Page 20 of What Happens in Vegas..
He leans onto his desk which is messy with paperwork. He pins me with his beady eyes. “We know that you were the one to break into the money room last night and steal a hundred-thousand dollar’s worth in chips. We have you on camera committing the crime.”
My jaw drops and I blink. Last night I was being thoroughly fucked by Knox and the only time I went to the cage was to cash the two chip tips I got before I forgot to do the rest of them. “I did no such thing. What is your proof? I want to see it!” I’m not a moron. If I were to steal money from here, it would not be in chip form. They can track them and each chip comes with a serial number.
He shakes his head. “You will be escorted off the premises. You are forever banned from the Bellagio. You will give back the chips you stole and face your time in prison.”
All the blood leaves my face, leaving it to tingle. “I demand to see the footage! I didn’t take any chips. Do you think I’m a moron? I know there are cameras in that room. Martha knows me. She knows I would never do something like that.”
“Escort her off the premises.”
Ben comes and hauls me up from the chair.
I try to fight him, but he’s so much stronger than me. “This is asinine. I love this place. I would never do anything to jeopardize being able to work here! I want to see the evidence you say you have against me!”
Ben pulls me from the room and across the casino. Not giving me a chance to defend myself against these insane allegations. I would never be stupid enough to steal anything from here. I know that half the casinos are run by the mob.
My heart quickens more. What if he’s taking me to break my legs or something? Tears enter my eyes.
Knox comes out of the elevator section as we pass them to go to the entrance. I continue to try and fight Ben, but he’s unfazed by my struggling. “Please, let me go. Don’t do this! I did nothing wrong!”
Knox catches my gaze and starts to hurry toward me but we’re already out the front doors. I catch sight of two cop cars.
One of the cops comes up to me. “Miss Adler, you are under arrest for committing fraud. You have the right to remain silent...”
His words turn into white noise as he pulls my arms behind me and the cold plastic of a zip tie goes around my wrists. I didn’t do anything wrong. “I didn’t steal any chips. Someone is framing me!”
I’m shoved into the back of a cop car as Knox comes out of the casino. The car door is closed before I can hear what he’s saying to one of the cops. I lean forward, hoping he can hear me. “Knox, I didn’t do it! I didn’t steal anything.”
The other cop comes around and gets in the driver’s seat. “Quiet down back there!”
I sit back, not wanting to get a cop’s wrath. I don’t trust the cops in this town, especially since someone is framing me.
* * *
Reality doesn’t feel real as I’m processed. They take my prints and my picture before leading me over to a phone. “You get one phone call. Since you don’t have an attorney, one will be provided for you.”
I blink as things start to come back into focus. I don’t think I’ve stopped crying. Knox is a lawyer. Would he be able to help me out? Shit. I don’t have his number. Even if I had it in my cell phone, they took it.
Who am I supposed to call? I have no one. Mary is the only one that comes to mind of a number I know off the top of my head. Picking up the phone, I try her number, but she doesn’t answer. When her machine beeps I sniffle. “Mary, I’m in the county jail. I-I don’t know what happened. They’re saying I stole thousands of dollars in chips last night. But I swear I didn’t. I was with Knox after I got off work and I know that they track that shit. I would never steal it. I don’t know what to do. I’m sure they’ll figure it out soon enough, but I don’t know what’s go?”
The machine cuts me off and the guard comes and forces me to hang up.
Opening up a cell he tosses me into it. The door closes behind me with a clang as I stare at one of the biggest women I’ve ever seen in the eye. Her biceps have to be as big as my head. I try to smile at her but she curls her lip at me. I’m so fucked. Dad, how am I going to get out of this?
Chapter Nine
Knox
I hurryin my car to the county jail. I have no idea what’s going on with Carissa. That damn cop wouldn’t tell me anything, but I could hear her shouting she didn’t do it. I need to find out what’s going on and what her charges are. If she doesn’t have a lawyer, then I’ll be one for her.
Pulling into the parking lot, I get out and hurry inside. She must be so scared and confused. The last thing I expected to see when I went downstairs at the hour she was supposed to come on shift was her being escorted out of the Bellagio and into a police car. People walk all around the police station. Several people sit off to the side, waiting to be seen.
I let out a sigh of relief when I spot that Hannah is manning the front desk. I know her. Not only did I defend her husband in a case where his employer was saying he was stealing funds from the company he worked for, but I proved him to be innocent, which he was. I kept him out of fifteen years in prison when he would have been placed there as an innocent man.
I head straight for the desk, not bothering to take a number. She looks up at me and blinks in surprise before she smiles. “Mr. Cunningham, what are you doing here?”
I smile at her and lean on to the tall front desk. “Hannah, how are you and your husband doing?”
She relaxes a little. “We’re well. But I doubt you came here to check up on an old client of yours.”
