Private: #1 Suspect

CHAPTER 27

The college girl who was moonlighting as an escort still looked afraid, but she was getting her stuff together, Del Rio thought. In fact, she was getting huffy.

“So, are you going to charge me with prostitution? Because look,” Jillian said to Del Rio. “I’m putting myself through medical school. That’s not an insignificant achievement. In a couple of years, I’ll be saving lives. You really want to get in the way of that?”

“We’re not here to bust you for your extracurricular activities,” Del Rio said. “Tell us about the guy last night.”

“Maurice? He was nice enough. No rough stuff. Nothing weird. He just wanted a good time. The kind he doesn’t get at home.”

“What happened after the good time?”

“Nothing. All the financials are handled through the service.”

“And how did he seem to you when you were leaving?”

“He was happy. He said maybe he’d see me again next time he was in town. I said good-bye. The limo was waiting for me out front.”

“There’s not going to be a next time for Bingham,” Del Rio said. “He’s dead. He was murdered.”

“But how could that…? Oh, no. After I left?”

“Did he get any phone calls while you were there?” Cruz asked. “Did he say he was worried about anything? Did anything about him seem unusual?”

“Nothing at all. Clean guy. Wore tighty-whities and a wedding ring. A normal date in every way.”

Back in the car, Del Rio put the CD into the player and ran it through all the way to the end once more.

There were long stretches of emptiness, interspersed with individuals going to their rooms. And there were crowds of people who got off the fifth-floor elevator on their way to the roof, their bodies blocking the camera’s view of 502.

Someone in one of those crowds had to have gone down the hallway, gained access to 502, and killed Bingham. But Del Rio never saw the door to 502 open after Jillian Delaney left.

“You think that girl could have killed the john?” Del Rio said to Cruz.

“I don’t see it.”

“Me neither. Someone came to his door and Bingham let him in. I’m calling this lead a dead end,” Del Rio said.

“Maurice Bingham’s last ride,” said Cruz.