“Was the door open when you found him?”

The one who’d been crying, who looked no more than sixteen or seventeen, nodded. “It was unusual for one of the doors to be standing open like that, so I looked inside and saw him.”

“What’s your name?”

Her gaze darted to one of the other girls, who was equally young, and the man who seemed to be standing guard over all of them. “Ginger,” she whispered. She had mousy brown hair that might be pretty if brushed and world-weary hazel eyes.

Sam took a closer look at the young woman, who seemed familiar to her. “Do I know you from somewhere?”

Only because she was looking so closely at her did Sam recognize the second of stark, unadulterated fear that crossed her face in the instant before she said, “No.” The single word came out husky, and her tone was completely different than it had been only a minute before.

Acting on sheer instinct, Sam said, “I’ll need you to come downtown to make a statement.”

Ginger glanced at one of the other girls, the one who seemed equally afraid.

“You too,” Sam said to the second girl, a bottle blonde with blue eyes and bad skin.

Her big eyes took on a deer-in-the-headlights look. “What’d I do?”

“You were here. You might’ve seen something that would be helpful to the case.”

“I didn’t see anything.”

“Still, I need your statement.”

“We have to work,” Ginger said, a tinge of hysteria in her voice. “If we don’t work, we don’t get paid.”

“We’ll square it with the boss, don’t worry.” Sam was suddenly desperate to get them away from the hotel and the angry glares of the other maids and the man who was their supervisor.

Both girls cast anxious glances at the man, who didn’t look at either of them.

“Who are you?” Sam asked him.

“The manager.”

“Your name?”

“Bruce Jones.”

“Is that your real name or did you make it up?”

His lip curled into a snarl that he wisely curbed. “Real.”

“How long ago did the guest in room sixteen check in?”

“After the game.”

“So you knew who he was?”

Bruce shrugged. “He was a frequent visitor.”

“Do you have video surveillance of the premises?” Sam asked, gazing at the next closest establishment across the street, which would be too far away to get a good view of the goings-on at the motel.

Bruce pointed to a video camera above the doorway. Wires were hanging from the rusty metal that held it to the wall. “Used to.”

“I’ll need to borrow these two ladies for a while. I’m sure you understand that they’re material witnesses, and as such shouldn’t be penalized for any time they miss.”

“Why you gotta take her?” he asked, nodding to the second one. “She said she didn’t see nothing.”

“I still need to question her.”