Mrs. Garrett ignored the subtle correction.
“But it’s not your job, is it?” she said. “You’re here on vacation. In fact, when this is all cleared up you two should come back and stay with us—my treat.”
“That would be really nice, Mrs. Garrett,” I said. After being stuck here with a gang of knitters and chasing a murderer, I wasn’t sure I’d ever want to return, but it was a nice offer.
“Please call me Linda,” she said. “And I mean it—I want to see you two back here for a relaxing weekend.”
Just then, a white blur streaked into the room, directly at Linda.
“Oh, my!” she said. She put up her hands to protect herself and the white blur slowed and landed on her lap. Linda smiled down at the cat. “This is Duchess.” The cat purred and blinked its golden eyes.
Mac shifted in his seat to put some distance between himself and the cat. Ever since I told him that Vi uses them as spies, even though he didn’t believe Vi could converse with animals, he had been wary around them.
“We just wanted to ask you a few questions about what you may have seen last night,” Mac said. “Did you see anyone in the hallways during dinner? Where would your staff have been?”
Linda sighed. “Jessica, you know more than I do about the staffing. But, I did see Isabel go up to her room partway through dinner. I had stepped out of my office to be sure Holly, our housekeeper, would be able to do the turndown service all by herself. She was on the second floor working on those rooms and I saw Isabel go into her room.”
Duchess jumped down and sauntered in Mac’s direction. She had clearly picked up on his aversion and in a classic feline move had locked on to him as her favorite person.
Jessica leaned forward to get the cat’s attention, but Duchess scooted away from her. She smiled an apology at Mac, and said, “Emmett and René would have been in the kitchen and Kirk was probably still working on plowing the front walk. He had said he wanted to snow-blow the first several inches so that when the rest of it came down, it would be less of a job.”
“Would he have been out there in the dark?” I asked.
“I guess you’re right.” She bit her lower lip. “I’m not sure where he would have been during dinner. Maybe in the basement? I don’t remember seeing him until I went to check with him about the generator after . . . Clarissa was found.”
“We heard Kirk is new here. Since he wasn’t in the dining room, we’ll need to talk to him soon,” Mac said. “Has he been hired since Clarissa started, or has he been here longer?” Mac tried to extricate his ankles from the weaving feline.
Linda glanced at Jessica. “I think he started about four months ago. Is that right, Jess?”
Jessica nodded. “Uncle Dave died in July and Clarissa came here in August. I think Kirk started just before Christmas, so about three months. I’d have to look at his file to be sure.”
Mac marked the date in his notebook. “I just wondered. It sounded like he was the newest employee.”
They both nodded. “He’s a very nice guy, but I don’t know if he’ll work out,” Jessica said. “Gus says he doesn’t really know how to fix anything and he can’t believe he ever worked as a maintenance person before. He’s had to teach him everything, which is why we’re still out of power today. Gus would have had the generator running again in no time.”
“Mrs. Garrett—Linda—do you know of anyone who would want to hurt your niece?” Mac asked. Duchess gave up on Mac and jumped on the couch next to Linda.
Linda’s eyes welled with tears and she shook her head. She dabbed at her face and sniffled. “She wasn’t always the easiest person to get along with,” Linda said.
Jessica slowly closed her eyes at her mother’s words.
“But she meant well and I don’t think anyone in this hotel would want to hurt her,” Linda concluded.
“I should really get back to work.” Jessica stood.
I was surprised at Jessica’s abrupt end to the interview. Mac shook his head once in my direction and I let it pass.
“Thank you for your time,” Mac said. He shook Linda’s hand and stood.
I thanked them as well and bent to pet Duchess, who ran behind the couch.
We left the Garretts’ apartment, and Mac said he wanted to look at Clarissa’s room again in the daylight. I felt a cold chill and rubbed my arms but nodded. We had barely been able to evaluate the scene with the room full of people and only a couple of flashlights for illumination.
Mac had his cop face on, but I slid my hand into his anyway. He relaxed, smiled, and squeezed.
“What did you think of the Garrett ladies?” Mac asked.
“There wasn’t a lot of affection between the cousins. The aunt seems pretty torn up though,” I said.