“But he’s been to Vegas many times in the last seven months.”

“I know, and that got Scott and me thinking. Maybe he rented an apartment or a condo. The monthly rent would be less than what the hotels would charge for a nightly rate if he went often enough.”

Decker thought about that. “If Garth has his own place, he could be keeping his car down there.”

“A car or a dirt bike maybe,” Marge said. “Oliver and I would like to stay for another day. It’ll take some time to check out apartment buildings, and honestly, we’d like to be there when Mandy starts talking.”

“I can get you another day. I’ll meet you there tomorrow either midmorning or in the afternoon. I need to clear a few things first.”

“I’ll pick you up from the airport.”

“Nah, don’t waste time. I’ll take a cab.”

“Sounds good.” Marge smiled, although he couldn’t see it. “If you want, Pete, we can all drive back together. Been a while since I’ve taken a road trip.”

“I don’t think I could survive four and a half hours in a confined space with Scott Oliver.”

“It’s not so bad. He does snore in his sleep, but at least he doesn’t smell.”

Decker laughed and hung up. It was almost two in the afternoon. Dinner was scheduled on the early side since the boys had red-eyes to take them back east. He decided to make a break for it and got halfway out the door when his desk phone rang. Decker threw up his hands and took the call.

Wanda said, “You got a minute?”

“Of course. What’s up?”

“When the tech was examining the necklace for evidence, she found a tiny hair stuck in the clasp of the diamond R necklace. She said that microscopically it looks like one of the fine hairs around the neck that are so pesky when you put on jewelry.”

“Wow. That’s a stroke of fortune.”

“Even better is that the hair has a root.”

Decker felt his heart start to beat. “So we can get DNA off of it?”

“Possibly. Lucky for us that Tinsley was storing his jewels in a paper bag. Less likely to deteriorate.”

“How fast can you get a turnaround, Wanda?”

“I put a rush on it. Soonest would be a few weeks.”

“Tinsley gave us a buccal swab. Let’s get it to the lab ASAP. If the hair belonged to Tinsley’s mother, his DNA profile should be related to the hair’s DNA. If not, we catch him in his lie. And if it is Roxanne’s hair, what is he doing with her necklace? Did the primary on her case ever call you back?”

“Yes. His name is Ronald Beckwith. We’re meeting tomorrow at ten.”

“Call Beckwith back. Find out if Roxanne’s DNA is on file.”

“I did. It is.”