THE hallway was empty but she waited. Cassie stood against the door inside room 2015 and pressed her left eye close to the peephole. Her hat tipped off her head and fell to the floor behind her. She heard voices in the hallway and began to believe she was mistaken, that it was not Hernandez but a couple returning to their room.

But then there he was. His huge form moved into her field of vision and the convex lens of the peephole made Hernandez appear even wider. He bent slightly to insert a card key into the door with one hand, the briefcase held at his side with the other. Trailing just behind him and almost out of view through the peephole was another man. Cassie noted the blue blazer with the Cleopatra insignia on the breast pocket. The security escort. She turned away from the peephole and moved close to the doorjamb so that she could listen.

"You want me to check for you, sir?"

"No, I'm fine. I appreciate it, though."

"Then good night, sir."

"Good night."

Cassie heard the door across the hall opening. She switched back to the peephole. The security man was gone and Hernandez was moving into the open doorway. He suddenly stopped and stepped back into the hall.

"Oh, Martin?"

Cassie felt her heart skip a beat. What did he see, what did I miss? She tried to quickly review her hurried exit from room 2014 but she could not think of anything. She looked down at the two bags at her feet and started running an inventory through her mind. But she had barely begun when Hernandez began to speak and she moved her ear to the doorjamb.

"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.