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She playfully bumped her shoulder into his. “Give.”
He grinned at her. “It’s not much, but the use of poison and the smaller, shallower footprint leading away from the scene make me think that our murderer may be a woman.”
“Can forensics tell you that from the footprint?”
“The gender? No. But they can give me an approximate height and weight, which in a lot of ways is even more helpful as you know the body type you’re looking for.”
“How do they do that?”
Thorn chuckled. “I have no idea. I’m just glad they perform their voodoo magic and provide me with leads from what’s left behind. Let’s finish looking around. You stopped at the desk and got a kind of quizzical look on your face. Did you see something?”
Jessica went to the desk. “Not really. I mean there’s nothing missing and everything looks to be in place, but I get the feeling that my laptop was moved.”
“As if someone was trying to steal it and got interrupted?”
“No more along the lines of trying to tamper with it. I really can’t be sure, but it’s just a feeling I have.”
“I’m going to need to get my crew to start setting up interviews.”
“Are you done with me?” she asked.
“For the moment. I’d prefer if you remain up here; I may have follow-up questions.”
“If I promise to honor our agreement, can I take my laptop?”
“Sure, but let me have forensics work the desk and dust for fingerprints. If you’ll go on back to the lobby, I’ll have them bring it out to you.” Jessica turned to leave. “Jess, is there any reason you can think of that Thompson might have been in your room?”
“None whatsoever. I didn’t know the man at all. I do know that DeeDee said someone had canceled this weekend, which left her with an opening, but I have no idea if this was the same room she’d planned to use for that person, or if she switched things around to accommodate me.”
“Why do you think she’d do that—if she did?”
“Because I’m a local, because I’m staying for at least a week, and because she wants to take pictures of me in the room, using my laptop.”
“Does that last one bother you?”
“Heavens, no,” laughed Jessica. “If I can do something to help her business, I’m all for it. People here in Badger’s Drift—especially small business owners—try to help each other out. We work together to provide tourists and residents with the best customer experience we can.”
“Do local folks resent the tourists?”
“Not really. We get the occasional obnoxious one, but we also band together to ensure he or she doesn’t really want to come back. But for the most part, we’re grateful for tourists. For a very long time, this was pretty much a fishing village. There wasn’t a lot of money. Then people started finding new ways to bring people in. DeeDee turning this place into a world-class B&B really showed people what could be done. We started attracting really good, high-end restaurants and shops.”
“No longing for the good old days?”
“Not really—they weren’t all that good. Most everybody appreciates all the extra income and the good stuff that comes from the taxes paid by tourists. That money has gone to a lot of civic projects that really help people out. Anything else?”
“No. That should do it for now.”
The next several hours were spent conducting preliminary interviews with people. For the most part they were cooperative, but one or two of the B&B guests had a bit of an attitude. Forensics had finished with Jessica’s computer and taken it to her. She sat over in the dark corner by the fireplace, working away.
The one thing that didn’t make sense was why Thompson had been in her room? Who had lured him there and why? Had either Thompson or his killer known the room had an occupant? If not, could Jessica have been responsible for getting him inside her room?
“Hey, boss?” said Kenny, sticking his head into DeeDee’s office.
“Yeah, Kenny, what’s up?”
“I don’t think you’re going to want to see this, but we may have a match for the footprint.”
“That’s great, why the hell wouldn’t I want to know that?”
