Decker copied down the number of Embassy Girls. He said, “The girls come here?”

Willy shrugged and said, “Guy wants a massage in his room, I can’t stop him.”

Decker tossed him a dirty look.

Willy said, “People come here to be unwholesome. I don’t help them do it.”

“Right,” Decker said. “And you’re just trying to earn an honest buck.”

“I don’t get any kickback from the girls,” the clerk said. “These guys want to call up a young lady, I don’t make a dime off of them.”

Decker shook his head. “What can you tell me about the young lady who was sent up?”

“No one passed through the lobby. However, a couple of months ago I did happen to notice a blonde walking around the back…musta been around six. Hard to miss. She was wearing white hot pants and a halter top. My first reaction was that she must be freezing her ass off.” He looked at Rina and apologized. “But then I saw she was well-endowed in certain places and thought maybe all those extra pounds were keeping her warm.”

“You noticed all this in the dark?”

“I got some lighting in the back,” Willy said. “Security purposes. I could see her well enough. Like I said, I’m farsighted. But I’ll be honest. I wasn’t looking at the face.”

Decker looked at the motel bill again. “What are these charges for?”

“Using the in-house adult TV channel,” Willy said. “The boys watched three movies. Three’s about an average day’s worth of viewing. Seen one, seen them all.”

Decker asked if there were any more charges made to their room. Willy answered none that he knew of.

“Did they ever leave the room, go somewhere?” Decker asked.

“I didn’t pay attention to their comings and goings,” Willy said. “The day they checked in, the younger kid brought out this big bag and asked me where he could do the laundry. I directed him to a spot a block and a half down the road.”

“I want to take a look at the room,” Decker said.

“You can, but it’s been cleaned,” Willy said. “You know, my maid usually doesn’t mention the state of the rooms after the people leave.” He looked at Rina and lowered his voice. “I mean, she’s used to all sorts of smells, if you know what I’m talking about.”

“I know what you’re talking about.”

“But she did mention to me that their room had a very fishy smell in it.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Dirty sex can be very fishy-smelling but she said the odor was out of the ordinary.”

Decker thought back to the apartment in Flatbush. The bits of home-cooked fish in the garbage. “Did she find any remnants of fish lying around?”