Looking down at my phone, I pressed play on the first video. Nothing looked out of place aside from the ghost dealing blackjack. There was another video showing a female dealer that I was vaguely familiar with working a roulette table. Then the third video seemed to show the same table from a different angle.
“Wait a minute,” I mumbled, going back to the first video to verify the common denominator. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”
If there were only two videos, it could have been a coincidence. There were five different videos from the tables where the counterfeit chips were traced, and they all had one thing in common. Fucking Paula.
The time stamp on one of the videos even reflected a night when she was supposed to be on vacation. I wasn’t even in the building, so why the hell was she delivering chips? That wasn’t even in her job description, although from time to time, I had known her to help when the cashiers and dealers got backed up.
There was nothing that could tell me that this wasn’t on me. I had given her too much access. This could not be happening. No wonder Nick and Sawyer were blowing up my phone. I turned my phone to make sure Faith saw what I saw. Silently, she shook her head. She didn’t have to say a word.
Swiping out of the video, I called Paula’s number. I wasn’t surprised to find that her line was disconnected. I could have spit fire if I tried, but I didn’t want to burn my house down with my family in it.
There was no way around this shit. The evidence was piling up faster than anyone could explain it away. Nick always said that betrayal hurt worse when you didn’t see it coming. I’d be damned if he wasn’t right again. I hit Sawyer’s number and called him back on speaker.
“You want to handle it, or should I?” Sawyer asked.
“Find her first, and let me know when you do.”
It had been two weeks since Reed and his crew got to the bottom of the case of the counterfeit chips, and Paula was still missing in action. For the same amount of time, Jada and I had been getting used to being at Reed’s house full-time. Well, I was getting used to it. Jada was having a ball. I admit I loved it there too.
My main struggle was giving up my old place. I wanted to trust that things would work out, but it felt crazy to just give up my own home on a whim. It wasn’t that Reed wasn’t showing up for us. He was literally everywhere. He had been dropping Jada off at school. He’d helped me make dinner. He brought flowers home from work. He even made breakfast for me on his way outthis morning, knowing that I was going in to see Cassidy Lee and Barbara.
I didn’t exactly have the story that they were looking for, but I had a story. The owners of Cashville were innocent. It was the people closest to them who were behind the dirt yet again. I finished my eggs and bacon before heading out to the office. It was crazy how much Reed’s house felt like home.
Reed had successfully convinced me to move my things into his house, not that I didn’t have every single thing I needed there. I just needed a few of my own things to make it feel more like home. I vibed out to Shanel’s latest album as I took the short drive to The Daily Word.
I found a spot right near the door and hopped out with my trusty tablet. I spoke to a few familiar faces on my way to Barbara’s office. The best thing about my position was that most of my work was done in the field. As much as I loved what I did, I didn’t like being tied down to an office all day. When I made it to Barbara’s cracked door, I knocked twice before pushing it open.
“Well look what the cat drug in. I hope your friends yielded a promising story.”
“I think they did,” I said, smiling as I passed the tablet over to her.
She scanned the screen for a few minutes before looking up at me.
“What the hell is this? You were supposed to be getting dirt on the so-called Cashville Kings, not proving them innocent.”
“I report the facts, Barb. Not what you want to hear.”
“So, this assistant did all that dirt on her own?”
“She had help, but it wasn’t Cashville’s owners.”
“And where is she now?”
“Who knows? She has at least three hundred thousand dollars to run with.”
“Is that all she got?”
“I think me coming to investigate the financial systems put a wrench in her plan. The only thing I detected while I was there was counterfeit chips. She hadn’t had the chance to make any more exchanges.”
“I see,” she muttered.
“You say that like my story was a flop. This is major fraud.”
“I’m really wondering if they got to you.”
“Got to me? What the hell do you mean?”
“I mean, I don’t see how an assistant could make all those transactions without inside help. Something in the milk ain’t clean. Of course, you let your rich friends get in your head and make you think otherwise, or either you’re protecting them.”
