“I’m going with you,” he said.
“What about Adele?”
“Shit,” he said. “I can’t bring her to the casino.”
“Well, you can if you want. Kids stay in the hotel, but they can’t go into the actual casino.”
“Let me see if I can get a hold of my mother,” he said.
“I said I’d be right over,” she said. “I really don’t want to wait, if you can understand.”
“I can. Okay, go, but call me if you need me.”
She gave him a quick kiss. “I will.”
She got to the casino, went to the front desk, gave her name, and was brought to the elevator, but this one didn’t open up in Eli’s place but a hallway. A door opened and Griffin was standing there, “Come in. This is my place.”
She was looking around the apartment and trying not to be jealous of how nice it was. Not as flashy as Eli’s. Instead of marble everywhere, there were wood floors, but it was modern and simple and gorgeous. “Living in style up here too,” she said, laughing.
“Not many get to see this place,” he said.
“So when you have a woman, you don’t bring her here?” she asked with a wink.
He grinned at her. “No. I’ve got another room in the hotel. No one comes in here but Eli or his family. Not even another employee.”
“Why does that make me nervous?” she asked, her good nature dropping. She was trying to be distracted from her nerves and it wasn’t working.
“No reason to be. It’s a security measure. Very few know this is my place. They think I’ve got the other room,” he said, smiling. Things sure were secretive here and she wondered why and then figured it wasn’t anything major. Maybe all casinos were set up this way with the amount of money flowing through it.
They moved down a hallway and stopped in front of a security panel. He got his eye scanned, then put his palm on it, then his eye again, and the door unlocked. “Now that is fancy. You need all three and in that order?”
“If I tell you, I’d have to kill you,” he said, laughing. Her jaw dropped. “Just kidding. Yes. Sorry, I forget that I can’t talk to everyone the same.”
There were TVs all over two walls. “How the heck can you do anything in here? My eye wants to go everywhere at once.”
“There is a security manager and these cameras are down on the floor and watched nonstop for cheaters, card counters and so on. Someone is always watching, but rarely me unless there is a serious issue. That’s not what I’m here for.”
“I’m not sure I want to know why you are here,” she said.
“Someone has to run it all and set it up,” he said. He moved over to a keyboard and shut off a few cameras so it wasn’t distracting and then she saw her house pop up. “I’m not going to show you where the cameras are, just going to show you the person that was looking in that morning.”
She watched as the woman walked up the street, looked around to see if anyone was watching her, then moved across the grass to the window. She couldn’t make out the face until the camera switched over to another view. “Oh shit.”
“You know her?” Griffin asked.
“Yeah, I need to call Seth.”
Seth hadn’t expected Ava to call him and say he needed to come over as soon as he could. She wouldn’t tell him why and he couldn’t get a hold of his mother. The last thing he wanted to do was bring Adele with him, but Eli was waiting by the front when he walked in.
“Hey, Seth. I hear you need a sitter. Do you mind if I give your daughter a tour of everything...other than the casino? Though she might enjoy looking at the cameras down here of the place.”
“Sure,” he said. How could he not trust the guy? “Adele, this is Ava’s cousin Eli Bond. He owns this place. Do you mind staying with him while I go see Ava?”
“I get to walk around here?” Adele asked. Her eyes were wide as saucers.
“You do,” Eli said. “Do you like to swim? You should see the pool I’ve got here.”
“Bye, Daddy,” Adele said, turning away from him easy enough.
“Guess that means it’s my cue to go away.”
“We have to get your father to Ava though. Follow me while I get him on that elevator.”
Seth watched as a keycard was swiped and then a passcode from Eli’s phone was put in. He got in the elevator and when it stopped, he walked out into a hallway with a door open and Ava standing there. “This is Griffin’s place. And don’t let anyone know you are here or even that his place is up here. No one is supposed to know.”
“I won’t tell anyone. What is going on? Why couldn’t you tell me on the phone?”
“You need to see this yourself.”
He followed her in the apartment and another room with TVs everywhere. “Hey, Seth,” Griffin said. “Take a look at this.”
He watched the woman walking on Ava’s lawn. “When was this?” he asked. The hat on the woman’s head looked familiar and he remembered seeing the back of it when he left her house on Sunday morning.
“Sunday,” Ava said. “Right before you left.”
The camera switched over and he saw the face of his ex there. “Are you kidding me?” he said. “How the heck could Michaela know where you lived?”
“No clue,” she said. “I wanted you to see this to make sure it was her. I don’t know her last name.”
“Nelson,” Seth said. “Michaela Nelson. She manages a jewelry store on the island.”
“I’m going to call Mac to pay her a visit. Is she dangerous?” Griffin asked.
“No. She’s jealous though,” he said. “But even I didn’t think this would happen.”
“There is no way she could have anything to do with my identity being stolen,” Ava said. “That happened long before I knew you so
