He shrugged.
I asked him where he was the night Polly Madison was killed.
His face tightened. "I was with my girlfriend."
"Cynthia?”
"No, my other girlfriend, Ruth.”
"You’re just a regular ladies’ man, aren't you?”
Jesse shrugged modestly. "Some guys got mojo. Some guys don't.”
Mendoza pulled up, and I stuffed Jesse into the back of the patrol car. Once he was inside, I tapped the quarter panel, and Mendoza drove away.
JD and I jogged back to the Porsche and returned to the station. We filled out after-action reports, then paid Jesse a visit in the interrogation room. He’d been processed and printed and had been sitting in that tiny room long enough to contemplate his existence.
We took a seat across the table from him. The overhead fluorescent lights cast a pale green glow, making Jesse look sickly and crazed. I'm sure he was coming down from his high. Talk about a buzz kill.
I showed Jesse a picture of Sydney on my phone. "Do you recognize her?"
He glanced at the image and studied her face. "Nope."
"You sure about that?"
"Never seen her before in my life."
I tabbed over to a picture of Polly. "What about her?"
His face stiffened, and he swallowed hard. "Nope.”
"Don't lie to me. I saw it in your eyes. You know who she is.”
His face tightened, and he leaned back. "I don't know what you're talking about.”
"How’d you get that scratch on your face?
"What scratch?”
It was a few days old now, but it looked like someone had taken a swipe across his cheek, just above his bushy beard.
"I've got a witness that can put you at Polly’s apartment complex.” My face grew red, and I got a little hot about it. “You assaulted her, strangled her, then tried to cover your tracks! We recovered DNA and hair fibers. Only a matter of time before the analysis comes back from the lab.”
Jesse figured he’d better shut the hell up. His lips grew tight, and he hung his head. His eyes darted around. "I want a lawyer.”
"You’re gonna need one."
I pushed away from the table and stormed toward the door. After a knock, a guard buzzed us out, and we stepped into the hallway.
Sheriff Daniels joined us. "Think this perp is guilty?”
"He doesn't have a solid alibi, and he recognized Polly. Maybe he was too blitzed out of his mind when he attacked Sydney to recognize her.”
“Hopefully, we’ll get something solid to charge him with. Either way, he’s going back to jail for a bit.”
Daniels patted me on the shoulder as he walked away. “Nice work. Now wrap up your other case.”
“We’re on it.”
