“You don’t have to do this,” I said to Sarah.
She squeezed my hand. “Yes, I do.”
Words were one thing, the hand squeeze was more intimate, more certain.
“If they can’t bust Mort’s alibi, then you’re safe, Sarah,” Ma said. “Everything depends on that. So if you’re still in, here’s what’s got to be done. The two of you have just one story to tell, and it has to be the same story, but not using the same words, so listen to me and get this straight. You two spent last night right here, the entire night. By now there’s probably a little of Mort’s hair in the bed. It’d be better if Mort wasn’t wearing anything, but—whatever. You might do something about that. The bed’s got to look right in case they get a warrant and grab the sheets. I don’t know how likely that is, but there’s no point taking a chance. After I leave, the two of you should shower—together, in case you’re not tracking this a hundred percent. This apartment has a story to tell. Mort needs to put his fingerprints in the usual places and then some—kitchen, bathroom, bedroom. You two got that?
“Now back up. You two ate dinner here last night. You didn’t go out. Figure out what you ate and who cooked, who cleaned up. The remains of a meal have to be in the garbage—cans, wrappers, dishes in the dishwasher, the whole nine yards. Same for breakfast this morning. I saw some DVDs in the other room, so you watched a movie last night. Two movies might be better since that would use up more time. Decide which ones you watched—things you’ve both seen. You didn’t do a lot of talking because you could be asked what you talked about, and that’s complicated. More complicated than you can possibly imagine. You didn’t talk about anything important. It’s hard to remember what since it was so trivial. Mostly you made out a lot, but you didn’t have sex, if anyone asks, because they could even check that, although it’d take a hell of a warrant to get you in for a test like that, Sarah. I don’t see a judge signing off on that, but with the Feds these days you never know. Either way, you don’t offer that information. If they ask, you tell them. If they don’t, you don’t say anything.”
Ma looked at Sarah. “Where were you yesterday, before you and Mort hooked up?”
“My last class was at one. I left the campus around two.”
“Anyone see you after that?”
“No. I came back here and did a bunch of studying.”
“Okay, that’s good. So when did Mort come over?”
Sarah looked at me. “Four o’clock? Something like that?”
“That works,” I said. “Jeri and I got to Fernley around four thirty. No one would’ve seen me in Reno after four.”
“Your car’s at Jeri’s place,” Ma said to me. “So how’d you get over here?”
I looked at Sarah. “Did you pick me up at Jeri’s?”
Sarah looked at Ma. “Did I? Does that work?”
“It does. The fact that no one saw it happen isn’t proof that it didn’t. They’d get nowhere trying to prove a negative. So, Sarah, what’s your story here, in a nutshell?”
She thought for a moment. “I picked up Mort sometime around four yesterday afternoon at Jeri’s. We came back here. We’ve been together here ever since. We spent the night together. We made out, watched a movie, didn’t have sex, and didn’t go out anywhere.”
“Good. Talk over what you did yesterday after Mort got here. Dirty up some dishes. When I leave, have breakfast. If the police question you about things, paraphrase it so you don’t use the same words. Don’t be too certain about the times you did things. Plus or minus half an hour is good enough.
“And, Mort, you need to account for your time from the time you got up yesterday until Sarah picked you up. You’re not making up an alibi since nothing happened at Fernley or at the mine during that time, you’re just accounting for time.”
“I slept in. Jeri was gone when I got up so I went out walking, alone. I did the River Walk, came home and made a sandwich. Sarah and I had previously arranged to meet at four at Jeri’s. She thought she would be through studying by then.”
“Really?” Ma gave me a skeptical look that would make a cop proud. “When did you two make that arrangement?”
Sarah looked at me. “When we were up in that restaurant the evening before, right? We were there nearly three hours. I’m pretty sure the waiter would remember us if he’s asked.”
“That’s right.”
“Good enough,” Ma said. “Now explain why the hell you two would meet at Jeri’s, of all places. Why would you throw your affair in her face like that?”
“It’s not an affair,” I said. “I was gifted to Sarah, she was gifted to me, and Jeri was doing the gifting. Jeri and Sarah are the sort of friends you don’t see every day.”
Ma smiled. “If anyone doesn’t believe it, send ’em to me, I’ll spin their heads around. And I’m glad we’re getting some mileage out of that word.
“Okay, you two were questioned up in Gerlach two weeks ago when you found Reinhart’s hand. Then Jeri and Reinhart and all the rest of them are found up there, murdered. Count on being asked about that. A lot. But you don’t know one single blessed thing about it. Two weeks ago Allie’s phone call took you up there to find her. You showed her picture around and a few people thought they might have seen her, but you never found her. End of story.
“Once I leave here, I won’t be back since I don’t know nothin’ about this place. We’ve been in the Green Room at the Goose from time to time, so let’s meet there tomorrow night at ten. Until then, you two stay together,
