“What about the duffel bag?” a woman toward the back spoke up. “You said the video shows the man carrying a duffel bag, but you never mentioned it in the room.”

“Ah, give that woman a prize. Where is the duffel bag, because it’s not in the room. It’s missing, much like that man’s wallet.”

D.D. paused, let her audience think it out.

“Phil has to watch more of the security tape,” someone called out. “Someone must’ve arrived after the man.”

“Phil is not an idiot. Phil watched the rest of the tape. No one arrived after our DG.”

Karin Slaughter did the honors. “Then the person arrived before. The second person was already waiting for the man. It’s not who entered the room after the dead guy. It’s who exited.”

“And we’re back to partial credit. Upon further investigation, turns out the security video is a digital loop. Records over itself every two hours. So it’s possible someone arrived before our DG and the security camera had already recorded over it. Your theory is correct: Most likely, our mysterious second person arrived before the deceased.”

“Then exited after the murder,” someone else in the room prodded.

D.D. shrugged. “You would think so, except here is where things get complicated: On video, we can watch the complete sequence of the DG entering the room with duffel bag, to night manager appearing, then barfing, to rookie officer taking control of the scene. In that entire span, no second person magically exits the room.”

“That’s not possible.” A man in the back of the room.

“Fair enough. No one exited out the front. But the motel room has a rear window. Small. Certainly nothing a grown man could fit through. But when Phil and I reenter the room to address this issue, we discover the window unlocked and slightly ajar. As if, yes, someone had recently opened it. Which is right about the same time that Neil discovers the glitter.”

• • •

“What do we know at this point? Sometimes in an active investigation, you need to stop, back up, take stock. We have a presumably wealthy DG discovered on the floor of an hourly-rate strip motel. We know he arrived alone, on foot, with a duffel bag. Once inside the room, the man removed his clothes. Given how neatly they’re folded, I’m guessing he did it willingly. We know the man had illegally obtained drugs. He wouldn’t be the first successful type to develop on addiction to prescription narcotics, so maybe he’s an addict. We know something definitely went wrong that resulted in the man’s leg being sawed off and stuck in a bathtub. At which point he made a valiant attempt to save his own life by fashioning a tourniquet? This series of events is murky for me. But we definitely know his duffel bag, wallet, personal possessions—say, cell phone and/or keys—are all missing. And now, thanks to Neil, we know the silk tie used to fashion the tourniquet is streaked not with just blood but silver glitter.”