Double Down (3 page)

Rose Lopez, the employment supervisor, came out next, crying and twisting a sodden handkerchief in her hands. I hurried over to comfort her, giving her a hug. In my arms, she shook like a leaf.
Why was she so upset? What had he said to upset her so badly?
I glared at the detective.

He nodded to Alan and me and asked to speak to us. I followed Alan into the conference room, leaving Rose in Charlene’s care. Delgado sat down at the head of the table looking through his notes. He glanced up at me and said, “Stop looking at me like I just kicked your puppy. I didn’t even talk to her. Detective Long interviewed her and he was very gentle.”

Detective Long sitting next to him, nodded. He looked so kind and fatherly that I found it hard to imagine him being harsh with anyone.

However, since my anger remained the only barrier between me and the magnetism Delgado radiated, I wasn’t ready to let it go. “Then why was she so upset?”

Looking back down he said, “You’ll have to ask her.” His brow furrowed. When he looked up again, his eyes were hard. “All the information you gave me last night on the deceased is wrong.”

Alan and I looked at each other. “What do you mean
wrong
?”

Flipping through his notes, he said, “The Social Security number you gave me belonged to a woman who died five years ago. The address for her mother in St. Louis is a department store. The driver’s license and the sheriff’s card we found in the purse in her office are fakes. She’s never been to our office. We don’t have her fingerprints on file. Monica Smith doesn’t exist.” A muscle flexed in his jaw. Clearly angry, he turned on Alan. “Don’t you people do background checks?”

Before Alan had a chance, I answered. “She transferred in to us from St. Louis two months ago. All that information came from St. Louis. Corporate security should have done all the background checks five years ago when she was originally hired. They told me she needed to transfer for personal reasons, hiding from an abusive spouse.”

Grabbing the phone on the table before he could stop me, I dialed the number of the Human Resources Director of our hotel in St. Louis. Dee and I were old friends. We’d hit it off at the very first corporate meeting we’d both attended. “Dee, it's Valerie, did you hear about Monica?” The grapevine sent information faster than any other known form of communication, so I wasn’t surprised when she said yes.

Delgado tried to take the phone from me. Twisting away from him, I punched the speaker button so he could hear the conversation. “We’re having trouble notifying her next of kin. I know you told me she was hiding from her abusive husband, was Smith her married name?”

“
No, I think it was Sullivan,” said Dee. “She said Smith was her maiden name.”

“
Do you remember the husband’s first name or anything about him?”

“
No, I never met him. I got the impression she hadn’t lived with him for a long time, but that he suddenly showed up. She came into my office one day, saying he found her. She sounded scared, so I put her in for a transfer.”

“
Did corporate security do a background check on her? Maybe I can get some more information from them.”

“
I don’t think they did.” A long pause told me she was hedging. It was standard procedure to do background checks on everyone, especially anyone in management.

Instantly, I knew what had happened. “I see. Who did she know? Who told you to hire her?”

Again the hesitation. “Gee Val; I’m not sure I should tell you.”

“
Dee, this is a murder investigation. I just told the police that we always do background checks. They’re going to be in your office asking the same questions. I can let them think Monica told me.” I winked at Delgado, who was glaring at me.

After about a minute of silence, she must have realized telling me would give her a way to cover her own butt, because she blew out a breath and said, “Okay, Darryl recommended her to me. He said, since he had known her a long time, it wouldn’t be necessary to do the background check. Of course, he probably won‘t admit that now, so thanks.”

When I got off the phone, Delgado sat with his arms folded, looking thunderous. I saw I needed to explain. “She would never have told
you
anything. She has too much loyalty to the company. Face it. You needed me.”

“
And you aren’t loyal?” he asked, raising both eyebrows.

“
I am loyal, but I won’t protect a liar, much less a killer. I have an overdeveloped sense of right and wrong that sometimes overrides loyalty. You can ask anyone.” I turned to Alan for confirmation. He rolled his eyes, but nodded. “So thanks to me, you now have another name—Sullivan—and a lead.”

I explained to Delgado that Darryl was Darryl Collins, the Vice President of Human Resources at the corporate level. While I and the HR Directors at the other properties reported directly to each hotel General Manager, we all had a dotted line responsibility to the Corporate Vice President of Human Resources. Darryl held quarterly meetings to exchange information on common problems and inform us of revisions on employee policies. What I didn’t tell him was that Darryl was probably sleeping with Monica, and didn’t want a background check that would show that fact on the official records. Rumor control had it that Darryl, a known player, had cornered every eligible female in the company at one time or another. Intimidated by my height and my threats to do serious harm to his anatomy, he kept his hands off me, but that didn’t stop the verbal innuendos about what I was missing whenever he got close enough. A recommendation from Darryl almost certainly came with a price. However, Delgado would be lucky if Darryl remembered where he picked her up, let alone anything about her. It was unlikely he’d known her long, being more the one-night-stand kind of guy.

Alan and I asked if Delgado had any other suspects or information that we could pass on to Tony. His eyes narrowed and he said, “It’s a little hard to figure out who killed her when I don’t even know who’s dead.” We took that as our cue to leave.

We briefed Tony first. I told him about Monica and Darryl, and my theory about why corporate hadn’t done a background check. Tony pursed his lips, drummed his fingers on the desk, but kept his thoughts to himself. While he and Alan discussed how to keep a lid on publicity, I thought about calling and giving Darryl a heads up the police would be talking to him, for about a second. The moment passed. The man not only ran around on his wife, but he would walk over his own grandmother to get ahead. Part of me really hoped that Delgado would arrest him for the murder, so I wouldn’t have to deal with him anymore. Except I couldn’t think of any reason why Darryl would care enough to dirty his hands, after all this time that Monica probably wasn’t even a blip on his radar.

At nine, Tony briefed the other directors, telling them only that Monica had been killed, and so far, the police had no suspects. Alan left me to go back to security. I called Charlene to meet me for lunch. I wanted to hear more about Monica. Although I can comp a meal in any of the restaurants on property, I asked her to meet me at a nearby off-property one. I wanted privacy.

I was sitting in a booth at the back when Charlene arrived. She’s petite, even with the five-inch heels she always wears, and can’t weigh more than 100 pounds. Next to her, I always feel like an Amazon. Today she wore dark gray slacks topped with a lighter gray silk blouse, and strappy red high heel sandals. Her dark red hair was short and spiked on top as usual. A good thing her husband, Evan, made lots of money as a divorce lawyer, because she could never afford the expensive clothes she always wore on the salary I paid her. Charlene was smart, funny, and extremely organized. I felt lucky to have her as both a secretary and a friend.

Our waiter, suspiciously absent until now, followed her over to the table.

She gave me a hug and then plopped down across from me, leaning back, her dark eyes studying me. I waited for the lecture about letting myself get too tired or stressed out, but apparently, I passed the eyeball test, because she just nodded and opened her menu. On the other hand, maybe she felt pressured by the waiter who never took his eyes off her and hovered over her right shoulder. “I’ll have the Cobb salad and a diet soda,” she told the waiter flashing him a brilliant smile.

Famished, I ordered a pastrami and Swiss on rye, with a side of potato salad and, of course, a diet cola. Since this would probably be my only decent meal today, I refused to waste it on a salad. Once the waiter delivered the food and Charlene rewarded him with another smile, I got down to the inquisition. “Why does . . . did, everyone hate Monica?”

“
Because she was a bitch,” she said while spooning the dressing over her salad.

When she looked at me, I raised my eyebrows but didn’t say anything, having just taken a big bite of my sandwich.

She went on. “Monica acted really nice in the beginning, but it was all an act. Before long, she started treating everyone like her personal servant. She'd asked them to pull a file for her and would they mind bringing her coffee as well. She’d ask anyone going out for lunch to bring her something back. Then conveniently, she’d be in the bathroom or out of the office when they returned, so that she wouldn’t be there to pay them for it. Whenever she left the office, she wouldn’t tell anyone where she was going, just said we could reach her on her cell. Lately she’s spent more time out of the office than in it. Even when she was in the office, she kept her door closed, and asked not to be disturbed. Two weeks ago, when she started putting her filing on my desk, I informed her that I was your secretary, not hers. She hadn’t spoken to me since.” Charlene had pushed the food around on the plate, but hadn’t eaten much.

I, on the other hand, had consumed half a sandwich and all the potato salad. I tried waving my hand to signal the waiter for a refill on the diet cola, but he ignored me until Charlene looked up, and then he hurried over. Wiping my mouth on a napkin, I said, “Okay, I can see why they didn’t like her, but you said they hated her. That seems a bit extreme. Also, it doesn’t explain why Rose was so upset this morning.”

Charlene, still toying with her salad, hesitated before answering. Finally, she took a deep breath and plunged in. “Rose knows that sooner or later Detective Stud Muffin is going to find out that she had good reason to want Monica dead. Monica slept with Rose’s husband.”

Practically choking on my sandwich, I said, “What? Why didn’t she tell me?”

She waved one beautifully manicured hand at me, “You haven’t been in the office hardly at all the last two weeks what with all the union negotiations. Even when you were there, you’ve had corporate exes or lawyers with you. It’s not like there’s been an opportunity for any of us to talk to you in private. The only reason I know is that I walked into the Ladies room and found Rose crying right after she found out. She made me promise not to tell you until she decided how she wanted to handle it.”

“
How did she find out?”

“
She went home for lunch one day, and caught them in her bed. Personally, I think Monica planned it that way. When Rose threw Danny out, Monica made sure Rose knew he was staying with her.”

“
Okay, now I understand why everyone hated her, but I don’t believe that Rose killed her. She has a temper, but she’s not stupid. She would have killed Monica as soon as she caught her in bed with her husband. She wouldn’t have waited. She would have probably shot Danny too.”

“
I agree, but that doesn’t mean she won’t still be a suspect. Besides, I think Rose is afraid that maybe Danny killed Monica. Rumor has it that Monica dumped Danny recently for someone else.”

“
You have any idea who?”

“
No. Like I said, she wasn’t talking to me, and by that time she had pretty much alienated everyone in the office.”

Having demolished everything on my plate, I sat back, placing my napkin over the empty plate. “Anything else?”

She smiled. “No, that’s pretty much it.” She seemed much more relaxed. Finishing her salad, she pushed the plate away and leaned in close. “Now that you’re up to date, let’s talk about Detective Hunky. Has he asked you out yet?”

I laughed. “Are you kidding, he hasn’t even looked at me.”

She shook her head, sitting back with a knowing look on her face. “Sweetie, you may not see him looking, but trust me, he’s looking. Even when he’s not looking, he’s aware of every move you make. If you don’t believe me, just watch Alan’s face when the three of you are together. He doesn’t like the detective’s interest in you one bit. By the way, in case you haven’t noticed, the handsome detective is rich, as well as good looking. I googled him, Nicholas Carmen Delgado of the San Francisco Delgados. His dad, Alfonso, made money buying and selling California real estate during the boom times. He took that money and invested in computer software. When he died each of the kids inherited several million.

“
Wow. How did you find out his first name was Nicholas?”

“
I asked. He knew my name; I thought it only fair I should know his. I wonder why he decided to become a cop in Vegas of all places.” Trust Charlene to research a cop.

“
Several millions, that explains the suit and the gold cuff links. Married? Kids?”

“
Married once. Wife died eight years ago. No kids.”

“
Wow, single, rich and I even like the way he looks.”

She laughed. “Now, that’s an understatement. If I hadn’t poked you, you would have been drooling, very unattractive in a woman. There’s enough electricity between the two of you to light up Vegas.”