“So tell me how Adrianna wound up in your construction site?”

“If I knew, I’d tell you!” He wiped his forehead with the hem of his T-shirt. “I shoulda said something in the beginning, but I knew that you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Start from the beginning, Chuck. Tell me everything. It’ll feel good to get it off your chest.”

The man slunk down in the chair. “I never been to Garage before.”

“So what brought you down there?”

“A buddy of mine suggested it. I musta got there around seven-thirty. Adrianna was already there. I noticed her right away.”

“What was she doing?”

“Talking to one of the hostesses. I think her name was Emerald. She was cheap-looking—not Adrianna, the hostess. I got the feeling that I coulda taken her home that night, but she wasn’t my type. Now I wish to God that I did. She coulda been my alibi.”

Decker immediately thought of two reasons why that wouldn’t have worked: (1) Adrianna Blanc was murdered the next day, not on Sunday night, and (2) Crystal Larabee was dead. Tinsley didn’t know how lucky he was, not taking her home. “And this was around seven-thirty?”

“Yeah, around that.”

“Go on.”

“So I was drinking with my buddy Paul. Have you talked to Paul yet?”

“He’s next on my list,” Decker lied. “What’s Paul’s last name again?”

“Goldback.”

“Sorry to interrupt. Keep going.”

“So I was talking to Paul, but looking at Adrianna. And she was talking to the hostess but looking at me. You know that kind of thing. We both knew there was some kinda spark.”

“Okay.”

“So after I finish my beer, I go over to her. I offered to buy her whatever she was drinking.”

“What time was this?”

“Maybe fifteen, twenty minutes later.”

“So around ten to eight.”

“I guess.” Tinsley paused. “I thought she was a recovering alcoholic. She was drinking club soda. But then she told me that she had to go to work, so that’s why she wasn’t hitting anything heavy. She told me she was a nurse and worked with babies and that the one thing she promised was that she’d never drink right before she’d work. I thought that was really honorable, you know.”

Decker nodded. “I agree.”

“Then she said that she knew Emerald from high school, and if there was anything that I wanted, she could probably talk Emerald into giving it up for free.”

“I don’t know anyone working at Garage named Emerald, Chuck. Do you mean Crystal?”

“Yeah, Crystal. Adrianna was talking to me about Crystal and her work as a nurse and so on. I was talking about my work. We musta talked for over an hour. Crystal kept coming over, offering me free refills of my beer. Finally, she said she had to go to work. Adrianna did.”

“What time was that?”