“Thanks,” he mumbled.
The door opened again. This time Detectives Stevens and Andrews came in. One by one they began taking people into another room for questioning. They saved Wes for last, but just before they walked him out, Stevens said to the rest of the group, “You can all return to your rooms. But for at least the next couple of days, you’re to remain in town.”
“Hey,” Monroe said, “I wasn’t even here this weekend. There’s no reason I need to stay.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Banks. There are no exceptions.”
“That’s ridiculous!”
“Can it, Monroe,” Dione said.
“Mr. Stewart,” Stevens said, “if you’ll come with us.”
Dione caught Wes’s eye. “We’ll be in my room when you’re done.”
The cops led Wes through the motel lobby and into a staff break room. Inside, there were two small tables with three chairs each. They took the table nearest the door.
“So here we are again,” Andrews said, sitting across from Wes.
Stevens flipped through some pages on the legal pad. “According to Officer Rockwell, you didn’t realize that Miss Mendes was gone until the police were already here to investigate Mr. Hall’s disappearance.”
“Yes.”
“He also says that you and Miss Mendes are an item.”
An item. The term sounded ridiculous to Wes. “Yes.”
“And though you had separate rooms, you’ve stated you often shared the same room.”
Wes nodded. “Everything I told the officer earlier is accurate.”
“I’m sure it is,” Stevens said. “We’re just trying to be thorough. You understand.”
Wes looked around the room, and tried to relax.
“It says here that you went out for a little bit last night while Miss Mendes remained in your room. But when you got back, she was no longer there.”
“Again, correct.”
“Is there a reason you didn’t check her room at that time?”
“It was late. We had an early start this morning, so I thought I’d let her sleep.”
“So the first time you realized something was wrong was when she didn’t show up this morning?”
“Not exactly,” Wes said. “At first I just thought that maybe she’d overslept. I didn’t realize something was wrong until I went into her room.”
“With the spare key she’d given you.”
“Yes.”
Stevens nodded. “And where did you go last night?”
“I’m sorry?”
“When you left Miss Mendes here at the motel. Where did you go?”
“I wasn’t tired,” Wes said. He’d prepped for this question. “So I decided to go for a walk.”
“Do you do that often?”
“Sometimes.”
“Once a week? Twice a week? Every other night?”
“Just when I feel like it.”
Stevens eyed him for a moment. “All right. So you just went for a walk. How long?”
“Ended up being a few hours,” he said. Alison’s mention of security cameras earlier made him want to keep things close to reality time-wise in case the motel had them, too.
“That’s some walk. Where did you go?”
Wes shrugged. “Just around. Looking for places I used to know when I lived here.” He paused. “Ended up at a friend’s house, but he wasn’t there. Waited around for a while, but he didn’t show up.”
“So no one saw you?”
“Could have,” Wes said. “But if you’re asking me if I spoke to anyone, then no.”
“Who was the friend?” Detective Andrews asked. “Lars Andersen. We grew up together.”
“And his address?”
“It’s west of here. On Randall. I don’t remember the street number.”
“It
“What is?”
Stevens leaned back. “Just one more thing where you’re the common denominator.”
Wes looked from one detective to the other. “I told you before, the only thing I have to do with any of this is that I’m one of the victims. It’s asinine to be wasting time on this. Anna and Tony are in trouble. They need our help.”
“We don’t know for sure if they’re in trouble or not,” Andrews said. “If you had nothing to do with it, maybe they ran off together?”
Wes was momentarily speechless. “Are you kidding me?”
“It’s another possibility, isn’t it?”
“No. It’s not.”
“Mr. Stewart,” Stevens said, “there’s no reason to get upset.”
Wes almost said something more, but cut himself off. It was clear the police weren’t going to be any help. He needed to get this over with so he could find Anna and Tony himself.
“I’m sorry,” Wes said, then took a deep breath. “As far as I know, there was absolutely nothing between Anna and Tony. She and I have a very good relationship. She’s not the kind of person who would have been messing around with someone else behind my back. She’s the kind of person who would have just told me.”
“If that’s the case, then you’re a lucky man,” Stevens said.
“Yes. I am,” Wes said, not feeling lucky at all.
59
Everyone but Monroe was gathered in Dione’s room. According to Danny, the host of
Dione was just finishing up a call of her own as she let Wes in.
“Well, that’s official,” she said as soon as she’d hung up. “Production on our ‘High Desert’ episode is suspended.”
“It wasn’t like we could shoot anything right now anyway,” Danny said.
There were murmurs of ascent.
“Did the police tell you anything?” Dione asked Wes.
Wes shook his head. “Just asked me questions.”
“So now what?” Alison asked. “We just stay here and wait?”
“I think as long as we stay within city limits, we’re fine,” Dione said.
Alison folded her arms across her chest. “Well, that makes a huge difference.”
“I’m getting hungry,” Danny said. “Anyone interested in getting something to eat? Wes?”
“I think I’m going to pass,” Wes said. “I’ll check back with you all later.”
He started for the door, anxious to take a look at Lars’s papers.
“Where are you going?” Alison asked.
“I don’t know. Out. I just need some air.”
Alison started to get up. “I’ll go with you.”
“No. I kind of want to be alone. Okay?” His words came out sharper than he’d expected, so it wasn’t surprising Alison looked like she’d been slapped. He knew he should tell her he was sorry, but he just needed to get out of there.
He headed for his room, but when he got there he found it still full of police.
“I’m sorry, sir,” the cop at the door said. “I can’t let you in.”
