The Witness

sleep better.”
    “It’s working for me.”
    She found when she lay beside him in the dark, her mind drifting, it worked for her as well.
    B ROOKS ARRESTED R OLAND B ABBETT as his first official duty of the morning. He felt pretty damn good about knocking on Babbett’s door at seven a.m. Better yet when the heavy-eyed, bed-headed Babbett opened the door.
    “Roland Babbett?”
    “Yeah. Is there a problem?”
    “There is for you. I’m Chief Gleason of the Bickford town police, and this is my deputy Boyd Fitzwater. I have a warrant for your arrest.”
    “Huh?”
    “And another to search your room, belongings and vehicle. You’re going to need to get dressed and come with us.”
    “What’s this about? Under arrest? That’s crazy.”
    “Not considering you’re in possession of burglary tools, and usedsame at two-fifteen this morning to illegally enter the Ozarks Suite. Which is both locked and posted.”
    Roland’s eyes, not so heavy now, took a long study of Brooks’s face. “I want to make a phone call.”
    “No problem. You can have your phone call once we’re at the station. I’m going to give you a chance to get dressed, or we can take you in while you’re in the hotel robe. It’s a nice robe.”
    “I’d like to get dressed.”
    “Okay, then. Boyd, why don’t you read Mr. Babbett his rights while he puts some pants on.” Brooks held up the search warrant before he started wandering the room. “Nice view. Mr. Conroy does it up right. You try the restaurant for dinner?”
    “Room service.” Roland dragged on a pair of pants, pulled out a T-shirt. “I had the steak.”
    “How was it?”
    “Bloody and good.”
    “Yeah, they do it right.” He opened the navy backpack, poked through, then put the lock-pick set in an evidence bag. “You visiting?”
    Despite the circumstance, Roland snorted out a laugh. “Everybody asks. You know by now I’m here on business.”
    “Stuben-Pryce out of Little Rock.” As he sealed a mini tape recorder into a bag, Brooks’s voice stayed smooth and easy as warm cream. “I was on the job down there. You probably know that by now, too. That’s a fancy firm, with fancy prices, Mr. Babbett.”
    “We do good work.”
    “I don’t doubt it.” He shot Roland a friendly smile. “Too bad you don’t have better taste in clients.”
    “Not my call. Do you mind if I brush my teeth, empty my bladder?”
    “I’d mind if you didn’t.”
    Brooks continued to search the room while Boyd stood in the open bathroom doorway. “We’re a quiet town,” Brooks said conversationally. “Oh, it can heat up some now and then, especially this time of year andon through the summer. A lot of tourists, a lot of conflicting personalities, you could say, stewing in all that heat. But we don’t often run into PIs from fancy city firms doing some B-and-E right in our landmark hotel.”
    “I’m going to get my ass kicked over this.” In a gesture that mirrored his attitude, Roland spat toothpaste in the sink. “Lose my bonus. I was hoping to bring my wife down for a kid-free break after she has the baby.”
    “When’s she due?”
    “August fifteenth.”
    “October’s a pretty time in the Ozarks,” Brooks commented, as Roland came out. “We’d be happy to have you, when you’re visiting. Boyd, you can finish up with the search. I’ll take Mr. Babbett in.”
    “You’re not going to cuff me?”
    Brooks offered that friendly smile again. “You want me to?”
    “No. I appreciate it.”
    “I don’t figure you’re going to run, and if you did? Where’re you gonna go?”
    He didn’t run. Even if he’d had somewhere to run, he was made, his cover blown, the job in pieces.
    At the station, Brooks gave him a cup of decent enough coffee, a phone and a few minutes of privacy—at a desk rather than in a cell.
    After he made the call, Roland sat brooding.
    “You finished up there?” Brooks asked him.
    “Yeah. Finished.”
    “Why don’t we talk in my office? Jeff?” Brooks said to his part-timer. “Don’t go poking in or sending in any calls, all right? Not unless it’s important.”
    “Yes, sir, Chief.”
    “Have a seat.” Brooks closed his office door, walked over to lean a hip on his desk. “Well, I’m going to tell you straight. You’re in some trouble here, Roland.”
    “I got a lawyer coming down.”
    “Fancy lawyer from the fancy firm, I expect. Still, we got you pretty cold on the B-and-E. Camera caught you in the hall, at the door, then