Rachel Alexander 03 - A Hell of a Dog

from the look I saw passing between DeAndrea and O’Shea.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “At first they only seemed interested in the fact that you were out of the room at the same time Martyn was.”
    “But that was barely five minutes. Did you tell them that?“
    „I did. And I told them that until Sam showed up to tell us about Martyn, you weren’t out of my sight. So then they wanted to know what we were doing for all those hours.”
    “And you said?”
    “That we were talking.”
    “We were.”
    “Exactly.”
    I took a deep breath. “Okay, no big deal, right?”
    “It didn’t stop there.”
    “It didn’t?”
    He shook his head. “They wanted to know what we were talking about.”
    “That’s weird. When they questioned me, they mainly wanted to know what I did when I was out of the room and if I saw anyone else in the hallway. But they didn’t ask me what we were talking about.” I screwed up my face. “Did you tell them?“
    „Of course. I told them we were discussing positive and negative reinforcement.”
    “Good boy,” I said. “Did they buy it?”
    “We’re here, aren’t we? Not in jail. But I doubt very strongly that they believe we were talking about dog training all night.“
    “Then they don’t know dog people.”
    “Apparently not. They asked me about phone calls, too—did Martyn receive any during the poker game? Did he leave the game to make or receive a phone call?”
    “And you said?”
    “That there were no calls for anyone during the game, and Martyn left because he was still jet-lagged. At least, that was the reason he gave. If it wasn’t the truth, well, how would I know that? They were making notes like crazy, as if I’d actually told them something important.”
    “They were making a note to check the hotel’s phone records. They’d have all the incoming and outgoing calls. It’s SOP. I have a set right here,” I said, opening my jacket where the folded papers were sticking out of the inside breast pocket.
    “Let’s have a look,” he said.
    He whisded to the dogs to let them know we were stopping, and we sat on a big rock that could have been flatter and more comfortable but wasn’t. I pulled out the phone bills for each of our rooms and opened them up.
    “It’s not what you think,” he said. “I call to say good night to the lads, not to speak to Ellen.”
    “I didn’t say a word.”
    “Well, I just thought—”
    “You think too much.” I put that page in the back and we looked at the calls from Martyn’s room. There were two calls to England.
    “I guess he called to say good night to his kids, too,” Chip said. “Twenty-seven bucks for one call. Eleven ninety-five for the other. I hope that’s cool with Sam.”
    “That’s not our concern,” I said. “It’s Sam’s. We’re looking for missing pieces, for something that might tie these deaths together.”
    “Like if we found out that it was all the same woman, sleeping with each of them and then killing them afterward. Are the room-to-room calls listed as well as the outside calls?”
    “Unfortunately not.”
    “What’s that local call that Martyn made? Were you able to check that?”
    “Read it to me,” I said, pulling my cell phone out of my pocket. I punched in the number and waited for someone to pick up, smiling when they finally did. “Oh, sorry. Wrong number,” I said into the phone. “It’s the gift shop at the zoo,” I told Chip. “He bought some puppets for his kids there. But he didn’t buy them when he said he did. See, the call was made on Sunday, check-in day. He must have been calling to see if they were open. If he used his credit card or saved the receipt, I’d bet it was dated Sunday as well. Later, when I sat with him at breakfast and he showed me the puppets, he said he’d bought them for the children the afternoon before, which is the afternoon he spent with Cathy.”
    “Sounds like a man who’s used to covering his tracks.”
    “It does indeed.”
    “Maybe the calls to England weren’t to his kids, Rachel. They’re young, aren’t they?”
    “Young enough to still get a kick out of hand puppets.” ‘Well, how long can you stay on the phone with a little ldd? Maybe he’s got a girlfriend back in England, too.”
    “Could be he said good night to the kids and then talked to his wife.”
    “Twenty-seven bucks’ worth? Given his track record, I somehow doubt it. Unless that’s how he expiates his guilt?“
    “Let’s find out right