Part One

4/26/2023

Eye in the Sky

There were no stops on the way back except for restroom breaks and to switch drivers. It’s 780 miles from Roswell to Vegas by car, about 12 ½ hrs. I let Maggie drive until we cleared Albuquerque and after a quick break at a truck stop, we buckled in for the last leg. Tina loved her first grandson, after seeing four girls from her other daughters. She was a reformed alcoholic and had struggled with finding meaningful relationships after spending a large period of her life in the local bar scene and having an on-again, off again affair with the father of her children. She went to church regularly but had held on to her nicotine habit. She had renewed her connection with her other daughters and their families and was now trying to do the same with Maggie. After the loss of her son, Maggie moved around, before settling in Las Vegas and eventually getting pregnant with Adam. The father had come from Lebanon through a company that arrange marriages for their clients to obtain an American citizenship. The marriages are annulled as soon as a year passes and they were not meant to include sleeping together but loneliness and alcohol took over and she considered it to be God’s will, thus the name. I’m not sure how this was explained to the family, but they loved Adam wholeheartedly. Tina slept for most of the trip, awakening for bathroom trips and stretching her legs. During the periods that Maggie slept Tina was full of questions about my time working in the slot departments at Circus-Circus and the Dunes. She wanted to know the secret of finding good machines and was convinced that there was some secret pattern or combination of betting that would help her beat the odds. I tried to explain the mechanics of the machines and how the casinos’ machines were set up to give them a slight advantage, while allowing the customers to enjoy long periods of play while losing all their money. The time went by quickly and we made it home in time to wind down and get ready for another work week. It was good to be back at work.

Two weeks later I was sitting at work just basking in the glow of my new job. Grandma Tina was a blessing to keep Maggie company and help with the baby. Her two passions were gambling and her novellas, Spanish soap operas. She smoked constantly, but not around Adam. She smothered him against her bosom, and sang, in-between kisses and baby talk. He loved every minute of it. I discovered an ancient Scrabble game and on my off days we played for hours. She never complained if I drank a few beers while we played and showed no signs of struggling with her sobriety. She would be going home soon, but for now she was the cook, cleaner, companion and babysitter we needed.

I was new enough on the job to discover something every day about our camera system, or the best way to approach the many different scenarios that occurred during a shift in the surveillance room. It was not just the casino that relied on surveillance videos. Security came to look at tapes from nearly every area of the resort to assist them in cases of robbery, theft, assault, and missing parents or children. I constantly followed customers or employees to practice my camera placement while not losing sight of the subject. If they were of the female persuasion and looked hot, it was a bonus. Once I felt comfortable talking to the Pit, they would sometimes call up prospective targets, that had nothing to do with gaming. Occasionally I would check the slots looking for known cheats, and to make sure my former skimming crew, stayed retired. Most of them had moved on and if they had continued, it was none of my concern. Bob and Nola were still on the swing shift, but I rarely saw them other than on camera. Nola’s boyfriend had found a well-paying job and they were looking at homes for sale. Bob was his cheery, bleary-eyed self, she said, and everyone missed me. She had been able to save enough money for her breast enhancements and refused to listen to any other opinion on the matter. After the surgery she was going to look for a job as a cocktail waitress. Tonight, was a slow Monday. Action on the casino floor was a few low-level blackjack tables and a mid-level craps game. The baccarat and poker rooms had more shills than customers at the tables. Shills are employed by casinos to fill in seats, when there are not enough regular players to play the game. They are funded by the casino and do not play to win, but to keep the games going when action is slow. I turned my attention to traffic around the guest check in area and the elevators, but they were not busy at all. Tonight, was going to be a boring one, it looked like. To pass the time I pulled our copy of the current Black Book and Griffin’s latest publication and began to mentally catalog the list of people considered as persona non grata. Maggie and I had plans to go to a late show at the Sahara Hotel.

It was totally comped, one of the benefits of working in the Executive Offices of a major resort. There were also complimentary passes for most of the regional golf courses and a lot of the attractions around the town. We hardly ever had to pay for meals because of the tight relationships with casino managers and pit bosses, the cooperation between gaming entities was a win-win situation and the comps were just a sign of their appreciation. Kenny was on the phone as usual, and John was deep in the financial pages of the Las Vegas Sun. He held stock in several companies and cursed and praised his investments depending on the direction the stocks moved. I tried to tell him to just follow his annual dividends, but he was religious in reading the stock exchanges and I wasn’t about to change that. Kenny’s vices were gambling, gossiping, and sports betting, in no order.

Right now, he was on the phone with his bookie in Detroit, odd because of all the sports books available. It was probably easier to get credit from his friends back home. I turned the camera in the poker room around to the tv, but nothing was playing.

“Hey guys, I’m gonna take the early lunch if no one minds.”

“No, go ahead.”, they said in unison.

“Tell the poker room to call me.”, Kenny added. “There must be something to watch on ESPN!”

“Okay, I’ll make it my first stop.”

The idea that the identities of the surveillance room operators were a secret, was a joke. The servers in the restaurant, the people in the pit, and housekeeping personnel saw or talked to us daily. Tom still had friends on the security staff, and I knew people in the slots department. That was apparent as soon as I left the elevator. The Oriental cocktail waitress that supplied me with cocaine stopped me before I made it to the poker room and motioned for me to follow her to an abandoned ballroom.

“How you like your new job?’ she asked

It’s the greatest job I ever had; I love it. How are you doing?

“Work ok, but business is even better!”. She reached into her tip bag and gave me a small vial filled with coke.

“You still watch out for me, right?”.

“Yes, no one has ever talked about looking for drugs. They did have us watch a male dealer who is obviously a speed freak, but he never makes a mistake.”.

We laughed as we exited the ballroom and went our separate ways.

While I ate my Prime Rib, I thought about the surprise I had for Maggie after our date. I had found a three-bedroom house with an inground pool, that was within our budget, and we were scheduled to meet with the realtor tomorrow. Life was getting better every day.

To be Continued

Barron Broomfield