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“Why the hustle?” Nate asked.
“I wanted to train in a number of different areas at once, as quickly as I could,” he said. “I had my sights on something bigger. Now, here I am. I could have spent all those years getting managerial experience in one area of hosting, but instead I worked at other venues during the day and ticked off a lot more boxes. That’s how I got the job I have now. And I did it faster than anyone my age.”
“Still, it’s interesting,” Laura said. “Out of all the staff hired at the bar, you’re the only one who was there for the duration of the time that both the women were killed after leaving there.”
“Well, the second girl, she was killed after going on from our place to another bar,” Shaw pointed out.
“Still,” Laura repeated, looking dead into his eyes.
His expression darkened. “Are you questioning me as a suspect?”
“Should we be?” Nate countered.
“I can’t believe this,” he said, with a half-laugh that had no humor in it, raising his eyes to the ceiling. “I really can’t believe this. You know the initial investigators already spoke with me?”
“I have their notes, and I know they only spoke to you after Joy Kingsley went missing, never about July Hall,” Laura replied calmly. “I also have witness statements which suggest you were known to go after drunk women and attempt to get them to come home with you. What can you tell us about that?”
“I… ha, wow. I can’t believe this.” He shook his head, wiping his hand over his forehead. “I can’t believe you’ve got it so twisted. No, I didn’t prey on vulnerable women while I was working as a barman.”
“We have multiple witnesses who believe you did,” Laura said. “So, which is it? Are you lying, or are they?” The ‘multiple witnesses’ was a bit thin – all they really had was hearsay that more than one person knew about it – but she could stretch the truth a little if it would prompt a confession.
“They are,” he snapped. “Or they’re confused. Because whoever they think they saw preying on women, it wasn’t me. I took my job seriously. And besides, by the time I worked there, I’d already started dating my wife.”
“You were dating with two jobs that only allowed you a few hours of downtime for sleep in-between?” Laura asked with a heavy dose of skepticism.
“It was tough, but we spent time together when I was working,” he said. “Maybe that’s what people think they saw. I wasn’t trying to proposition a random woman drinking in the bar – I was talking to my girlfriend. And, yeah, after my shift finished, sometimes we would go and dance for a couple of songs before we left. I had more stamina then. I could get by on only a little sleep. We were young.”
“Alright.” Laura shook her head slightly, glancing down at the notes she had made in her notebook. She didn’t need them, but she liked the impression it gave, that she had more evidence to go on than she did. “But I’m still curious. You worked there longer than anyone else. You were the only person around when both women went missing. And yet, you don’t have any idea about who could be suspicious in this case?”
“No, I don’t,” Shaw repeated stubbornly. His tone had completely changed, his body language shifted, from when they had first jumped on the call. He was angry with them for questioning him, perhaps doubly so for the fact it was happening in front of his wife. “I don’t even know why you’re talking to me. You can’t have read the investigation notes properly.”
“We read them,” Laura said evenly. “We’re reviewing everything. It’s important to check things over when cases go cold.”
“Then you must have seen the fact that security footage proved I was in the bar, still working my shift, when the second woman’s body was found,” he said. “I was behind the bar for the whole time. From her leaving the bar, to going to that other place, to leaving with her friends, to getting killed and then getting found – I never left the place once. It was a busy night. We were popular back then. I barely had a chance to breathe, let alone go out and attack someone.”
That, finally, gave Laura pause. If there was actual indisputable evidence of an alibi, then Shaw couldn’t be a suspect. She knew that the tapes would be in evidence somewhere; she hadn’t seen them herself. It would be an easy check.
There was a chance, always a chance, that he was just lying to buy himself more time.
But what he said… it was beginning to ring true. The police at the time had questioned him thoroughly. It was all on tape. If they had dropped him as a suspect, there was a reason for that. The existence of a proven alibi would be a very good one.
“Alright,” Laura said. “Well, thank you for your time. We’ll be back in touch if we do have any further questions.” That was enough to cover herself a little. She would go to the local precinct, dig up the footage, and watch it – and then she would know for sure.
For now, she started to get up, nodding her thanks at Mrs. Shaw, figuring the couple would want a little time to discuss what had happened in what might have been left of his lunch break.
“Wait,” Shaw said, pulling her attention back to the screen. He was watching them closely, even leaning forward, as though he was keen for them not to leave just yet. “Don’t you want to know whodidprey on drunk women at the bar?”
Laura exchanged a glance with Nate. She sat back down on the sofa.
“We’re listening,” she said.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Laura raised her hands in a gesture of impatience. “We’re waiting,” she said.
Jayson Shaw sighed, looking to the side. “I don’t want to get anyone in trouble,” he said. “I’ve moved on from that time. Really. I don’t want to get dragged back into it with a court case or something.”
“We understand that,” Laura said. “But this is a double murder investigation. I’m going to need you to tell us what you know.”After all, she wanted to add but didn’t.You’re the one who spoke up and said you had something to tell us. Don’t play coy now.
