“I see,” she said after a moment to regroup. “So you only learned ofher death this morning?”
“That’s right,” Aldridge said. “I was obviously devastated. I hadn’tknown her that long but Gabby and I hit it off right away. It’s a real loss.”
“Of course,” Jessie replied. “It’s too bad you weren’t here. I thinkSteve and the others could have used another friendly face.”
“Speaking of,” Aldridge replied, “I’m not even sure why you’re callingme. I was long gone by the time this happened. I’m not sure what use I can beto you.”
Jessie noted that the woman had entirely evaded the topic of being asource of support for her supposed friends. She decided not to pursue thatuntil she could look Aldridge in the face.
“You’d actually be surprised how useful seemingly irrelevantinformation can end up being. That’s why I want you to come in for a formalinterview when I get back to the city. How does that sound?”
“I’m happy to do it,” Aldridge replied, “though I don’t think it’ll doyou much good. I just have to square it away with my mother, who will need towatch my daughter.”
“Oh yes, little Ginny,” Jessie said. “How did she do the first timebeing away from you for an extended period?”
“Okay,” Aldridge said, sounding taken aback that a stranger knew detailsabout her personal life. Jessie decided that this might be the perfect time tothrow a few extra questions at her, when she was back on her heels.
“That’s great,” Jessie said. “We’ll get into everything more when Ireturn but for now, I’d like to nail down a few basics. Why did you leaveCatalina so suddenly?”
The pause on the other end of the line told her that she’d made animpact. Jessie let the moment linger. She could almost hear the woman’s brainworking overtime.
“It’s not as dramatic as it seems,” she finally said. “The group justenjoyed some activities that I…I wasn’t into. I started to feel uncomfortable.Theo didn’t seem bothered by that stuff and wanted to stay. I didn’t. So Ileft.”
“What kind of stuff?” Jessie asked, keeping the pressure on.
The pause this time was even longer than before.
“You know, I thought you’d already have addressed all this with theothers by now,” she said carefully. “I don’t really know all the details so I’mnot the person to talk to.
“What details?” Jessie demanded. “What activities were you referringto?”
“I’ve got to go,” Aldridge said hurriedly. “If you need to follow uplater, let me know.”
“Ariana—” Jessie started to say before realizing the line was dead.
She looked over at Peters, unable to hide her excitement. At last, shehad something to work with, a way to burrow under the perfect impression that everyonewas presenting.
“What?” Peters said, without any of her interest.
“What do you mean, ‘what?’ Didn’t that strike you as interesting?Whatever ‘activity’ the rest of the group was into was enough to make ArianaAldridge bail on the whole weekend. All this time we’ve had to accept thenotion that everyone was too drunk to remember what happened last night. Now wefinally have a lead that suggests that maybe they weren’t just out of it, theywere intentionally hiding something.”
“What do you think?” Peters asked dismissively. “That they’re a bunchof Satanists who planned to sacrifice her at midnight?”
“I don’t know,” Jessie replied, surprised at his indifference to thewoman’s revelation. “It could be that. It could be some kind of sex club. I’vecome across that before. They could have been planning to go to some hiddenwarehouse to watch dog fights or intending to spend all night shooting heroinin someone’s suite. The point is that there is something they didn’t tell usthat scared her off. I’m not sure why you’re suddenly so blasé about this.”
“I guess I’m just not convinced that it’s the smoking gun you think itis,” he said.
“Well, we’re about to see who’s right,” she told him. “We’ve got alittle less than five hours before your boss starts wetting himself, so let’sget started.”
“Where?”
“With the one person most likely to react to this new information: TheoAldridge.”
“You think he’s going to be more forthcoming than he was last night?”Peters asked.
“I think he was pretty cocky while he was drunk,” Jessie told him. “Nowhe’ll be hung over. And once I use the ammunition his wife just gave us, he’llbe feeling the heat. Besides, I’ve often found that the big, tough guys are thefirst to break. Let’s see if he’s one of them.”
*
Deputy Heck told them that Theo Aldridge had returned to his room. WhenJessie banged on his door, it took almost two minutes for him to answer it.When he did, she saw why. He was wearing only boxers and a T-shirt and stillhad sleep in his eyes.
“I only just fell back asleep,” he said irritably. “Couldn’t you havegiven me a little time to rest?”
“Sorry, Theo,” Jessie said, sidestepping him as she entered the room. “Timeis short and we need to talk.”
“Hey, I didn’t give you permission to come into my room!” he objected,regaining some of the belligerence from the previous night.
“Are you refusing to talk with me?” she asked in a tone that suggestedit might be a crime for him to do so.
“I just—I’m not dressed,” he said, switching quickly to a pathetic,pleading voice.
“Then get dressed,” she instructed, flicking on his light and walkingfurther into the room. “And please don’t make Detective Peters stand out in thehall. It’s rude.”
Aldridge stepped aside for Peters to enter. The detective seemed reluctantto do so. Once Aldridge pulled on some jeans, his demeanor became immediatelyless deferential.
“What was so important that you had to barge in here? I gave the hotelmanager my timeline like you asked.”
“I know,” Jessie assured him, speaking with an intentional aggressionintended to keep him on his heels. “And he passed it along to me. I looked at iton the way up here. It’s pretty useless. You could drive a truck
