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But Jeffries shrugged. “Like I said…I remember the pretty girls. And the bonus of my job is there are lots of prettygirls.”
* * *
Zaila hada round face with heavily made-up eyes and black hair tipped with pink. They’d had to drive across the city to the place she’d set to meet with them. The only parking they could find was blocks away. Nyle and Alexa were out of breath by the time they walked into the seedy diner and slid into the booth oppositeher.
“Dennis showed us your picture,” Alexa said when the woman looked up insurprise.
“Yeah, Dennis. What’d he get me into?” She picked up a sugar packet from a bowl placed in the center of the table. Fiddled withit.
“Nothing too worrisome.” Nyle put a picture of Lawler on the table in front of the woman. “Do you recall seeing her in Zoomey’s Thursdaynight?”
The woman made a box with her fingers, centered it around Lawler’s face, blocking out the hair. “Yeah,” she said finally. “She was there. I know faces. I’m an art student at NSCAD.” She surveyed the picture critically. “Makeup was different. Less polished, more glam, if you know what I mean. Don’t recall what she was wearing or anything. Me, I seefaces.”
On cue, Nyle produced the sketches of the offender. “How about him? Remember seeinghim?”
She shook her head. “He might have stood out, too, because we cater to a younger crowd.” Which was similar to what the bartender had told them. “Once in a while, you get an older guy in there with a lot younger girlfriend, but that’s not thenorm.”
“Did you see this woman with anyone throughout thenight?”
Zaila rolled her eyes. “Saw her with lots of people. All guys. A good twenty years younger than her, you ask me. She was dancing earlier, but last time I noticed she was sitting in a booth with a bunch of guys, pretty smashed. It looked like they were buying all the drinks.” She grimaced. “They’d had plenty,too.”
“Do you know what time that was?” Alexaasked.
“There is only two times that matter in that place.” The woman smirked. “The time I have to be at work and closing time. Seriously, the place is busiest on the weekends, but Wednesdays and Thursdays can be crazy, too. There’s never enough staff, and we work our asses off. I don’t notice the time. Oh.” She seemed to remember something. “Except I know I waited on that booth right before the band’s first break, which would have been about eleven-thirty. I try to time my rounds because otherwise the floor gets too congested, with people going to the restrooms and trying to get to the bar. It was the last time I remember seeingher.”
Alexa exchanged a look with Nyle. Here was another point for the timeline of Lawler’s last night. She and Ethan had been there about one. But they still didn’t know if the woman had left beforethen.
“How about the guys in the booth with her? Did you recognize any of them?” sheasked.
“I’ve seen a couple of them before. One had some trouble at the club a few months back. Got kicked out for a while.” She thought for a moment. Shook her head. “Maybe Duncan knows. He was the bouncer we had back then. I’ll askhim.”
“Please call my number if you discover his name.” Nyle slid one of his cards across the cracked vinyl table toward her. “We appreciate yourtime.”
“Yeah.” Zaila stood up, hefted a large hobo bag onto her shoulder. “Figured with something like this, you gotta get involved, right? Plus, Dennis is pretty hot and I don’t mind him owing me a favor.” Giving them a surprisingly impish smile, she walkedaway.
The bartender they’d just interviewed? Hot? Alexis suddenly felt very old. There was, she supposed, no accounting for taste. “Who’snext?”
Nyle checked his cell. “Ethan wants us back at headquarters by seven. Which is another hour. It’ll take us almost that long to get there. We’d better head out. Unless you want to catch a quick bitefirst.”
Alexa looked around the diner. She wasn’t especially fastidious, but she was willing to guess the sanitation here was sketchy, at best. “I think I’ll pass.” She slid out of the booth and headed toward the door. She was anxious to get an update about the plans for the memorial this evening. Alexa couldn’t be sure the offender would attend. But if her remarks at the press conference resonated with him on any level, she thought he might be unable to resist appearingtonight.