“Thank god,” Peters wheezed, dropping to a walk. “You made the rightcall, Jandro.”
“I didn’t kill anyone,” the man insisted in a thick accent.
“No one said you did,” Peters huffed. “But I still need you to walktoward me very slowly.”
Jandro followed the instructions. When he got close enough, Peterscuffed him.
“I didn’t do nothing wrong,” Jandro insisted.
“Then why did you run?” Jessie demanded.
Jandro looked up at her but didn’t answer.
For the first time, she got a good look at him. It was obvious why hemight be a popular bedroom companion. Though he was fairly short, the man wasbroad shouldered and well-muscled. He had lustrous black hair and penetratingbrown eyes that she suspected he used to maximum effect.
“Should we take him back to the hotel or to the station?” Peters asked,apparently hoping a change of venue would make the guy chattier.
“Actually, why don’t we chat out here,” Jessie suggested, “away fromprying eyes and ears. If Jandro answers our questions directly, maybe we canavoid the whole arrest thing.”
Peters looked like he wanted to take the guy in just for making themchase him, but managed to keep that to himself.
“What do you say, Jandro?” she asked. “If you’re straight with us, andwe can verify your story, we forget about this whole ‘evading arrest’ thing.But if you lie, we get formal about things. Are you cool with that?”
Jandro nodded.
“Great,” Jessie said, getting out of the cart and walking over. Shewanted to hit him with questions before he had too long to think. “Again, whydid you run?”
He shrugged.
“That’s not going to cut it, Jandro,” she scolded before deciding totry a different tack. “Okay, how long were you with Melissa Ferro last night?”
Jandro looked briefly startled before he responded.
“I was not—” he started but she cut him off.
“Remember the deal. You have to be honest. Melissa already told usabout your appointment. We’re not looking to arrest you for that. We’reinvestigating a murder, remember. And when we saw you, you took off. You cansee why that doesn’t look good.”
“I did not kill the woman,” he said fiercely.
“Did you know her?” Peters asked.
“I saw her. She is friends with Miss Melissa.”
“Did you ever spend…private time with her?” Jessie asked.
“No,” he answered, shaking his head vehemently. “Miss Melissa would notlike that.”
It was pretty clear to Jessie why Jandro had run and it didn’t seem tohave anything to do with Gabby’s death. He was afraid of being arrested for sexuallyservicing guests, a crime she imagined might have long-term consequences forhis residency in the country. She looked over at Peters and could tell he hadthe same suspicion. But believing it and proving it were two different things.
“Jandro,” she said, softening her tone, “we need to know if you werewith Miss Melissa last night and if so, for how long. Easy questions, easyanswers—make it any harder and your day get much worse real fast.”
Jandro didn’t answer at first. For a second she thought he might backout. But then she realized he was trying to remember.
“I was with her,” he said. “But I am not sure when.”
“You’re going to have to do better than that,” Peters growled.
“I have a calendar in my back pocket,” Jandro said. “The times getconfusing so I write everything down. I know I was with her. You can check.”
Jessie moved behind him and saw the flat booklet in his left backpocket.
“You don’t mind if I take it?” she reconfirmed, not wanting to beaccused of any improprieties later.
He shook his head. She tugged it out and opened to yesterday. Jandro’s schedulewas demanding. He had four appointments listed for the day at 3 p.m., 7 p.m.,10:45 p.m., and midnight.
The very sight of the calendar made Jessie’s heart sink. It made hersick to her stomach that the guy standing in front of them kept a schedule ofthe women he had to service and when. No matter how good a golf caddy he was,she suspected that if any of those women expressed displeasure, his entireexistence could be uprooted in a moment. She forced herself to set that asidefor now. She couldn’t right every wrong today. But she could find Gabby Crewe’skiller.
She studied the appointments more closely. There were no names listedbut there were room numbers and in one case it simply said “sauna.” The 10:45 appointmenthad a notation for suite 503, which was the Ferros’.
“You keep busy, Alejandro,” she noted. “This says you had her scheduledfor ten forty-five. How long were you there?”
“My visits are an hour or a half hour. I think she was half. If it was,there is a ‘2’ next to the time.”
“There is,” she said.
“I remember now. Most times, she likes an hour but I remember that shewanted shorter this time so she could go back to her friends in the bar.”
Jessie took a photo of the page and shoved it back in his pocket.
“Did Melissa act different than usual?” she asked.
“No. She was the same as always. Melissa is always very aggressive.Every time I am with her, she is so passionate that it feels like she thinks itwill be her last chance to make love.”
“Okay,” Peters said, clearly unprepared for that level of forthrightness.“Maybe you don’t have to share every detail, buddy.”
Jessie enjoyed watching him squirm a bit before replying.
“So Melissa Ferro’s alibi holds up,” she finally said. “Based on thetimeline, we still can’t definitively eliminate her as a suspect. But thiscertainly helps her. Now we have to decide who to go at next.”
Peters was about to reply when his phone pinged that he had a text. Heread it and looked up at her, frowning.
“What?” she asked.
“That was from Keith Heck. He said some guests are getting chippy again.The word ‘lawyer’ is getting tossed around a lot. We better get back.”
As Jessie returned
