Sam Kincaid 01 - The Commission

located at the back of the premises, where we met the club manager.
    Customers sat singly or in small groups, with waitresses serving soft drinks, and the dancers moving from customer to customer soliciting table dances. The performers on stage appeared to be dancing two-song sets, then rotating to the next stage until they had danced on all three.
    McConnell glanced over and caught me looking at a beautiful redhead performing on the stage nearest us. “Guilty as charged.”
    Feeling a little defensive, I said, “Look, I was only admiring her athleticism. If I were to end up in a position like that, it would take a crow-bar and a trip to the chiropractor to put Humpty-Dumpty back together again.”
    “Sure,” she said with a slightly self-righteous smirk. “Pay attention, and let’s get this over with so we can get out of here.”
    “I am paying attention,” I protested weakly.
    The club manager escorted Sue Ann Winkler, a.k.a. Jasmine, to our table. She didn’t look at all surprised to see us, so I assumed her mother had warned her about our impending visit. Unlike her mother, Sue Ann was petite, five-one or five-two at most, slim, small breasted, with blond hair cut so short it would have looked masculine on just about anyone else. On her, however, it looked just right. All in all, a very cute young woman.
    We were escorted to a small business office behind the bar, which offered privacy and a measure of insulation from the loud music.
    The manager asked, “Would you like me to stay, Sue Ann?”
    “Thanks, Jason, but I’ll be just fine.”
    McConnell explained that we already knew about her relationship with Vogue, but needed her to corroborate some of our information. Kate began by asking, “Describe your relationship with Levi Vogue.”
    Sounding relaxed and composed, she responded, “I was his friend and his lover.”
    “How long had you been seeing him?”
    “About eight or nine months, I guess.”
    “How frequently did you spend time together?”
    “Once, sometimes twice a week. It always depended on his schedule, whenever he could get away from work or his family.”
    “Where would the two of you meet?”
    “Usually at the motel, which, as you know, my mother owns.”
    “Is that the only place you got together?”
    “Yeah, for the most part. Sometimes we’d go back to my apartment as long as my roommate wasn’t around. We didn’t do that very often though.”
    “So you’re telling us that most of your contacts with Mr. Vogue occurred at the motel or your apartment. Is that correct?”
    “That’s what I’m telling you,” replied Winkler.
    Sue Ann Winkler was proving to be one cool customer. I couldn’t tell if someone had coached her beforehand, but so far, she was good. However, her external facade was about to show some cracks as McConnell asked a plethora of increasingly uncomfortable questions.
    “Did Mr. Vogue compensate you for your time and companionship?”
    “At first he did, but after a while, I told him that I didn’t want his money. By then, I was in love with him.”
    “So, after your initial involvement, he stopped paying you. Is that correct?”
    Starting to look a little exasperated, she responded, “Look, he was always buying me little gifts, and on occasion, he paid a bill for me. Now, can’t we get on to something a little more important? I don’t see what this has to do with Levi’s murder.”
    Kate ignored her protest. “What kind of ‘little gifts’ and bills are we talking about—cars, boats, jewelry, vacations?”
    Winkler forced a smile. “Sorry, no cars, boats, or vacations. Sometimes he bought me jewelry or clothes, and, on occasion, he paid my credit card bills or picked up my rent.”
    Sensing that the interview was becoming contentious, I interrupted. “Sue Ann, if we’re going to find Levi’s killer, and I know you want that as badly as we do, we need as much information as possible about his associates and how he lived his life. Unfortunately, that often requires us to ask some seemingly irrelevant and highly personal questions. I know this isn’t easy, but please try to bear with us.”
    That seemed to calm her down, but it didn’t last long. “During the times you got together at the motel, was it just the two of you, or was anyone else ever present?” asked Kate.
    Winkler hesitated long enough for us to realize that this question had caught her off-guard. She stammered a reply: “I don’t think I understand the question.