‘Is there a Mrs Smith on the guest list?’ said Ren.
‘Did you ask him to take a polygraph?’ said Gary.
‘I thought I’d wait a little while,’ said Ren. ‘I didn’t want to freak him out right away, but if anything else shows up …’
‘Let’s go to the hotel,’ said Gary.
He nodded toward Colin, Robbie and Cliff.
Robbie picked up his camera.
‘You do the room,’ said Ren. ‘I’ll follow you. I want to go talk to the desk clerk first. The statement he made earlier is … a little odd.’
Jared Labati was slouched in a chair in the office behind reception at The Merlin. He was staring at the floor, stretching a rubber band between his thumb and forefinger.
‘I already gave a statement,’ he said.
‘Not to me you didn’t,’ said Ren. ‘So, Jared, did you see anyone come in or out of the hotel after the Whaleys checked in?’
‘Just guests,’ said Jared, ‘and whoever they were meeting up with, I guess.’
‘Did you see Mr Whaley leave the hotel at any point?’ said Ren.
‘The Sheriff took the tape,’ said Jared.
‘I’m not talking about a tape right now,’ said Ren. ‘I’m asking you what you saw.’
‘Then, no,’ said Jared. ‘I didn’t see him leave the hotel. But I saw him leave the restaurant. Out of the corner of my eye. He headed for the elevator.’
‘Where were you?’ said Ren.
‘At the desk,’ said Jared.
‘Did you notice anything about him?’ said Ren.
‘It was only out of the corner of my eye,’ said Jared. ‘He was walking fast. It’s not like I was staring at him. He looked fine to me …’
‘And did you see him come back to the restaurant?’ said Ren.
‘No,’ said Jared.
‘Were you anywhere other than in the lobby area last night?’ said Ren.
‘No,’ said Jared.
‘What did Mr Whaley say when he phoned you from the room?’ said Ren.
Jared shrugged. ‘I think, like, “help, my daughter’s gone”, something like that. And he asked me to shut down the hotel. He kind of hung up, he was in a panic. So, I just went over and locked the front door. Then I called 911.’
‘How does it work if I’m a guest here and I want to book a sitter?’ said Ren.
‘Well, you call down or request a sitter at check-in and we put in a call to the agency.’
‘What agency do you use?’ said Ren, glancing at the notes.
‘It’s right there,’ he said, ‘Breck Sitters.’
‘I just want to hear you say it,’ said Ren. Her voice was flat. ‘So Shelby Royce was sent by Breck Sitters …’
‘Uh … yes.’
‘You seem a little hesitant,’ said Ren.
‘I just … I have to answer all these questions …’ said Jared.
‘Has she been to The Merlin before to babysit?’ said Ren.
‘No,’ said Jared.
‘Can you tell me anything else about Shelby?’ said Ren. ‘Do you know her well?’
‘Yeah,’ said Jared. ‘She lives on the same street, we went to the same high school. She was a couple years behind. But … we’re friends.’
‘And what kind of girl is she?’ said Ren.
‘Cr-, fun,’ said Jared.
‘What were you going to say?’ said Ren. ‘“Cr-”?’
‘Crazy?’ said Jared. ‘But, like, you would probably just take that the wrong way.’
‘Do you think?’ said Ren. ‘I had a few crazy friends back in the day …’ She glanced at her notebook. ‘Does Shelby have a best friend?’
‘Yes,’ said Jared. ‘Jane Allen, I guess.’
‘Do you have a number for her?’ said Ren.
‘No.’
‘Don’t worry, we’ll get a hold of her,’ said Ren. ‘Do you have any thoughts on where Shelby and Mr Whaley’s daughter might be?’
‘I only just saw the Whaley girl last night …’ He shrugged. ‘I don’t have a clue.’
‘Did any of your friends stop by the hotel last night to say hi to you?’ said Ren.
‘On a Saturday night?’ He snorted.
‘What about the staff?’ said Ren. ‘Did you notice anything different?’
‘No.’
‘Were any of the contractors here?’ said Ren.
‘Uh … four of them were here for dinner,’ said Jared, ‘but they left, like, at ten.’
‘They weren’t working …’ said Ren.
‘No.’
‘Do you know their names?’ said Ren.
‘No, but I can find out.’ He looked away. ‘I can’t think of anything else I can help you with.’
‘That’s not really your call,’ said Ren.
‘Look, it’s Sunday morning,’ said Jared, pointing to the reception desk, ‘people are trying to check out. I need to be there.’
‘It’s nine a.m.,’ said Ren. She looked at her notes. ‘Didn’t your shift end hours ago?’
‘Oh, yeah,’ said Jared. ‘I guess with all the commotion …’
‘Well, thank you for your time,’ said Ren, standing up, shaking his sweaty palm.
14
The door to Room 304 was open, and Sheriff’s Office detectives were in the hallway outside, talking loud enough for Ren to follow the sound when she got off the elevator. She nodded to the men, flashed her badge to the officer at the door, and went in. She pulled on her gloves.
The room was more European capital city than Breckenridge ski resort, except that it was spacious. It had modern lines, but was decorated in warm shades of cream and beige.
A crime scene tech was sliding a cotton swab across the edge of the low walnut headboard. Ren recognized it from the photo of Laurie Whaley. The tech looked up at Ren. The tip of the swab he was holding was reddish brown.
‘We found a blood-stained pillow and a wet blood-stained towel in a plastic hotel laundry bag at the back of the wardrobe,’ he said. ‘Looks like someone used the towel to wipe blood away.’
Ren looked at the lamp shade on the nightstand beside him.
‘There’s an indentation there,’ said Ren. ‘Looks like it fell, and was put back up.’ She turned it around. ‘Yup — there are bloody prints here.’
The technician nodded.
Ren walked through the door into the adjoining room. The bathroom door was to her left. She could see another technician in there, swabbing the tiles.
