ago.”
“That’s a long stay for a place like this.”
“True. Usually the oil field guys are the only ones who stay more than a day or two.”
“Did you talk to her at all when she registered? You know, chat her up? Hit on her a little, maybe?”
He frowned. “No way. She’s not my type.”
I blinked. I had assumed that most women with a pulse would be his type. “Why not?”
“She’s a user. I had a cousin who OD’d. I’m lazy and I’ll drink beer like nobody’s business, but I don’t go near that stuff or anyone who does.”
“We all have our line in the sand,” I said. “That’s a good one.”
He nodded. “Anyway, I didn’t ask anything and she didn’t offer. Barely looked at me. Just asked for the weekly rate and shoved some cash at me.”
“Have you seen her coming and going? Anything unusual? Any visitors—other than the stumpy guy I mentioned?”
“Haven’t seen her since she checked in,” he said and motioned to his laptop. “But if I’m not checking someone in, I’m usually on that. Got no window with a view out front and I’m not exactly the outdoor type.”
Since his skin was as white as the paper on his desk, I figured he was telling the truth on that one.
I gave him my card and his eyes widened. “PI? Really?”
“My new line of work,” I said. “If you see anything odd going on with that woman, give me a call. Or if you think anything is wrong.”
“Like what? Hey, she’s not dangerous, is she?”
“That’s what I’m trying to find out,” I said and headed for the door.
“Wait! How dangerous? What did she do? Do I need to get Mace or something?”
I just smiled as I walked out. It wasn’t nice but he needed some way to burn energy. Lord knows, he wasn’t working off ten calories a day sitting in that chair. A little worry might burn more.
I hopped back into the SUV and filled Ida Belle and Gertie in on the conversation.
“Five days?” Gertie said. “Then she was just minutes away from Molly’s house. Dexter could have called her when Molly left in her boat, and Marissa could have gone after her in Molly’s smaller boat.”
I nodded. “That’s what I was thinking. He probably knew where Molly kept the keys. I can’t imagine she’d hide them.”
“That’s because you haven’t lived here long enough,” Ida Belle said.
Gertie rolled her eyes. “A lot of people have feelings about their boats like Ida Belle does about this car.”
“Well, it’s not like they’d be asking permission to borrow the woman’s boat to kill her,” Ida Belle said. “And unless she can pull one of those Jesus tricks like Fortune’s dad, Molly isn’t likely to come back and dish out some punishment for taking her boat.”
Gertie stared at the motel and frowned. “I wonder what they’re doing in there.”
“Yuck,” Ida Belle said. “No one needs those images in their mind.”
“I don’t think that’s it,” Gertie said. “They both looked mad when they left the bar, and when they got out of the car, they were walking single file, not next to each other. I wish we had a bug in their room.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” I said. “Assuming the room next to them is empty.”
Ida Belle shook her head. “The last time you tried that one, you fell through the ceiling and landed on a naked dude who thought you were the prostitute he ordered.”
“So I’ll knock first,” I said. “If no one answers, I go in and see what I can hear. Those walls are paper thin, trust me.”
Gertie clapped. “What do you want us to do?”
“Sit tight and be ready to haul butt,” I said. “If either of them sees us, the gig is up. And I don’t want them running.”
I pulled on latex gloves and hurried up the stairs, then put an ear to the door of the room next door to Dexter and Marissa’s. I didn’t hear any movement inside so I knocked softly on the door. Silence. I pulled out a credit card and grabbed the doorknob, but it jiggled so much when I touched it that I tried turning it.
It was open!
I heard a noise at the end of the motel and saw the clerk walk outside and lean against a light pole at the edge of the parking lot. Crap! He wasn’t supposed to be outside. I pushed the door open and slipped inside. The drapes were drawn on the front window so the