She looked, shook her head. “I can’t see their face. It could be anyone.”
Michael put the photo back into his folder. “If Garrett makes bail this afternoon, what are your plans?”
Her eyes widened. “My plans? My plans for what? Why would he make bail? He’s suspected of killing six people!”
“Because we’re still investigating, and a good attorney could get him released with bond.”
“That’s insane. I have no plans for Garrett. He has been terminated. He won’t be allowed on the property. Are you saying he may walk free?” She glanced at her phone, frowned, but turned back to Michael without addressing whatever she’d read.
“Temporarily,” Michael said. He understood why the management would be upset, but Alena seemed personally agitated. “Do you have something to add?”
“No,” she said quickly, too quickly, and she didn’t look directly at him.
He asked, “Was anyone on staff close to Garrett? Did you ever see him alone with a man or woman, perhaps someone he was romantically involved with?”
She shook her head. “He was the last person I thought would be guilty.”
Michael inwardly winced. He was tired of hearing how nice, helpful, and unproblematic Garrett Reid was. “Killers often don’t look violent. So you know of no close friends? Girlfriend? Boyfriend?”
There was no reason, based on his history, to believe that Garrett was gay, but it was a thread they needed to close off.
“No. And I don’t get involved in the private lives of staff. Carlos is Garrett’s supervisor, he’s the most likely to know about his personal life.”
“I’ve spoken to him,” Michael said.
Alena looked at her phone again. “Agent Harris, I have a minor crisis to deal with. I have two guests giving my assistant manager a difficult time right now, demanding a free stay because of this situation. The head of housekeeping is threatening to quit because in her words, ‘There’s a killer on staff,’ andI have two security officers who called in sick this afternoon, so I’m severely short-staffed.”
Michael was interested in those security officers, but would talk to Brian about it.
“I understand if you need to go. I’ll reach out if I have more questions.”
Alena stood, walked to the door, turned back to him. “Agent Harris, I really hope you resolve this situation sooner rather than later. Our reputation is on the line, and while I feel awful that something bad happened to our guests, I have this resort and more than a hundred employees to protect.”
He watched her leave, then texted Ryder.
Alena Porter was visiting her sister today. Verify her whereabouts.
Michael didn’t think that the manager had anything to do with the murders. She knew about the undercover operation, and Michael couldn’t imagine that she would have drugged and removed Matt and Kara from the premises, but he wasn’t taking chances. He would cover all the bases.
The last person who came in was Hope Davidson. According to her employee file, she had worked here for the last four months and was thirty-five, though she looked younger. She was also very attractive and physically fit, which was to be expected of someone who worked in a gym.
She hadn’t worked Friday or Saturday, so no one had interviewed her yet.
“I’m shocked,” she said, clutching a bottle of water. “First Garrett, now this?” She shook her head.
“According to the security cameras, Agent Costa and Detective Quinn entered the gym at approximately 8:30 on Sunday morning to work out and then play racquetball. You assisted them.”
She nodded, her golden-brown eyes wide. “When they were done with their workout, they came to me for equipment, and I showed them how to work the stereo. You can hook up to Bluetooth to play music through your phone.”
“Did you notice anyone in the gym who was paying undue attention to them?”
She frowned, eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t think so? I mean, it wasn’t super busy—the Sunday brunch in the restaurant is popular, so I either get the hardcore workout people early, or the after-brunch people coming in for yoga or racquetball. Most people check out on Sunday, so it’s not really that busy after eleven.”
“How many people were working out or in the facility while Costa and Quinn were there?”
“Maybe... ten or eleven? There was a yoga class that started at ten—I don’t teach that one, that’s Denise. There were six people there, all women, and then four or five people in the gym. Oh! And that doesn’t include the pool. There was a family at the pool and a couple people, but I don’t know how many, I’m so sorry. I should know that, shouldn’t I?” She bit her lip.
“It’s okay,” Michael said. He was used to dealing with witnesses who became upset when they couldn’t answer all his questions. “I’m aware that the resort doesn’t capture key cards to use the gym.” Some hotels made guests swipe into the gym, but not Sapphire Shoals. “What time did they leave?”
