Chapter 4 #2
Pickering walked out of his room, leaving him antsy and frustrated.
Evie was in the casino and a guard was dead.
Wyatt scrubbed at his face. Please let that be an accident of some sort.
According to Cordell’s schedule all of the people and pieces should’ve been in place by last night and taking out a guard wasn’t on the agenda.
And Evie had gone home for chains and returned to the casino.
No, that had to be a coincidence. He did not want Pickering to be right about her.
Or about his blind spot. But there was no reason for her to help Cordell commit this robbery.
The diamonds, on display in the jewelry store, weren’t even close to the poker room.
No reason for Cordell to need Evie’s car, with or without chains on the tires.
Baker and Karl were the trusted members of Cordell’s team.
Baker would drive the getaway car. Wyatt was the navigator.
He would focus. He’d stay alert. And, as much as he wanted to, he absolutely would not track her down and ask her outright about Cordell.
That kind of mistake would be mission suicide on all fronts. He checked his watch. Next up for him was one last casino walk in a few hours. Pickering’s coffee chat was an effective reminder that the FBI would be watching him even more closely, along with Karl, if not Cordell himself.
Once that was complete, the twenty-four countdown to the robbery would begin.
Evelyn opened the curtains, a little stunned by the amount of snow that had fallen in the few hours she’d slept. It was still coming down, though the wind didn’t look so bad right now.
Thank goodness she’d been smart and come back last night.
Not even chains would’ve gotten her out of her driveway today.
If the clouds were any indication, conditions would worsen all day long.
She used the in-room coffee pot for her first kick of caffeine and turned on the television for an update on road conditions while it brewed.
A news reporter was outside, snow gathering along her shoulder and hood as she urged people to stay home.
Evelyn picked up her phone, her thumb hovering over the icon to call her dad. She just couldn’t do it. He was safe at home, with all the supplies he needed to ride out the storm. They could pick up their argument where they left off when the storm was over.
“Wyatt,” she muttered to the empty room. Her father would have to adjust his fantasy and learn to trust her judgment. Wyatt was not going to miraculously bail them out.
It stung, like wind-driven icy rain against her cheeks, the way her father resisted good ideas.
He wouldn’t be impressed about her finalizing the sledding day for the hospitality team-builder.
Maybe she should talk to Tate about a private loan to buy her father out of the business.
Then Dale could retire and she could expand, intelligently, until Cottonwood Adventures was as much a destination in Deadwood as the Silver Aces.
None of her problems would be solved today.
Her shift started in a few hours and she planned to do some yoga before breakfast. She needed the mental and physical reset before turning on the tip-magnet charm at the poker table.
Especially on a day when the weather would drastically reduce their business.
Half-way through the warm-up her phone buzzed.
She ignored it at first, assuming it was the normal report on guests, gambling volume, and players to watch.
When the buzzing kept up, she paused to check.
There were text messages from her manager and another general broadcast from casino security, along with responses from a few friends on staff.
She stared at the messages, switching back and forth, reading and rereading them.
One of the guards had been found dead a few hours ago.
The victim’s name wasn’t provided, but she counted several people on that team as her friends.
The entire staff was being asked to cooperate with the law enforcement agencies investigating the situation.
She couldn’t wrap her head around it. Things like this didn’t happen here. The casinos in Deadwood dealt with their fair share of crime, but finding bodies wasn’t common. Fights. Petty theft, shoplifting, grifters. Those were the things the casino trained them to watch out for.
Giving up on yoga and forgetting breakfast, Evie showered and dressed for her upcoming shift. Taking only her cell phone and room key, she headed downstairs to figure out how she could help. If she could help.
The typical calm in the employee area had shifted to a solemn quiet this morning. Everyone was subdued. She stepped aside as a team of detectives passed her, escorted by Sheriff Russell.
The sheriff paused and urged the detectives to go on without him. “Evelyn.”
“Yes, sir?” She looked up into the tall man’s weathered face and suddenly felt better. He had a calming, confident effect, which was one reason why he kept getting re-elected.
“Is your dad all right?” he asked. “I didn’t expect to see you here today.”
She smiled. “Dad’s fine. I went home last night to get the tire chains and came back rather than take a chance that I couldn’t get here for my shift today. He told me about the break in.”
“Did you look around?”
“Yes. I didn’t see anything missing.”
“Glad to hear it. I planned to drop in and take a closer look in the daylight but with the storm and now this, ah…”
She saved him from finishing that sentence. “Dad’s fine out there,” she assured him. The last thing she wanted was to think about a dead body in the building. “I can’t imagine anyone will give us any more trouble while the snow is coming down like this.”
“Fingers crossed, you’re right. It’ll be white-out conditions soon. You’re riding it out here?” When she nodded, he excused himself. Stopping short, he turned back. “Did you check in before four a.m.?”
“Yes,” she replied immediately. “The front desk will have the exact time.”
“Good, good. And did you go anywhere besides your room or leave your room at all after you checked in?”
“Not until a few minutes ago when I came down here to help,” she replied.
He jotted her answers in his memo pad and tucked it back in his shirt pocket. “Be careful in the poker room today. The people who didn’t get out are bound to get a little stir crazy.” With a sad smile, he hurried after the detectives. She didn’t envy him at all.
In the breakroom, Sarah caught up with her immediately. “It was Stan,” her manager said quietly. “He…he died from a head injury.”
Evelyn sank into the nearest chair as her knees gave out. She thought of Stan’s wife and the baby who would never know his dad. “Someone attacked him?”
Sarah glanced around. “They don’t know the whole story yet, Evie,” she said with heart-wrenching sympathy. “I know the two of you were friends.”
“Was anyone here not friends with him?” Stan was that kind of approachable, the friendliest kind of guy willing to lend a hand if you needed to move a couch or needed help with a flat tire.
She’d known him since high school, though he’d been two years ahead of her.
“Stupid question,” she said. “The detectives wouldn’t be here if it was an accident. ”
Sarah shushed her. “We don’t want to speculate or raise more rumors,” she scolded softly. “Can you take your shift today or do you need to go home?”
Evie pulled herself together. “I’ll be fine by the time I’m needed on the floor. It’s not like I could get out of here if I wanted to.”
“We won’t be at capacity,” her manager said. “If you get overwhelmed, just say the word and we’ll adjust.”
“I appreciate that, but busy is better for me right now.” She looked around at the others milling about in the breakroom. “What can I do to help you?”
Sarah pursed her lips. “Are you feeling creative? We have about seventy-five conference attendees who didn’t make it to the airport before the runway closed.”
“I thought evacuations were yesterday.” It still blew her mind that it had become an issue.
Evie had never seen such a panic around a storm.
The Black Hills and all of the businesses in and around Deadwood had been coping with weather events since forever.
She knew her disappointment was more about losing out on tips.
Dumb and completely the wrong priority, especially in lieu of Stan’s death.
“They hemmed and hawed and then it was too late,” Sarah said with a shrug. “Can you help me organize a couple of poker tournaments? The hotel is comping some spa packages, but that won’t appeal to everyone.”
Evie could organize a rafting or hiking trip in about fifteen minutes flat and she worked this problem with a similar mental checklist. It was a matter of number of people involved, skill levels and interests, along with location options.
“I assume you’ll want to keep this out of the main poker room? ” she asked.
“Definitely. We’ll use the ballroom. Plenty of room to set up several tables.”
“Got it.” Evie was thinking about the numbers. “What about dealers?”
“If you’re willing to take the lead, I can shuffle staff around to make it work.”
She was more than willing to work in an area where Wyatt wouldn’t see her. It would be almost as good as keeping her promise to stay home until the storm passed. She had no reason to feel guilty breaking her word, especially not with him, but old habits die hard.
“Then I’ll get on it. This is a great idea,” Evie added as she stood up. Her knees were steady again and she was filled with purpose, relieved to focus on something other than her dead friend and her problems at home.
“Fabulous,” Sarah said. “Head over to hospitality and they’ll help you get everything in place.”