Matt withdrew. Natalie was aware the exact second that he stepped away and went back to his office.
Damn it, eight years and her Matt-radar was as keen as ever. The very air seemed to change when he was close by.
Get a grip, she sternly reminded herself. You’re here to find Candace’s killer, not reignite something that was doomed from the beginning.
With concentrated effort, Natalie settled in and focused on the images that were going by on Wilson’s screen.
More than an hour had passed. Her neck was getting stiff, and she felt as if she was going to go cross-eyed. Tape after tape had been accessed and screened. A lot of the “beautiful people” came and went, each and every one of them had been greeted by Montgomery with enthusiasm.
The man certainly looked the part of a casino mogul, she couldn’t help thinking. It was almost as if he’d been sent over from Central Casting. Suave, six foot two, muscular, dark-haired and handsome.
Almost as handsome as Matt.
Where the hell had that come from? she silently lamented. Looks weren’t everything. As a matter of fact, looks were nothing, absolutely nothing if there was no heart. She’d learned that the hard way, thanks to Matt Schaffer.
Her mind wandering, she was suddenly jolted back to the present. Alert, she straightened in her seat. “Wait, go back,” she ordered Wilson.
The tech jumped in surprise. Quickly, he rewound the footage.
“Stop!”
“This her?” he wanted to know. He’d just accessed footage from the front of the casino. The time stamp on the tape was 8:47 p.m. A sultry Candace, her scarlet gown clinging to her curves with every step she took, filled the monitor. Natalie thought she heard Wilson murmur an appreciative, “Wow.”
That was the best word to use when summing up Candace, Natalie thought. Wow.
As she watched her sister walk down the red carpet, she felt a lump suddenly forming in her throat. Her eyes were moistening.
Damn it, where were all these stampeding emotions coming from?
She usually had better control over herself than this. But then, she supposed in her own defense, she wasn’t usually confronting videos of a slain family member while sitting in the office of a former lover who had turned her heart into Swiss cheese.
Blowing out a breath, Natalie forced herself to watch the screen and analyze what she saw. This was no time to give in to tears.
From all indications, Candace appeared to be alone. And then, as Natalie watched, her sister’s face lit up as if she saw someone she knew. Not unusual in a town that her sister had regarded as her personal playground, Natalie mused wryly. Whoever she spotted was off camera, part of the reporters elbowing each other out of the way for an outstanding shot.
As she continued to view the tape, she saw Candace begin to head directly over toward Montgomery.
Unlike his gracious behavior toward all the other attendees, the casino owner actually looked annoyed to see Candace. There wasn’t even the pretense of cordiality, she noted.
Candace, on the other hand, looked delighted to see him. She was animated, and with every word she uttered, she would wave her left hand around. It was almost as if she was attempting to cast a spell.
Natalie slid to the edge of her chair. “Can you pull in on that?” she asked Wilson. “On her hand,” she specified when he looked at her quizzically.
“Sure.” The next moment, her left hand had all but filled the entire screen.
Natalie blinked. The image was somewhat grainy, but unmistakable. Her father was right. Candace had taken the ring, and she’d had it on when she walked into the casino. But not when they found her body in the condo.
Was the motive just robbery? Then why leave the necklace?
And just how had Candace gotten her hands on the ring in the first place? She would have bet anything that her father was the only one with the combination to the safe. He didn’t trust anyone else with it. But then, maybe the ring hadn’t been in the safe in the first place. Maybe her father had only alluded to it being there to throw everyone in the family off.
Maybe that eye candy he’d married had given him cause for concern and he’d moved the ring. Without realizing that Candace had observed him.
It was all just pure speculation. She needed facts. Fact, Candace had the ring on at 8:47 p.m. Fact, she didn’t when they found her body the next morning. This morning, she thought grimly. What was I doing while you were fighting for your life, Candy? Was I sleeping? Watching that old movie on TV? She couldn’t even remember the title.
A pervasive feeling of deep sorrow filled her.
Wilson, she noted, was waiting for her to tell him what to do.
She waved him on. “Okay, go back to the regular image,” she requested.
When he did, she instructed him to keep going and then watched in silence as an obvious argument erupted between her sister and Montgomery. It escalated quickly. Within a few minutes, the casino owner gave up trying to reason with Candace and was signaling to someone.
Natalie didn’t need to guess who. She pressed her lips together as she watched Matt come on the scene. Very politely, he took hold of Candace’s arm.
Her stomach churned as she saw her sister turn up her charm. She was obviously playing up to Matt. Had she been right after all? Had there been something between the two of them?
There’d been rumors circulating that he had been one of Candace’s lovers. There’d even been some talk that he had fathered one of her sons. Given the boys’ ages, that would have meant that he had returned to Vegas, at least for a little while, six years ago. It didn’t make any sense.
Trying to sort through her feelings, Natalie’s head began to ache. She didn’t know what to believe. All she knew was that she’d never felt as alone—and lonely—as she did right at this very moment.
Her hand to her forehead, she went on watching. Matt brought her sister to the casino’s front entrance, just as he had told her that he had. And, also as he had said, he then stood there for several minutes, looking out. Presumably watching Candace walk away and making sure that she didn’t attempt to come back.
All right, from all appearances, Candace left the casino. Did she hook up with someone just outside? Or did someone, captivated by that damn ring she kept sticking in people’s faces, follow her home? All these questions nagged at her. She needed answers.
“Can we get a shot of the outside of the casino?” she asked Wilson.
He hesitated. “I’d have to access the footage from the valet area,” he explained.
She didn’t want excuses. “Just do it,” she instructed.
“Yes’m,” Wilson mumbled into his disappearing chin. Again, his fingers flew across the keyboard almost like independent digits. They seemed to be going at just under the speed of light. Natalie could feel her impatience mounting as the tempo increased.
And then Wilson accomplished his goal. He got the right footage. Candace was seen from another angle, this time from the outside of the building. She was moving away from the entrance.
She was pouting like a child who had been refused the toy she desired. And then, just like that, her face lit up again.
A beat later, she’d moved offscreen.
Natalie half rose in her seat. “Where is she going?” she demanded. When Wilson didn’t answer her, she looked at the computer technician expectantly. “Get me the tape from the next camera.” To clarify, she pointed at the screen. “The one to the right of this one.”
“I—I can’t,” Wilson stuttered.
“What do you mean, you