a bigger thing.”
I frown. “Like what? It’s not like I have money or something that they would want. Anyone who works with me knows I have two... or had two jobs. I don’t think I would have anything that anyone would want.”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know, but I still want you to be careful. Keep an eye out for weird things, and I’d prefer it if you didn’t go anywhere alone.”
Mary leans forward. “Don’t worry, there are two people always working at the Happy Bean together or more. We look out for our own.”
I nod. “I’m hardly ever alone. I’ll be careful. Can I see the footage again? I want to pay closer attention. The first time around I was just shocked that they thought it was me.”
He brings the footage up for me again, and I watch it closer. I feel like I could know the person. But I work with so many people on any given week, and I don’t talk with all of them, it could be anyone.
Mary gasps and points.
I look at her. “What?”
She reaches over and takes the video back before hitting play. “She has her sleeves pushed up and I know that butterfly tattoo. Remember, when I met your worker...shit, what was her name? Dedra? No.”
My blood runs cold. She met Donna. “Donna?”
She snaps her fingers. “Yes. I remember commenting on the tattoo she had on her inner wrist, and look, you can see it there. You don’t have any tattoos. Not only that, but she was also taller than either of us and she has about twenty pounds on you. There’s no way they can say that’s you.”
Now that I look at it with Donna in mind, she does look like her. I don’t want to believe it. I like Donna. I frown. “I did see something weird Tuesday with her outside of work.”
Knox leans forward. “What did you see?”
I lick my lips. “I’d been shopping on the strip for what I would wear while I was with you. I’d been on my way to the nail salon when I witnessed her get in a fight with someone and storm off from their car, they then peeled out of there like a bat out of hell. I thought maybe he was her boyfriend or something and they’d gotten in a fight. She said she didn’t owe them anything. But I don’t think she saw me. I didn’t run after or ask her about it later. I did get down the car’s license plate. If something happened to her, I wanted it for proof of the person I saw her with. I didn’t want something bad to happen to her and then I hadn’t done something that could help her.”
Mary leans into my shoulder. “You’re such a good friend, Carissa. She clearly didn’t deserve your friendship if this is how she paid you back.”
Knox nods. “I agree. I interacted with her today while trying to get a hold of your boss, and she rubbed me the wrong way.”
My stomach flips at that. Donna likes to flirt to get her tips. What the hell did she say to him? She’d talked about wanting to sleep with him. I know Knox would never do that, but I wouldn’t put it past her to try.
He touches my thigh under the table. Drawing my attention back to him. “Can I have the number? I can have a friend of mine run it and see who it comes back to.”
I nod and pull out my phone, so thankful I followed my gut with this one. I text it to him and he taps away at his phone.
The clip of her stealing the chips starts over and I can’t take my eyes off it. I can’t believe she did that. My eyes widen. “Oh my god, she was the last coworker I spoke to that night before I clocked out. She commented on how I was dressed and seemed off. I could’ve sworn I locked my locker, but maybe I didn’t. Or she’s seen me use it so many times over the last year that she figured out the combination for herself.”
Knox shakes his head. “The evidence against her keeps stacking up. If we tell them who to look for and the security footage, I’m sure they could track her through the place for hours before she went through with the crime. And if they check what time you clocked out and what time you got in the elevator they’ll see there’s no way it was you if the body comparison and tattoo isn’t enough evidence already.”
This just makes me sad. I don’t want Donna to be the bad guy. I thought we were friends. She was a bit spunky, but still fun to work with. But I’m also not going to take the fall for her, not when I have so much to lose and haven’t done anything to deserve this.
Chapter Fourteen
Knox
Now that wehave a person outside of the Bellagio confirming that the person in the video isn’t Carissa and is in fact her co-worker Donna. I have strong confidence that she’ll be able to get out of this without anything on her record, but also the ban lifted, and her job returned. And if she wants to do something else with her life, then I want to make that happen as well. Whatever she wants, I want to provide it for her.
