“A little,” Jessie conceded. “But your point is still applicable. Themurder clearly took place before eleven twenty, no matter who did it. And wecan actually shrink the window of death even more. We don’t know when thekiller got to Gabby’s room. But we do know the murder couldn’t have occurreduntil after the room service tray, including the steak knife, was dropped offat ten thirty-six.”
“I assume that the killer arrived toward the end of that window oftime, after Gabby had finished eating,” Peters said.
“Why?”
Peters looked appalled at her question.
“Someone would have to be awfully cold to kill a person and then eat alate-night breakfast,” he said.
“I’ve seen worse,” Jessie countered. “But I think you’re right. Thisdoesn’t feel like it was done by someone who reveled in the murder after thefact. Having said that, it’s possible that Gabby and her murderer ate togetherbefore the attack. She was naked at the time and I didn’t notice any defensivewounds, both of which would suggest she was comfortable with the person and notexpecting what was about to happen. Did the M.E. mention anything about that?”
“Actually,” Peters said, flipping through his notes, “he did say thatthere was no obvious sign of a struggle, which fits with your suspicion. Soassuming she knew her killer, that likely means it was one of the people shecame here with.”
Jessie wasn’t comfortable with the blanket assumption, but the pointwas valid.
“In general that makes sense,” she agreed. “But let’s not exclude everyoneelse. If these people have been coming here twice a year for a while, she mayhave developed a few other vacation friends we’re unaware of. But for now, I agreethat we have to hone in on her travel companions.”
Peters looked at the page of his notepad open in front of him.
“That means her husband, Steve, along with Richard and Melissa Ferro,Barry and Marin Lander, and Theo Aldridge. I guess we can eliminate ArianaAldridge, since she left the island before the murder took place.”
Jessie wasn’t ready to drop Ariana from the list just yet, at least notuntil she heard back from the cop sent to her house. But she didn’t want tooverwhelm Peters, so she let that go for now.
“So what are people’s alibis?” Jessie asked, before answering her ownquestion. “Steve Crewe and Richard Ferro both claim they were in the bar, whichthe bartender confirms in part.”
“In part?” Peters repeated.
“She said they were definitely around but she couldn’t account forexactly when. People were going to the restroom and to the courtyard with thefire pit. She wasn’t willing to vouch for every minute, just acknowledged that theywere around a lot.”
“So a half-alibi then,” Peters said bitterly. “Then there’s MelissaFerro. She claims that she found the body after discovering the door wasn’tcompletely closed. My notes say that prior to that, she was freshening up inher room after being out and about. That doesn’t seem super ironclad.”
“No,” Jessie agreed, recalling how Ferro’s facial expression had gonefrom upset to calculating when pressed on her exact whereabouts. “I believe thephrase she used was ‘flitting about,’ to describe what she was doing. If yourecall, Steve Crewe burst into the conference room with his beer mug before wecould pursue her alibi further.”
“So I guess we should revisit that with her,” Peters said, underliningher name in his notes.
“I think so,” Jessie said. “And then we have the Landers, who were veryhappy to share that from about ten on, they were in their room in bed, though definitivelynot sleeping.”
“Another claim we have no way of verifying,” Peters said, frustrationleaking into his voice. “I’m guessing your best buddy Theo Aldridge won’t bemuch more help.”
“Don’t hold your breath,” she confirmed. “He’s supposedly puttingtogether that timeline of where he was and with whom. But he was as vague asMelissa Ferro when we talked. I suspect we’ll have to press him harder on thesecond go-round.”
Peters toggled back and forth among the pages of his notebook for a fewmore seconds before looking up at her.
“So basically, we can’t eliminate anyone.”
“Basically,” Jessie agreed.
She was debating how best to proceed when a young man she didn’trecognize entered the room.
“Sorry to bother you,” he said diffidently from the doorway. “I’mDarren, one of the security guards Mr. Barksdale called in last minute. Heasked me to pass along a message to you both.”
“What that?” Peters asked.
“He said that the castle walls are crumbling.”
“What does that mean?” Jessie asked.
Darren looked a little sheepish as he answered.
“That’s his colorful way of saying things are going to crap. Guests aregetting restless again. He mentioned that you hoped they might sleep for a fewhours but they’re not. He’s getting lots of calls from guest rooms, peopledemanding to check out so they can make the morning ferry. He says it’sridiculous because the boat won’t leave for hours yet but some of them arebeing…quite forceful in their language.”
Jessie sighed as she rubbed her eyes. It seemed that her threat to themall that trying to leave the island would have consequences had lost its power.She gave Peters a tired smile.
“Let’s go put down the rebellion,” she said.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Ryan Hernandez was up before dawn.
It was hard to sleep without Jessie in bed beside him. And after whatshe’d told him last night about the Night Hunter, he was anxious to go into theoffice, even though it was a Sunday.
He started his morning routine, noting that he moved a lot quicker nowthan even a few weeks ago. Of course, quicker was a relative term. It meantthat, with the assistance of a cane, he could get to the bathroom in thirtyseconds instead of sixty. It meant that he could get dressed in five minutesinstead of eight. It meant that he could tie his own shoes. But consideringthat after waking from a coma six months ago, he couldn’t move at all, hethought he was making solid progress.
He quietly made breakfast, not wanting to wake up Jessie’s sister,Hannah. The girl was challenging enough on a good night’s sleep. Without it,she was extra scary.
He would never say it out loud, but part of him was looking forward toher turning eighteen in a few months. At
