Page 90 of Three Girls Gone

Leslie answered on the second ring. “Katherine? Two callsin one week.” Leslie’s tone was brisk, but she must have seen her name and answered anyhow.

“I won’t take long, as I sense you’re busy.”

“I’m always busy, but I’m not sure what else I can do for you. I’ve given you everything you asked for.”

“You were at the party that night, the one when Julie Gilbert was killed,” Katherine said, cutting right to the point. “Was anyone else from the venue there?”

“I don’t remem— No, wait, now that I think about it, Marshall popped by.”

“And who is Marshall?” Katherine brought up the venue’s employee list. “There isn’t one on the list you gave me in the fall.”

“Then Marshall screwed up.”

“Marshall compiled the list?”

“I don’t have time for something so trivial. I can’t believe he was so incompetent as to forget his name. That’s a new level. I don’t know how I put up with him for as long as I did.”

The skin tightened on the back of Katherine’s neck. No one could be so sloppy as to exclude their own name by accident. “Did?So you’ve fired him?”

“Yes, back around Thanksgiving. Near the time you asked for the list again, actually. I’d had enough of his screwups.”

Nice.“And you never reviewed the list before sending it over?”

“As I said, I don’t have the time. My assistant’s to take care of the tedious stuff.”

“How long was he with you?”

“Fourteen years.”

“Did he gather the names twelve years ago too?”

“He would have.”

His name never made the list the first time around either. “What’s hislast name?”

“Wilcox. But you can’t seriously consider Marshall is involved. Trust me, he isn’t who you’re looking for here.”

Katherine wasn’t so sure about that. She’d never heard his name before. He must have left his name off the employee list on purpose.Twice.Was Marshall the man they were after? When she contacted the venue in the fall, it must have spooked him. “Does he have a scar through his upper lip?” She went with the one distinguishing attribute. After all, hair color could change and a lot of people had dimples.

“Ah, yeah.”

Katherine’s entire body was shaking. “And you’re sure Marshall was at the Gilbert party that night?”

“Well for a minute or two. Someone bumped into me and got red wine all over my white dress. I had him bring me over a change of clothes.”

“That party went late into the night.”

“Oh, Marshall would drop everything and do anything I asked. No life outside of work. In fact,that’swhy I put up with him for so long. He was my lap dog from the moment he walked into the interview room and saw me.”

This guy was ticking off the boxes on the profile.No social life, an entry-level job for more than a decade…“Is he timid? Awkward?”

“Both. He was rather quiet around me from the start. I remember hearing him talking loudly in the hall with the intern that showed him to the interview room. When he saw me, he zipped right up.”

His behavior could be nerves at seeing his potential new boss, or there might be more to it. “Was he reserved with everyone, or just those in management positions like yourself?”

“I couldn’t say.”

Without a solid answer, anything Katherine reasoned would be conjecture. But did Marshall battle with low self-esteem and fear those in authority? Did he funnel his frustrationfrom feeling insignificant into targeting little girls? To feel some self-worth and assume control over one aspect of his life? “How long did he stick around at the party?”