Page 2 of Wild Fever

2

"Yeah, he was with a smoking hot blonde," the man in the neighboring cabana said.

Doug Haskins was late 40s with a beer belly, thinning curly blonde hair, and an affable demeanor. His nose was red from a little too much time in the sun.

"What time did you see them?” I asked.

His lips tightened as he thought about it for a moment. "I guess it was a little after midnight. Probably closer to 1:00 AM. They were at the bar, and we left about the same time. I figured the guy had to be loaded. Why else would she be with him? Then I figured her for a working girl. There were plenty in the bar last night.” He displayed his ring finger with a smile. "I'm a married man. Otherwise, I might have been tempted.”

"Where's your wife?”

"At home. I'm in town for the convention.”

"Which convention is that?”

"The PTPA.”

My quizzical expression made him continue.

“Property Tax Professionals Association. We have a conference every year in a different resort. Sadly, the wife couldn’t come this time.” He didn’t look so disappointed.

I got the impression Doug could be tempted by some of the lovely ladies around the hotel, if he hadn't already.

"Can you give me a description of the blonde?”

"Yeah. 5’4”, tight black cocktail dress with a low back. Well put together,” he said, eyes practically bulging. “I was praying for a wardrobe malfunction. She was about a millimeter from spilling out of that thing. Nice legs. She had platinum blonde hair that hung just above her shoulders. Stylish. It looked like she had just gone to the salon. Maybe she was wearing a wig. Who knows? She wore dark sunglasses, which I thought was kind of odd at that time of night. At first, I thought maybe she was a movie star or some kind of celebrity. By the looks of her, she could have been. Seemed like a waste of talent around here, if you ask me.”

“She have any tattoos? Anything identifiable?”

He sucked his teeth. “Not that I recall. But I didn’t see everything. Sure would have liked to.”

"How long were you in the bar last night?

"I went to dinner with a couple of the guys. There was some talk about going to Forbidden Fruit, but Tommy wussed out. He’s convinced his wife’s got a tracker on him.”

“Maybe she does,” I said.

“I guess we ended up at the hotel bar around 10:00 PM.”

"Do you remember what time you first saw Mr. Yan and his companion?”

Doug’s mouth tightened as he thought about it. "I don't really recall. It was probably close to midnight when I first spotted them.”

"Did they come into the bar together?”

Doug shrugged. "I couldn't say for sure. The girl was hard to miss. She caught my eye, alright." He paused for a second. "Now that I think about it, they were separate. She came strutting in, and I just had to take a look. No harm in that.” He blew out an impressed breath and shook his head at what he missed out on. "I tell you, if I were single, I would have been all over that. I guess it didn't work out too well for the guy, though. You think she killed him?”

I shrugged. "I would certainly like to talk to her about that."

"How’d she do it?" he asked, leaning in with curious eyes.

"I can't discuss ongoing investigations.”

Paris Delaney and her news crew arrived. She spotted us right away and closed in.

The camera lens focused.

I gave her a look to back off and continued my interview with Doug. "You didn't happen to see her leave, did you?"