serious expression marring what was probably a decent face. Belinda Douglas was small and thin, a tiny blonde with big blue eyes, which were red and bloodshot now.
They all looked at him without guilt.
Then he’d never thought her coworkers were guilty. He had just hoped they might somehow point him in the right direction.
“Are we all right here? Detective Ferrer talked to us one by one. We just gathered...instinctively, I guess,” Roger said.
“Then maybe it’s good we all talk together,” Axel said. “Why don’t you just talk? Draw me a picture of Jennifer. Let me see her through your eyes.”
“Kind,” Marci said.
“Never a complainer,” Belinda offered.
“No, not at all!” Roger said.
“She’d cover for any of us,” Belinda said. “She gave up one of her vacation days when I called in because my daughter was sick. I mean, Dr. Wong is a decent man, but I knew the schedule that day. And Jennifer was supposed to be off, but she covered for me without blinking an eye.”
“Did you guys ever hang out?” Axel asked.
“Sure,” Roger said.
“When we could,” Marci added. “Belinda and I have kids and husbands and babysitters. But every other Friday night we would hang out. Went to a little place down the street that’s quiet. The kind of place Jennifer liked. She’d only gone to a club once, when she’d gotten out of high school. Or anyway, that’s what she told us, and I never knew her to lie. She hated crowded places, so...”
“She really didn’t have much of a life. No family here,” Roger said.
“None anywhere. Her parents were killed in a car accident years ago,” Belinda told him.
“We were her family,” Marci added.
“What did you talk about when you were out? Did she tell you all anything about a date she had planned for tonight?” Axel asked.
“She did talk about going out with someone,” Belinda said.
“Do you know where she met him?”
“I wish I did,” Marci said. “But they were definitely going to meet somewhere. She said she didn’t give her home address to anyone.”
“Where were they going to meet?”
Marci looked at him. “Um, I think the same place we go as a group. Maybe. I mean, she didn’t tell me, but it’s a place she would trust. It’s called Sunshine and Moonlight. It’s quiet, just a softly playing jukebox or sometimes a couple of musicians. And there are only about ten tables there. Still, safe and public, you know. We told her she had to be careful about people she just met.”
“Yeah, well, at least she met him in person. You never know with people you meet online,” Roger said.
“I guess she won’t have to worry about him being different than what he wrote,” Belinda said, sobbing softly again.
“Were you aware of her being upset with anyone, or anyone being upset with her?” Axel asked.
“When she got angry—patients can be jerks—she never let it show. The patients here loved her,” Marci told him.
“Did she mention any problems with anyone else? Anyone outside of work?”
The three looked around at one another.
“She was such a pretty girl and so sweet, but—”
“She was one of those people who was always careful. She didn’t believe in online dating. Said she had read too much about bad things happening. I tried to convince her otherwise,” Belinda said. “I met my husband online!”
“But she must have had other friends,” Axel suggested.
“Not even a cat,” Roger said. “She loved working here. I mean, of course, you never really know someone, but she was just shy. We were her friends and family.”
Belinda sobbed softly.
“And you don’t know anything more about the man she was supposed meet tonight?” Axel asked.
They all shook their heads again, looking at one another.
“Did she say anything to you at all?” Roger asked Belinda. “You two shared a job, more or less.”
“Oh! At first, I teased her. I’d suggested she’d broken down and finally looked into online dating. She said no, they’d met in the coffee shop across the street, definitely not online,” Belinda said. “But she wouldn’t even tell me his name.”
“But they definitely met across the street?”
“Well, down the street, really. It’s across from that dress shop. She loved that shop! She was going to buy something there for her date. They’re pricey, though, so she wanted to be sure,” Belinda said.
“When? Do you know.”
Belinda was thoughtful a moment. “Monday, yes. It had to have been Monday. She came in here whistling and happy and that’s when I started wanting to know what was going on with