Chapter 15

Nancy had taken everyone to the casino’s workshop to have some privacy.

Grace sat back and watched Alex transform himself to fit in with the state gaming commission people. The lead investigator, Evelyn Surrey, was a grandmother who instantly fell in love with the well-mannered, respectful teen. If the poor lady only knew what he was really like...

“Ma’am, I’m just learning this stuff, and I was hoping you could help me. I was told that if you used a lockpick, you could break into the machines. Do you think that’s true?”

The woman entertained his question and showed Alex the different locks used on the machines.

They had three of them for demonstration purposes. Two were more recent models and were entirely electronic. The third was a one-armed bandit from back in the day and was mechanical. It had four big wheels that spun around each time you pulled the arm or pushed a button.

“I notice that the lock and alarm system has been upgraded on the older version,” Alex said.

“Good eye. All the machines are required to be secure from someone opening them up. When the door opens, there’s a five-second delay before the alarm goes off to alert security of the breach.”

“What triggers the countdown? The unlocking of the door or opening it?” Alex asked.

“Opening the door is the trigger.”

Alex gave the woman a big smile and hugged her. Full stop—Alex hugged someone without having his arm twisted?

“You’re such a sweet boy. Do you have a girlfriend?”

Grace had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing because her boy blushed and innocently looked down at his shoes.

“While I would like to have one, I’m not sure how to go about getting one,” Alex hesitantly admitted.

Evelyn gave Alex a warm smile.

“My oldest daughter has a daughter your age. She’s gotten a bit out of hand, and my daughter is at her wit’s end. I bet if she got to know you, you would rub off on her.”

Grace cleared her throat to remind them they were in the middle of a meeting. Alex narrowed his eyes for the briefest moment but instantly returned to being all doe-eyed and innocent.

“I would love to meet your granddaughter. Maybe we could go to church together. The one I go to has a nice potluck on Wednesday nights,” Alex suggested.

Grace was sure he’d gone a step too far with the church comment, but when Evelyn lit up, Grace had to hand it to Alex for figuring that little gem out. Then again, Oklahoma was church country.

“We’ll talk,” Evelyn promised.

When they were done looking at the different machines, Grace wanted to learn more about how the cash cage and counting rooms were run. Alex asked if he could stay and see if he could beat the machines.

As Grace had her tour, the sound of alarms going off in the back told her Alex was striking out.

Once Grace had all her answers, they went back to the workshop. They found him sitting on a chair, his head between his knees as he took deep breaths. He glanced up and made eye contact with Grace. That flickering moment of attention was like a gateway drug—the little shit had figured it out.

He sat up and gave Nancy and Evelyn a sad look.

“I hate to tell you, but I can beat this machine,” Alex said, pointing at the older model.

Evelyn’s demeanor changed in an instant to one of all business. Grace had to wonder if she’d been playing Alex this whole time. Nancy had a guilty look, which revealed she’d told the gaming commission woman more than she admitted to earlier.

“I want the room cleared so it’s just Alex and me. I’ll have him demonstrate his claim. If he can pull it off, we’ll seize the machine and have it taken to our offices to see if we can detect any tampering,” Evelyn announced.

Grace thought her approach was clever because the people back at the gaming commission would have no idea how Alex beat the slot machine. They would do their standard testing and try to discover what he’d done.

Everyone but Grace got up to leave.

“You too, missy,” Evelyn said.

“Alex is underage and works for me. While he’s in my employ, it’s my responsibility to look out for his well-being,” Grace said.

“Fair enough. Let’s move this along,” Evelyn said.

Once it was just the three of them, Alex’s persona completely changed.

“You suspect someone is beating the machines and have a suspect in mind. Who is it?” Alex asked.

“I’m sorry. Do I work for you?” Evelyn asked.

Grace took a moment to mentally catch up to what was happening.

“Do you want me to show you how they’re doing it or not?” Alex asked. “Who’s the suspect?”

“Prove you can beat the machine, and then I’ll tell you everything,” Evelyn promised.

“I’m not playing games, Evelyn.”

“Neither am I, Alex.”

“I could make a case that you’ve tampered with slot machines,” Evelyn threatened Alex.

“You even look funny at him, and I will shove my foot so far up your ass your cup size will double,” Grace said, getting into Evelyn’s face.

Alex chuckled and touched Grace’s arm to slow her roll.

“I got this,” he assured her.

“Alex, what’s going on?” she asked.

“Oklahoma casinos are not like Las Vegas in that there are very few ‘live’ gaming venues in the state. The majority of them only have a few poker tables. That means the biggest risk, as far as the gaming commission is concerned, is the one-armed bandits,” Alex said.

He was referring to games with dealers like poker, blackjack, and craps as ‘live’ games. The Hogsbane World Casino was the closest to a Vegas-style casino in the state. Alex was right; Oklahoma didn’t have more than a handful of large poker rooms. Hogsbane had 46 poker tables and another 42 gaming tables. In comparison, most Oklahoma casinos might have five to ten poker tables or even none.

“What makes you think someone’s ripping off casinos?” Grace asked.

“The way Evelyn reacted. She wanted me to show her how to do it with none of her people in the room, which told me several things. But what stood out was the looks the other gaming people gave each other. If you paid attention, there were several micro-glances between members of her team. Those told me there’s suspicion that someone in Evelyn’s team might be involved,” Alex said.

Grace sighed because she was a trained FBI agent, and reading body language was something she’d been taught at the Quantico training facility. She’d been one of the top agents for that training portion and missed what Alex was describing.

She was more shocked that he’d revealed so much to Evelyn.

“I take it you trust Evelyn?” Grace asked.

“I do, even though the whole nice grandmother routine was an act designed to get me to let my guard down,” Alex said.

“Not entirely. I really do have a granddaughter who’s a handful,” Evelyn said.

“I have no doubt you do, but you would never let me anywhere near her,” Alex fired back.

Even Grace found the humor in that, and the two women chuckled.

“Shall we get down to business?” Alex asked.

Alex walked to the older-style machine, put on gloves, and sat down.