Michael Connelly - Void Moon

"I almost forgot. This is it for me. I'll be leaving tomorrow. Can you hold on a second? I'd like to give you something for watching out for me these last few days."

Martin's voice returned, very close to Cassie's door.

"That's not necessary, Mr. Hernandez. You can just thank Mr. Grimaldi. He wants all our guests to feel secure and, besides, it's against house policy for me to accept – "

"Who's gonna know? Vincent Grimaldi won't unless you tell him. Hold on a second."

There was the sound of a door closing and Cassie returned to the visual. The security man called Martin stood in the hallway, his hands clasped in front of him. He looked up and down the hall, as if worried somebody – maybe the Vincent Grimaldi who was mentioned – would see him taking a gratuity. He then turned and looked right at the peephole through which Cassie was watching him. She froze. She thought that if she moved away he might see a change in the light behind the glass and then know he was being watched.

The door behind Martin opened and Hernandez appeared.

"You know, if you don't mind, come in here and check this out," Hernandez said. "There are fumes or something in here."

Cassie pressed against the door harder and balled her hands into fists. She watched as Martin entered the room, leaving the door open behind him.

She could only see a door-wide slice of the suite. Hernandez and Martin both walked out of sight to the left and then after a few moments crossed her field of vision in the direction of the bedroom. Cassie heard talking and moved to the doorjamb and listened but could not make out what was being said. She moved back to the peephole and in a few moments Martin, followed by Hernandez, appeared again and headed toward the door. Their discussion became clearer as they got closer to Cassie's position.

"… in the smoking rooms," Martin was saying. "It's pretty much industrial-strength stuff that they use. See, you can't open the windows. No hotel in Vegas has windows that open. Too many jumpers."

"Well, I guess it's been building up. This is my third day. I've smoked a few in here."

He guffawed.

"Yes, sir," Martin said. "But if it is going to bother you I could check with the desk and see about moving you into another suite. I'm sure we'd have something available."

Nooooo, Cassie felt like yelling. But it was Hernandez himself who rescued her.

"No, that's not necessary. I'll just have to light one up and see which one is stronger."

He laughed again and this time Martin joined him.

"Okay, good night, sir. Have a good trip home."

"I will. Oh, and here. Almost forgot."

Hernandez held out his hand and Martin raised his. Cassie heard the click of casino chips being dropped into the security man's hand. There must have been a lot of them and they were of high value. Martin's exclamation of thanks came through the door loud and clear.

"Mr. Hernandez, thank you! Thank you! "

"No, thank you, Martin. Have a good one."

"With this I'll have more than one!"

Hernandez laughed and closed his door after hooking a DO NOT DISTURB sign on the handle. Martin disappeared from Cassie's point of view. She heard Hernandez turn the deadbolt and then there was the metallic click of the flip-over lock being slapped closed. She stood motionless and not breathing for five seconds. Nothing happened. She knew her work on the door had gone unnoticed.

Cassie turned and leaned against the door and then slid down to the floor. She quickly unzipped the black gym bag and pulled out the receiver/recorder. She opened the screen and raised the antenna, then quickly hit the button that put the view from the bedroom smoke detector camera on the screen.

The bedroom became visible, though the screen was largely in shadow because the only light came from the slight break in the curtains.

She waited.

The door opened and the light came on. Hernandez stepped into the room, the briefcase still at his side. Cassie leaned in close to the screen and saw that the case was attached to his wrist with a handcuff. It put a little shiver of excitement in her. Leo's spotter knew how to pick them.

Hernandez was smoking a fresh cigar and blowing clouds of smoke toward the ceiling while he stood in the center of the room and looked around, never once looking up at the camera. He then stepped beneath the camera and into the alcove leading to the closet and the bathroom.

Cassie switched screens to the closet cam and waited. The screen wasn't completely dark. Light from the bedroom slashed through the slats. In a moment she saw Hernandez's legs through the slats and then the door opened. Cassie hit the record button in case Hernandez opened the safe.

But he didn't. He apparently rustled through his clothes, though Cassie couldn't see this because of the camera angle, then stepped out of the closet. Cassie thought of the gun and retraced her actions with it. She was sure she had returned it to its place in the jacket pocket exactly the way she had found it.

She returned to the bedroom cam and just caught a glimpse of Hernandez going through the door to the living room. She immediately lamented not setting up a camera in the living room. But she just as immediately dismissed the regret as Monday morning quarterbacking. The fact was that if she had installed a camera there, she might not have had the time to install the bedroom or closet cameras, which were necessities.

Getting up quickly, Cassie moved with the receiver/recorder to the table in her suite. Spread on the table were tourist magazines, hotel information and room service folders, a pad and pencil, and a bottle of chardonnay from Robert Long Vineyards with a generic welcome card on it. She pushed everything aside so she would have room to work.

She checked the screen again and saw Hernandez was back in the bedroom. He had placed the briefcase on the bed while he worked a key into the cuff and detached it from his wrist. Once free of the encumbrance he reached over and picked up the foil-wrapped mint that had been left on the pillow as part of the turndown service. He ate it in one bite, returned the cigar to his mouth and then turned toward the closet alcove, reaching into the inside pockets of his suit coat and removing thick sheaves of money as he approached.

Cassie switched screens to the closet camera and hit the record button. This was it. All her work had been to put her in this position.

On the screen the light came on in the closet and Hernandez's big left arm followed by part of the upper portion of his body dropped into the picture. He reached down to the combination and started tapping the numbers. But before he was done his right arm swung through the picture and he put his hand on the top of the safe to support himself.

SHIT NO! Cassie wanted to yell. But instead she brought a clenched fist up to her mouth.

Hernandez opened the safe's door, dropped to one knee and reached inside. He brought out a two-inch stack of currency and placed it on top of the safe, then put down the equally thick stack he had just removed from his pocket. He reached into the side pockets of his jacket and took out two more wads of cash. He combined all of the currency into one thick stack he could barely hold in one hand. He hefted it. Cassie could not see his face because of the angle of the camera but she knew he was smiling.

Hernandez put the cash into the safe and closed it, then got up and closed the closet door, extinguishing the overhead light.

As Cassie watched she wondered about the briefcase. It appeared that it was too large to fit into the safe. But why hadn't Hernandez taken the cash that must be in it and placed it in the safe?

She switched to the bedroom camera but there was no sign of Hernandez. The briefcase was lying flat on the bed. Her question about the case and Hernandez's decision not to put its contents into the safe did not hold her attention long. There was a more important question she had to answer. She switched the receiver/recorder to the playback program and began watching the recording of the closet camera. She grabbed the hotel pad and pencil and hit the slow-motion button just as Hernandez's hand dipped into the picture.