Randall’s assistant. Did you see the email I sent you last week? I didn’t receive a reply and thought perhaps you missed it...”
Nick’s eyes narrowed. There was an edge to Cassie’s voice he hadn’t heard until now. She was a whole new person. Again. He picked up his foam basketball and started bouncing it off the wall by the doorway. He smirked when Cassie stiffened—the fact that she hated his throwing the ball around was half the fun of doing it.
“Yes... Well, if Mr. Randall saw these numbers, he’d definitely be concerned... Right. And if Mr. Randall is concerned, he might be on the next flight to Miami for a conversation... Exactly. The restaurant is consistently selling less alcohol than they’re ordering every week. That inventory has to be going somewhere... What’s that?... Oh, I see. The bartender had his own family restaurant and was ordering a little extra for himself? I’m assuming he’s no longer employed with us?” She was scribbling furiously on a notepad on her desk. “You know, Margo, you have access to the same reports I do, so you may want to start reading them more closely... I’m sure you will. I’m glad we had a chance to talk... Yes, you, too. Have a great weekend.”
Nick moved to the doorway while she talked, working her diplomatic magic with the Miami manager. As she hung up, he leaned against the doorjamb and started to clap slowly. Being Cassie, she just about jumped out of her skin, spinning in her chair with a squeak of alarm. He really was going to have to be more careful around her.
“Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear. Those were some good people skills, Cassie. I’m impressed, but since I’m responsible for loss management, I’m also concerned. Do we have a problem in Miami?”
Color returned to her cheeks and her chin lifted. “Not anymore. I saw the discrepancy last week. It was only a case or two here and there, but it’s something the hotel manager should have spotted herself. She won’t be ignoring any more of the reports I send out.”
“And you really weren’t going to tell Blake? Or me?” That might be taking her job responsibility a step too far. She stuttered for a moment, then met his gaze with the slightest of smiles, causing his chest to tighten in an odd way.
“It happened before you arrived, and I told Blake the minute I saw it.”
Nick replayed the conversation in his head. Cassie let Margo believe Blake wasn’t aware, but she hadn’t actually stated that. Clever girl.
“Bravo, Miss Smith.” She shrugged off the compliment, as usual. “Are you still planning on working the rehearsal dinner tonight?”
“Yes. It will probably run like clockwork as usual, but with Blake out of town and one of our managers off this week, Julie doesn’t want anyone thinking they can slack off.” She checked the time on her phone. “I should probably get down there. Have fun kayaking.”
Nick nodded and wished her a good evening, not bothering to tell her he wouldn’t be paddling on the water tonight after all. He’d be sitting in the surveillance room with Brad, learning how everything worked in there. Turned out Brad was in IT and also worked security on the weekends.
Three hours later, his head was spinning with all the information Brad was throwing at him. Nick was comfortable with technology, but remembering which control moved the images from the smaller monitors up to the large wall monitors mounted around the room, which control sped up or reversed the feeds, how to copy a feed to the permanent drive rather than the temporary one that saved them for only fourteen days... It was enough to make his head hurt. And to have it rattled off to him by some geeky kid barely out of college didn’t help his mood any.
There were digital cameras all over the resort, both in the public areas as well as in all the employee passageways and the kitchen. He’d spotted Cassie repeatedly. She seemed to be everywhere behind the scenes tonight, clipboard in hand, watching all the action. She’d changed into a crisp white shirt and dark slacks to match the rest of the staff. She didn’t interact with a lot of people. He saw her speaking with the manager, Julie. Then she’d been with Dario, the head chef, gesturing toward the plates being prepared.
He’d seen that pattern with her before—if she knew and trusted someone, she was relaxed and looked them straight in the eye when she spoke. But if she wasn’t comfortable with someone, her body language was completely different. She avoided both eye contact and conversation. She kept her body turned at a slight angle instead of facing them directly. Was she just painfully shy, or had something happened in her past to make her this way? Nick leaned back in his chair, chewing on the cap of his pen and scanning the monitors.
He spotted her a little while later, heading across the lobby toward the side door, purse slung over her shoulder. She was heading home. He frowned and checked the time. It was after ten o’clock and she was alone. They had cameras in the lots, but he’d noticed most of them were trained on customer parking, not the employee lot. He stood and shook Brad’s hand.
“This has been a great session, man. Thanks. But I think I’ll call it a night.” He looked around and frowned. “You’re on your own tonight?” Brad was a good kid, but he looked like a younger version of Paul Blart, the mall cop. Nick had doubts about Brad’s ability to handle the type of situations that could come up when a wedding crowd got to drinking. “You’ve got my mobile number, right?”
Brad laughed. “I’m not alone. Tim’s on vacation, but Bill’s out doing the first night check on doors and gates.” The team made the rounds to all exterior access points to the buildings three times every night. Nick nodded and left the room, waiting until he got to the hallway before closing his eyes in frustration.
Bill Chesnutt was even older than Ken Taylor had been. The guy was a retired marine, but he’d retired a long time ago. So basically they had Paul Blart and Andy Griffith watching over the resort on a Friday night. Perfect. He was going to need to make some changes here, but he didn’t want to rock the boat too early. He’d have a sit-down with Blake when he returned and discuss the options—better training, better people or both. He headed out the side door toward the employee parking lot.
Cassie was walking in the next row over from him, head down and looking tired. There were nowhere near enough lights in this damn lot. Nick headed in her direction, making a mental note to talk to the employees about using a buddy system to walk to their cars after dark until he could get more lights out here. This might not be the streets of LA, but there were bad guys everywhere.
Nick walked up behind Cassie, not happy that he was able to get this close without her noticing. She should be more aware of her surroundings. He was only a few feet away and she didn’t even know...
In the blink of an eye, Cassie spun and swung her fist at him. He dodged just in time, and something glinted in the light. Her car keys were sticking out between her fingers. That would have left a mark if she’d connected. She was digging in her purse with her other hand.
He barely had time to register what was happening before the pepper spray hit him in the face.
“Agh! Son of a bitch! What the hell is wrong with you? God damn it, that hurts!”
Cassie watched in horror as Nick West covered the side of his face and doubled over, yelling in pain and letting out a string of curse words.
“Oh, my God. I didn’t know it was you!” She stepped forward to help, but her lungs started to burn and she couldn’t get a good breath. She started coughing,
