“Did you go over to check on the stricken man?”
Willis hesitated again. “No. I thought that the best thing I could do was call 911 and let the professionals do it.”
The bathroom door opened and an enormously pregnant young woman emerged wearing a thick plaid bathrobe and fluffy slippers. Her thin, swarthy face accentuated the dark hollows under her eyes.
“Hi,” she said, and moved to the bed, sitting down gently on the corner with one hand under her belly.
“Ms. Hart?” Estelle said, and introduced herself again. “Are you all right?”
“Yes. I’m just tired.” Stacie Hart smiled wanly. “And we’re kind of upset about what happened down the way. Is the man going to be all right?”
“We don’t know,” Estelle said. “But we’re interested in what you saw.”
“I was inside already. I didn’t see what happened.”
“Did both of you go into the motel office when you checked in?”
Stacie nodded. “Would you close the door, please?” she said to her fiancé, and Willis did so. “Yes…I went in with Todd.”
“When was the first time that you became aware of any of the three men on down the way?”
“As we were turning around. I mean after we checked in,” Willis said. “We went back out to the van, and we were turning around to drive down here. One of the three men was just walking down the parking lot toward the lobby as we did that. A great big guy with a ponytail. I had parked kinda close to the doors, and when I was pulling out, he took a step back and turned sideways, I guess thinking that maybe I needed the room to maneuver.” Willis paused and looked at his fiancée. “He was a big guy, like I said. And he looked fit. Not fat or anything.”
“He never said anything? Any gestures?”
“No. He just waited a second or two for me to move the van out of the way.”
“And then what?”
“Then we drove down to our parking spot, outside here. I glanced back toward the office when we were getting out of the van to come inside our room, and another of the men was walking toward the motel entrance. He was reaching out with one hand, kind of like he was running the flat of his hand along the wall, like maybe for balance. I didn’t know if he was drunk, or what.”
“Where were the other two men at that time?”
“I didn’t see them. I mean, I didn’t look. We were busy getting our stuff from the van into the room.”
“But you saw the man collapse?”
“That was a minute or so later. I went back out to get some stuff and close the van’s back door, and the three of them were down by the two cars.”
“Talking, arguing?”
“I couldn’t tell. If I had to guess, I’d say just talking. I locked up the van, and when I turned around again, I saw the one older man sag against the wall, then fall to his hands and knees.”
“What did the other two men do?” Estelle asked.
“Nothing, I guess.”
“Did you see them touch the man at any time?”
Willis shook his head. “It just looked like they were talking, and like maybe the man who collapsed was walking away, around the front of the car.”
“What prompted your call, then?”
“Well, I saw the old guy collapse, but then the other two just drove away and left him there. That’s when I called 911.”
“How long after the man collapsed was it before the other two drove away?” Estelle asked.
“Right away. I mean, right then. They didn’t go over to him, or anything. They just got in the car and left. Just like that.”
“And you didn’t walk down to see if you could help?”
Willis took a deep breath and glanced at Stacie. “No.”
Bill Gastner grunted something to himself and thrust his hands deeper in his pockets. He glowered at the young man over the top of his glasses. Estelle didn’t interrupt as the old man’s unblinking gaze dissected Todd Willis for a long, uncomfortable moment. “Why not?” Gastner finally asked. “Wouldn’t that be the logical thing to do?”
“I thought…I thought the best thing was to call emergency,” Willis said lamely. “I don’t know CPR or anything like that.”
“Shit,” Gastner said with disgust and turned half away, his interest apparently attracted to the print of a Dutch windmill that hung over the blond oak desk.
“This is just your second stop this evening here in town?” Estelle asked gently. Willis nodded quickly as if relieved to be talking to her, rather than her elderly companion. He glanced at Deputy Taber for confirmation.
“We talked to Deputy Taber earlier,” he said. “Over at the park.”
“Were you thinking of staying there for the night? In the park, I mean?”
“No,” he said quickly. “We just stopped there to look at the map.”
“Ah. You’re lost?”
He smiled and ducked his head. “No. We’re not lost. Not the map, actually. We were looking through our notes and stuff. Looking through the Posadas directory.”
“For?”
“Well,” and he hesitated. “To see where else we might be able to stay.”
“I’m surprised that the B-and-B didn’t have a vacancy this time of year,” Estelle said. “Where else have you tried?”
“We stopped at the B and B,” Willis said, “but the owner…well, she…” He finished with a vague waffle of his hand.
“No, I meant stopped at places other than in Posadas,” Estelle said. She had been watching Stacie Hart as they talked. The girl had remained silent, all her energy consumed by the effort to keep her spine vertical. “Did you stop in Deming on your way over from Cruces?”
“Actually, what difference does it make where we stopped?” Todd said, a little petulance creeping into his voice. “We haven’t done anything wrong.”
“I don’t suppose it makes any difference at all,” Estelle said. “I’m just trying to form an accurate picture in my mind of what happened here tonight.”
Willis sat down on the bed beside Stacie, and her hand slipped over to intertwine with his.
“Deming has a good many motels and such,” Estelle said. “I was wondering if you had tried any of them.”
“We stopped at three places,” Willis said. “Two motels and one B and B sort of place.”
“Deming’s only an hour or so out of Cruces,” Gastner said.
“Well, yes, it is,” Willis agreed.
“And these places that you tried…they all refused you?” Estelle asked.
Willis didn’t answer, but shrugged evasively.
“That’s interesting,” Estelle said. She looked around the room again at the couple’s possessions. “You’re headed for Tucson?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“You have enough money for gas?”
“I think so.”
Estelle regarded Willis for a long moment, and he blushed as if correctly reading the skepticism in her gaze.
“I mean, we were planning on just driving to Tucson, right? It’s not that far. We weren’t planning to stop. But then Stacie got to feeling…well, uncomfortable, and we thought we’d try to find a place to stop, and continue on tomorrow.” He tried an engaging grin. “Got money for gas, or motel. Not both.”
“I see,” Estelle said. “Well, Mr. Patel is a most gracious person.” Her eyes roamed the room, taking in the neat travel bag, the leather camera case, and the cell phone that rested on top of Stacie Hart’s beaded handbag. Through the open bathroom door, she could see a spread of bath accoutrements, including a curling iron that was plugged in beside the mirror.
“Are you planning to pay your bill here when you check out? Is that the deal?”
The room fell silent, and Estelle let the silence hang.
Chapter Four
“Look,” Willis said. He glanced nervously at his girlfriend. “We haven’t done anything wrong. We didn’t use a fake credit card, or skip out without paying. The manager offered this room, and we accepted. That’s all there is to it. I’m sorry about the old guy down the way, but there wasn’t anything I could do about that. I called 911, like we’re supposed to. And I’ve answered all your questions.”