“At the risk of getting myself in deeper,” I said. “What about the fact that I violated a crime scene?”

“You’re a lucky man, Mister Gant. To be perfectly honest, you didn’t violate much. The scene was officially cleared yesterday. The motel staff just hadn’t made it around to cleaning up yet.”

“I see, so no harm done.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” he returned. “You managed to waste my time, and that’s another one of those things that tends to bother me.”

“Sorry about that.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

A quick impression from the motel settled into my gut as I stood from my chair. However, instead of being the horror that had gone on behind the door of room 7, it was the sick fear I had felt for the woman at the office when she had been so willing to open the door.

“Detective Fairbanks, is there any chance you could do me a favor?”

“I’m fairly certain I just did. Storm didn’t tell me you were greedy too.”

“I’m not. It’s not really for me,” I pressed. “It’s for the lady who runs the motel. Is there any chance you could go have a talk with her?”

“I did.” He tapped the folder. “Or did that slip past you?”

“I mean about something else.”

“What?”

“Safety, I guess. She was just too trusting. I mean, she just opened the door to the office and didn’t even ask to see my credentials up close. What if my aim had actually been to assault her?”

“Then you’d be at the morgue right now sporting a toe tag instead of here talking to me.”

“What do you mean?”

He shook his head and chuckled. “Mister Gant, while your concern is commendable, the woman you are so worried about is a retired cop from Tennessee. She had you pegged as an imposter from the word go, and she was packing a Glock in her housecoat. The only reason she didn’t just shoot you before calling us is that she knew we’d probably want to talk to you first.”