Jingle of Coins Read Online Free PDF Page A

second machine. This time, however, the machine didn’t lock up because Emily hadn’t put in the maximum number of coins.
    Emily grinned at the clerk and gave her twenty dollars. This was unbelievable! Ten minutes after she walked in, she’d collected over eleven hundred bucks! She was getting really good at this!
    Caution overcame greed, and she decided to quit before some over-eager security guard noticed she’d won again. In less than three weeks she’d already increased her nest egg by some five thousand dollars. It didn’t make sense to cause undue attention by hitting too many jackpots, especially on the dollar machines. She'd purposefully chosen slots whose jackpots amounted to less than eleven hundred dollars in order to avoid filling out forms for the Internal Revenue Service. What a way to make a living!
     
    Standing next to the guard in the video surveillance room, Hoyland scanned the monitors. “Where is she?”
    The guard pointed to the last monitor on his right. “She’s the woman dressed in a red tee shirt and black pants, standing in front of the Touchdown dollar machine. Been there about five minutes.”
    Hoyland shifted his glance to Glen. “Looks like we’re going to have to delay your presentation. This can’t wait.”
    “No problem.”
    “Pan the camera to the left,” Hoyland barked. The three men watched quietly as the woman tilted her head to an odd angle and then dropped the maximum number of coins into the machine. A few spins later the winning symbols lined up, and her machine began spitting out dollars into the tray below.
    Hoyland glanced at Glen. “I didn’t see her using any kind of device, did you?”
    “No, but did you notice anything unusual?”
    “Other than the fact that she’s hit another jackpot? No, why?”
    “Look again. Left ear,” Glen suggested.
    Hoyland panned the camera to zoom in on the woman’s ear. “Good catch. We got her now.” He picked up a walkie-talkie. “Pete, pick up the woman who just hit the jackpot on the dollar slots. Back wall. Red tee shirt and black pants. Bring her to my conference room. Do not let her leave the building. I repeat, do not let her leave.”
    Hoyland folded his arms and leaned against the counter. “Glad you’re so observant, Craigone.”
    Glen allowed himself a tiny smile. “I almost missed it. If she hadn’t cocked her head the right way, I wouldn’t have seen it.” He moved away from the monitors. “You should think about getting one or two of the specialized movement cameras so you can catch that kind of thing from different angles. Every casino in Vegas uses them.”
    Hoyland glanced at the monitor showing the woman being escorted into a conference room. “Wait here.”
     
     
    Once her machine finished paying off, Emily carried her plastic buckets to the pay out window. Grinning, she pocketed the thousand dollars the teller handed her and handed the woman a ten-dollar tip. Part of her wanted to find another winning machine, but she resisted the urge and strolled toward the nearest exit. It was time to go home. She was halfway to the door when two security guards stepped in front of her, blocking her path.
    One officer fingered a set of handcuffs while the other placed a restraining hand on her arm. The officer tightened his grip as he spoke. “The security chief would like a few words with you. Come with us, please.”
    Emily nervously agreed. Damn. Somebody must have figured out she’d won too many jackpots. No one spoke as the guards led her down a narrow hallway and into a conference room. Motioning for her to take a seat, the taller guard released her arm and left.
    Bits and pieces of conversation drifted in from the hallway, and Emily realized that the two guards stood outside the door. She wondered what would have happened if she’d refused to go with them. If the shows she’d seen on television about casino security procedures were correct, they probably would’ve cuffed her and dragged her into