“Why?”
“Because Scott Newhouse’s body was found naked in the men’s steam room, with some kind of ribbon tied around his neck.”
“That’s why you think he might have killed himself?” Kat asked.
“That and because he supposedly had a history of depression,” Jessie revealed. “But I have my doubts. We’re waiting to hear from the medical examiner, but the angle he was found at makes it hard to imagine he could have hung himself. I don’t think the ribbon he used was tied high enough.”
“But wouldn’t that support the theory that the thief was the killer?” Kat countered. “If Newhouse walked in on the thief stealing stuff from the locker room, maybe he killed him, stripped him, and then dragged him into the steam room, where he tied up his neck to make it look like suicide. But if the killer was in a hurry, it might be done sloppily, which would explain why the angle isn’t right.”
Jessie thought about it.
“It’s not impossible,” she allowed. “We’ll know a lot more when we find out if he really died from strangulation or if that was a cover. But I’m not sure about your theory. The men’s lounge attendant was in and out of the area all morning. It’s hard to imagine that all that could have been done in one of the brief stretches where he wasn’t around.”
“Could he be your guy?”
“We haven’t officially eliminated him as a suspect,” Jessie said. “But he has witness alibis for the likely time of death. And while this isn’t very scientific, I just didn’t get the killer vibe from him.”
“You’re staking his innocence on a vibe?”
“God, no,” Jessie swore. “I like to think I have pretty good instincts but they’ve been wrong before. That’s why Ryan and I will have Jamil and Beth do a background check on him.”
“As long as you’re at it, maybe you could have them run checks on all Peninsula staff to see if any of them have a criminal record,” Kat suggested with a sheepish smile. “I’d do it myself, but as I don’t have the same resources as LAPD, it’d probably take a week.”
Kat had helped her too many times not to return the favor.
“I’ll see what I can do,” she offered.
“Thanks,” Kat said. “I better get going for now. It might look weird if a fancy person like myself was seen spending too much time with a worker bee like you.”
“You do I know I’m worth millions, right?” Jessie pointed out.
“I do. But these folks don’t and that’s all that matters,” she said, grinning, before loudly and dramatically adding, “Now stop bothering me, you law enforcement serf!”
Then, with a flourish, she whipped her hair and turned away, storming off across the lawn to points unknown. Jessie tried not to laugh as she watched her go. After all, it wouldn’t look good for her to be enjoying herself too much while investigating a possible murder, which she had to get back to.
*
Jessie considered it quite a comedown.
While resort guests were less than fifty feet away, gorging on a lunch buffet that included crab legs, tri-tip, and strawberry cheesecake, she and Ryan were holed up on the other side of the wall, in an empty office, eating grilled cheese sandwiches, as they reviewed resort staff files over the office speakerphone with Jamil and Beth.
“Remind me again,” Jamil said. “Do we really think that Kat Gentry’s thief is our steam room killer?”
“It’s a long shot,” Jessie conceded. “But as long as we’re reviewing all the staff to see if they have a record of violence, it can’t hurt to determine if they have any history of theft.”
“So basically it’s a favor,” Jamil said bluntly.
“Yes, Jamil,” Jessie replied slowly and deliberately. “It’s a favor. Is that okay with you?”
“Of course,” Jamil said quickly. “I love Kat. I just wanted to make sure I understood the situation.”
“The situation,” Ryan piped in, “is that this resort employs over six hundred people. And until we get news from the M.E. or a break on our guest suspects, this is the best use of our time. Speaking of, were you guys able to glean anything from the camera footage Hugo sent you?”
“Nothing super useful,” Beth volunteered. “The spa cameras show all the other male guests at the spa leaving when their sign-outs claim they did. None of them were around during the time of death.”
“But that doesn’t preclude someone sneaking in without signing in,” Jessie noted. “Is there any footage of people entering or exiting the spa with their head or faces covered?”
“Yes, lots,” Beth said. “A bunch of people arrived in their Peninsula-issued, blue, hooded, robes. And since it was brisk this morning, many of them had the hoods up, so it’s impossible to tell them apart. And because there are no interior cameras at the spa, there’s no way to tell where they went once they got inside.”
“What about other cameras around the campus?” Ryan prompted. “Anything to confirm that Abby Andrews was whale watching, Ellie Darcy was at the tide pools, or either Matt Darcy or Malcolm Andrews were in their casitas?”
“Nothing definitive,” Jamil told them. “Like that security guy told you, there’s not a ton of footage to work with. There aren’t any cameras near where the ladies were allegedly doing their activities and the cameras near the casitas don’t show the entrances to either couple’s. I do have a record of Malcolm Andrews briefly on a business call originating from his casita, but it ended well before the window of death, so that’s not dispositive.”
“What about cell phone geo-location?” Jessie asked.
“Spotty at best,” Beth explained. “Because you’re so isolated down there, and you’re right near the cliffs and ocean, the signal doesn’t get super specific. It shows all of them at the resort but doesn’t get granular about where they are on the campus.”
“This just keeps getting better and better,” Ryan grumbled as he took a bite of his sandwich.
“I do have some news for you,” Jamil said, “though I don’t know whether it’s good or bad.”
“What’s that?” Ryan asked.
“The spa attendant that found the body, Tony Dante, comes back clean. He has no record, not even a traffic ticket. And as far as being the thief, that looks unlikely. He’s been at Peninsula for eight months and the thefts only started up in the last five weeks.”
“Good to know,” Jessie said, “though not that surprising.”
“Should we limit the search to just folks hired in the last couple of months?” Jamil asked.
“No,” Jessie instructed. “That might be useful for Kat’s investigation. But for us, it would leave off too many potential suspects.”
She took a bite of her sandwich too. After all that time talking, it had gotten cold.
“I may have found something that will surprise you,” Beth said. “As I go through these staff files, I’m finding quite a few sealed juvenile records.”
“What do you mean?” Ryan asked.