Marge topped a paper cup with water and set it in front of the bodybuilder. McKay drank it without pausing for air, then gave Marge a weak smile along with a hound-dog look. She knew he was trying to find an ally in her. Maybe he thought a woman would be more sympathetic. Little did he know what a hard-ass she could be.

Decker said, “Mr. McKay, we have a phone record of yours from PacBell.” He stated the time and date of the call. “Do you remember receiving that call?”

“Yes.”

“It lasted for five minutes and fourteen seconds.”

“Sounds right.”

“Who called you, Leek?”

“Tandy Roberts.”

“And that’s the same person as Sondra Roberts?”

“Yes. Tandy’s her nickname.” McKay focused on his hands. “She used to lisp as a kid. Sandy came out Tandy.” He played with his water cup. “At least that’s what she told me.”

Decker said, “The caller identified herself as Tandy Roberts?”

“Just Tandy. She didn’t even have to say that. I knew her voice.”

“What did Miss Roberts say to you during the course of your conversation with her?”

“I don’t remember word-for-word. She woke me out of a sound sleep.”

“Tell us as best as you remember,” Marge said.

“She said something like ‘Leek, it’s Tandy. You gotta come down here right away.’ I asked her where ‘here’ was. And she said Sun Valley Pres. I asked her what she wanted, but she wouldn’t answer. She sounded agitated over the phone. Breathing hard, gasping. Then Marie came on the line—”

“Can you identify Marie for the record?” Decker interrupted.

“Marie Bellson. She said they couldn’t talk over the phone. That I should meet them at the hospital…in front of room four-something. I think it was four-sixteen. It was a room across the hall from a broom closet—a hospital utility closet.”

“We’ll refer to said room as room four-sixteen then,” Decker said. “Did Tandy or Marie say anything else to you over the phone?”

McKay whispered something in his lawyer’s ear. Beltran whispered something back. Out loud, McKay said, “Tandy told me she was in trouble, that she needed help. By trouble I thought maybe she had lost her purse or keys and couldn’t get home.”

Beltran nodded.

Pomerantz said, “You thought Tandy, who was gasping, had woken you up and had called you down to Sun Valley Pres at midnight because she had lost her keys?”

Beltran said, “May I remind Counsel that Mr. McKay is not on trial here. There’s no reason to impugn the veracity of his statements. We are trying to cooperate with a fact-finding interview.”

Decker said, “Did Tandy explain the nature of the trouble she was in?”

“No, sir, she did not.”

“Did Marie offer any explanation?”

“No.”

“And you went down to help Tandy?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Without question, you went to help her.”

“Yes, sir.”