"I think you will make a very good detective" said the older policeman. "But until the girl turns up either alive or dead we move on to the next case."
When they got back to the station O’Brien wrote up his case notes and these were entered into the police computer.
He noted that Kamal Pashwari was a person of interest in the case, but stopped short of calling him a murder suspect.
Kamal revisited the jewelry store two weeks later and picked up his bracelet containing the woven locks of Geraldine’s hair. He never ever took it off after that day.
Chapter 15
It was difficult for Kamal to settle back into university life without Geraldine. He tried never to show it outwardly, but his fellow Islamic students at the Brotherhood suspected correctly that Kamal was actually quite depressed.
He needed to do something different as he seemed to have fallen into a rut. One day at the cafeteria in M.I.T. Kamal overheard some mathematics students talking about how they were winning money in casinos. It seemed they had developed a way to count the exposed cards at Blackjack and they had developed a winning system of play.
Kamal went to the M.I.T. library and found a book written by an ex IBM mathematician called Dr. Julian Braun. It hypothesized a method of playing Blackjack to win money with a minimum of risk. Kamal had no need of additional funds, but needed some excitement in his life. He practiced every night until it was second nature to him and decided now was the time to try out his new skill.
"Welcome to the Tropicana sir, do you have a reservation?" asked the short pretty blonde behind the counter.
"Yes, my name is Kamal Pashwari" he answered and pushed a gold American Express card across.
"Thank you Mr. Pashwari. Yes, I see your reservation. You will be with us for three nights, is that correct?"
"Yes, that is right."
"Enjoy your time here" she passed the key to a bell boy who showed Kamal to his room.
The room was excellent and much more comfortable than his small apartment at The Brotherhood.
Kamal showered and changed, then headed for the tables.
On the way past the bar, he noticed quite a few good looking girls seated at stools around the bar. He mentally filed this fact.
He found a blackjack table with only one empty seat and sat down. He decided that two hundred dollars would be a good start, and he pushed the cash across the table and received a stack of red five dollar chips in return. The other players were chatting between themselves and the whole scene was quite noisy.
The two hundred dollars only lasted about thirty minutes until Kamal needed to top up his pile of chips. Gambling was much more difficult than he had expected. Practicing at home in his quiet room was much different to the excitement at the Tropicana. The smiling dealer dealt the cards so fast it was almost impossible for Kamal to count the cards, he kept losing count. Eventually he gave up and went back to the bar for a drink.
There were only a couple of empty stools, so Kamal sat down into one next to a red head. Next he ordered a double malt scotch. The young lady facing the other way spun around on her chair at the sound of Kamal’s voice.
"Hello there. Would you like to buy me a drink as well?" she asked in a bold sort of way with a warm smile.
"Certainly" said Kamal "what would you like?"
"Hi, my name is Wendy. A Margarita if you please Sir!" said the cute red head extending her hand. She reminded Kamal of Geraldine.
"I am called Kamal. I am pleased to meet you."
When the drinks had arrived, Wendy began the conversation.
"Have you had any luck at the tables?" she asked.
"I am afraid not, I have never played in a casino before, and the dealers play so fast that I get confused" explained Kamal.
"Were you playing a five dollar table?" asked Wendy.
"Yes, I think so" replied Kamal.
"The higher value tables don’t have as many players. If you can afford it, try a bigger table, you might even get a table to yourself."
"Thanks for the tip Wendy" said Kamal with a smile.
Eventually Kamal was getting a bit restless, he wanted to get back to the tables and try his luck again.
Wendy picked up on this "would you like me to come with you and help you find a quiet table?"
"Yes, that would be of great assistance."
Wendy grabbed Kamal by the hand and led him away. She took him straight past the row of tables where he played before. Then they went past some roulette wheels. Eventually toward the back of the casino, there was another row of blackjack tables. There were twenty five dollar and fifty dollar minimum and it was much quieter.
"How does this look?" asked Wendy indicating a completely empty twenty five table.
Kamal sat and received green twenty five dollar chips for his pile of cash. He began to play. Wendy stood behind Kamal giving him encouragement. She stood so close behind that Kamal could feel the warm pressure of her breasts against his shoulders. He became aroused, and began to bet more.
He soon realized that in two handed play that the dealer had to wait for him to decide whether or not to draw a card. Kamal was able to slow the play enough that he soon was able to get set and count the cards the way he had practiced at home in his room at The Brotherhood.
An hour and a half later Kamal had won back the money he had lost before, and was in front over two thousand dollars when Wendy leant close and whispered in his ear.
"Isn’t that enough for the night, why don’t you show me your room?"
"How do I swap my chips for money?" Kamal asked the dealer.
"Push them over to me and I will change them for bigger chips. You can change them for cash at the cashier over there" said the dealer pointing to the cashier’s cage.
Kamal and Wendy walked hand in hand to the cashier where Kamal exchanged the chips for cash.
When they were in the elevator on the way upstairs Wendy put her arms up around Kamal’s neck and kissed him.
"It is five hundred for all night" she whispered into his ear.
Kamal had no idea at all that Wendy was a hooker, but he had plenty of cash and it sounded to him like a good deal. It was.
Chapter 16
Wendy met Kamal in the lobby of the Tropicana at 7pm the next evening.
She took him to a restaurant at another casino just a couple of minutes away in a taxi.
They had a quick meal together then decided to hit the tables here as well. Once again, Kamal played a quiet table and won another thousand dollars. He put the winnings in his inside coat pocket and his stake money in his side.
When they were ready to head back to the Tropicana Wendy suggested "It’s such a beautiful evening, why don’t we walk back?"
About half way back as they were rounding a corner, a big man wearing a black jacket and a baseball cap stepped out and shoved the point of a knife toward Kamal’s stomach.
"Give me all your money and nobody gets hurt!" he said firmly.
Kamal needed no further encouragement and handed across some of his wad of bills from his side pocket and the man ran away.
"Let us call the police!" Kamal said in an enraged voice.
"Why bother, it happens all the time. Forget it, let’s go and win some more money. Nobody got hurt, it’s no big deal."
Kamal did not agree, but he complied with Wendy’s wishes. At least this kept his name off a police report.