“I’ll tell them,” Deputy Heck promised.
Jessie looked up from the bed at the two men standing expectantly in frontof her.
“I’m not sure there’s much else we can do up here. I think it’s time westart interviewing folks.”
“Who do you want to start with?” Peters asked.
“The husband,” she replied. “Always start with the husband.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Jessie stared in the bathroom mirror.
Before diving into the interviews, she’d made a pit stop to freshen upand make sure she looked appropriately professional and intimidating for the upcomingquestioning. After getting Captain Decker’s call, she’d rushed out of the houseso quickly that she hadn’t had a chance to do much more than change from her pajamasto jeans and a sweater.
She undid her ponytail and ran a brush through her shoulder-length brownhair. She swished a little mouthwash and put some drops in her green eyes,which were tinged with the redness of exhaustion. She considered adding adusting of makeup but decided that it wasn’t necessary. Even at almost two inthe morning, she thought she looked pretty decent. And if she stood at her fullheight, making use of her athletic, five-foot-ten frame, she could beintimidating too.
When she stepped out of the restroom into the hall connecting all theballrooms, she immediately noticed that Detective Peters and Tommy the bellboyweren’t alone. They were with an attractive, athletic-looking woman wearing aheavy jacket over a pink jogging suit. Her black hair was pulled back in a bun.She was talking to the detective in the corner, her voice borderline desperate.
“I have to be first,” she pleaded to Peters. “The sooner they know, thefaster they can do something.”
Peters glanced up, saw Jessie, then turned his attention back to thewoman.
“Ms. Ferro, please wait here for a moment,” he said. “I’ll be rightback.”
He left her where she stood and came over. Jessie said nothing, waitingfor him to explain.
“That’s Melissa Ferro, the friend who found the body,” he said. “As I’msure you heard, she’s demanding to talk to you right away. I didn’t know if youwanted to stick to your ‘husband first’ plan or give her the first go.”
“That’s fine,” Jessie said. “It may actually be more valuable to getsome baseline facts on timeline from her, since we don’t have any footage towork with. Besides, I have a feeling holding her off might cause a scene. Isthere somewhere we can question her privately?”
Peters stepped over to a diagram of the floor and studied it silentlyfor a few seconds.
“Most folks are in the Catalina Ballroom, where we stopped in earlier.But per your instructions, a few were moved across the hall to the WrigleyBallroom. That leaves two smaller meeting rooms unoccupied. Take your pick.”
Jessie chose what looked like the smaller of the two, the Harbor Room.Peters seemed to agree with the call, giving a curt nod before returning to thewoman.
“Ms. Ferro, your squeaky wheel is about to get greased. If you couldplease come with us?”
Melissa followed him to the room, with Jessie right behind. When theyentered Jessie was immediately glad she’d chosen it. It was more of a small conferenceroom than a meeting room, with one large circular table that was too big forthe space, creating a mild sense of claustrophobia.
She took off her jacket and put her backpack on the table in front ofher. The table could easily seat eight, but with only three of them, MelissaFerro took off her jacket as well. Jessie noticed that the jogging suitunderneath was stained with blood. Ferro, who didn’t seem aware of it, sat down.Her gray eyes darted everywhere. She looked isolated and vulnerable. That’s theway Jessie liked it.
Peters took off his jacket and cap for the first time since Jessiearrived on the island. Without them, he seemed immediately less gruff. He hadan unruly shock of long, thick, sun-bleached blond hair, which suggested hespent a lot of time on the water. His skin was a little leathery, but morelikely due to his recreational activities than age. At thirty, she suspectedshe was only a few years younger than him. She also suspected that if he wereto ever smile, he might actually be pleasant-looking.
“So, Ms. Ferro,” he started, “as I mentioned previously, we have someextra help on the case. This is Jessie Hunt. She’s a specialist in these kindsof killings. I know you gave me a brief rundown of how you discovered yourfriend earlier, but I’d like you to repeat it now.”
Melissa Ferro looked momentarily overwhelmed, as if the idea ofrevisiting the horror might be too much for her. After a moment, she seemed torecover and appeared ready to begin. But Jessie jumped in before she could.
“Ms. Ferro,” she began, deciding to take charge of how the questioningwould proceed, “I don’t need you to go through everything again. Instead, Iwant to focus on some specific details if we can. But before we start, I justwanted to offer my condolences. I understand you were friends with Gabrielle.This must be very difficult for you.”
“It is,” she said, her eyes brimming with tears. “I can’t get the imageof her out of my head.”
Jessie nodded sympathetically, trying to build a rapport as quickly aspossible.
“Okay, then let’s not start there,” she suggested. “Tell me about findingthe door open.”
“Right,” Ferro said, relieved. “I had been out and about and returnedto my room to freshen up. When I left, I thought I’d see if Gabby andSteve—that’s her husband—were around and wanted to hang out, maybe go down tothe bar.”
“What time was that?” Jessie asked.
“I’m not positive but I know I got back to my room around elevenfifteen, so maybe eleven twenty?”
“That fits,” Peters chimed in. “The room service waiter said he arrivedon the floor around that time. He heard Ms. Ferro screaming a few secondslater. And like I said before, we got the first call at the station at eleventwenty-four.”
Jessie didn’t love the detective confirming Ferro’s testimony in realtime with her there. That kind of discussion was better had outside thepresence of a witness who might also be
