“Yes,” Marin said definitively. “We were in bed enjoying a romanticmoment, when we heard Melissa screaming. By the time we got dressed and cameout into the hall, everyone was there with us—Steve, Rich, and all the otherguests on the floor. It was wild.”
“What time was that?”
“I don’t recall exactly,” Barry said. “But it was definitely beforemidnight.”
“That sounds right,” Marin agreed.
Jessie was glad she wasn’t dependent on them for the timeline as theirestimate was far less specific than others. She couldn’t think of anything elseto ask them, at least not until she’d had a chance to talk to the Aldridges.There was something funny about that couple but the Landers weren’t going to bethe ones to reveal what it was.
“You know,” she observed drily, “you don’t seem all that broken up overGabby’s death.”
Barry Lander nodded, not as upset as one might have expected at thecharge.
“I think we’re both just in shock,” he said. “And since we never sawher body, it doesn’t quite feel real to me.”
“Also,” Marin added, “I tend to bottle up my emotions in traumaticsituations. My therapist has been working on it with me.”
Jessie decided she’d had enough of these two for now.
“I think you need a little more work,” she noted, unable to stop thedig from slipping out.
“I agree,” Marin said sincerely.
“We’re done for now, but be sure not to leave the hotel withoutpermission,” she warned them before stepping out into the hall to stretch.Peters was already there, talking to Deputy Heck. She ambled over to join them.
“How are your interviews going?” she asked the detective, who gave Hecka nod he didn’t explain before turning to her. The deputy nodded back andheaded into the Catalina Ballroom.
“Pretty quick once I got rolling,” he said. “It turns out that a lot ofthese people were already asleep at eleven thirty at night. I’ve already gonethrough three of them. If the same holds true for the others, it should takeless than an hour to clear all of them.”
“You want to tell me what’s going on, Detective Peters?” Jessie asked.
“What do you mean?”
“There’s clearly something happening that has you concerned but thatyou’re hesitant to share. I thought we’d gotten to know each other well enoughover these last few hours for you to realize that I vastly prefer sharing tohiding.”
He sighed.
“I’m hoping it’s nothing,” he said. “If it is, I didn’t want to add toyour plate unnecessarily.”
“I’m used to having a full plate, Peters. Hell, it’s usuallyoverflowing. What’s going on?”
Heck came out of the ballroom, looked at Peters, and shook his head.Jessie glared at the detective, about ready to blow. The detective saw her faceand must have sensed what was coming.
“We might have a problem,” he said hurriedly.
“What’s that?” she asked through gritted teeth.
“Theo and Ariana Aldridge are missing.”
CHAPTER TEN
Jessie did her best to hide her frustration as Peters filled her in.
“Stone the security guard already checked the couple’s room and foundit empty,” he said. “With the additional three security guards not yet havingarrived, he and Dooley are searching the entire hotel on their own.”
“Okay,” Jessie said, waiting to see if there was any good news.
“In the meantime,” Peters continued, “I pulled up the lobby securityfootage, hoping the Aldridges might have passed through the one area of thehotel that had cameras. I didn’t find anything. The last time anyone remembersseeing Theo Aldridge in the ballroom was a half hour ago. Nobody seems torecall Ariana ever being there.”
“Are you sure about the footage?” Jessie demanded.
“I’ll check it again, but yeah.”
While Peters reviewed the footage one more time, Jessie returned to thefront desk, where Barksdale was furiously tapping away on a keyboard. Hestopped when she arrived.
“I’ve managed to clear eight additional rooms,” he told her. “That’sall we had available. Hopefully between those and the current guest rooms, itwill be enough to hold everyone you’ve questioned.”
“That’s great news,” Jessie said quickly, her priorities elsewhere. “Howlong was the front desk unmanned between when Leena came up to tend to Tommyand you took over down here?”
“Only a minute or two,” he replied. “But I’m not sure that evenmatters, Ms. Hunt. There are multiple entrances and exits to the hotel. A guestwith a keycard would have easy access to all of them and we’d never see themcome or go.”
That gave Jessie an idea.
“I recently worked a case in which every keycard swipe was logged bythe hotel security system. Any chance you guys do that here too?”
“I’m afraid not,” he said. “We’re not big on logging things here.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
She looked out over the expansive, empty lobby, at a loss as to how toproceed. There were still several interviews left to conduct but none seemed aspressing as finding the Aldridges, who were clearly involved in this in someway.
There was also the issue of Gabby Crewe’s body. The crime scene teamwould likely be wrapping up their work in the Crewes’ room soon. But Jessiedoubted any results would be available until much later in the day, putting itlower on her priority list. With that on hold, this was her window to gatherreal-time, relevant information and evidence. But she was short-handed and thatwindow was closing.
Her lack of resources made her appreciate how lucky she was to usuallyhave unlimited access to them. Typically HSS snapped their fingers and peoplecame running. At least that used to be the case. If Captain Decker was to bebelieved, the entire unit was in danger of being disbanded due to a lack ofrecent “buzzy” headlines.
But out here, in the middle of an isolated island town, there werehardly any resources to call on. She was dependent on the town’s tiny policeforce, a few security guards for hire, and the goodwill of the hotel staff. Ifthey started to abandon her, so did any real power she had to enforce her demands.
The funny thing was that she wasn’t technically a cop or even an LAPDemployee. She was a freelance consulting profiler on assignment for thedepartment. The only real authority she had in the moment was what she could convincepeople of. Once that started to crumble, so did her clout and
