“It wasn’t in her case. After her body was discovered, the bartender and waitresses on staff that night were interviewed. They put Roxanne in the restaurant from about ten to midnight, but it was crowded enough that no one really remembered exactly when she left. The place closes at one.”

“So how do they know she left at midnight?”

“Her tab was paid around twelve. She could have lingered longer, but let’s assume she left around that time. The bartender did recall her talking to people—guys and gals. She seemed to be having a good time. There was nothing mentioned in the case files about servicemen or anyone in a uniform.”

“That could be a dead end.”

“Agreed. The detectives returned to El Gaucho several days later for a second round of interviews with the staff and local patrons. Among those who remembered Roxanne being there was a guy named Chuck Tinsley.”

“Whoa!” Decker was amazed. Things didn’t routinely fall that way. “Go on.”

“Chuck was working at a lumberyard. He was living about six blocks from the El Gaucho and ten blocks away from Roxanne’s apartment when she was murdered.”

Decker raised a brow. “What did Chuck have to say for himself in the files?”

“He claimed he knew her from the area, maybe talked to her a couple of times at El Gaucho. Casual kind of thing. The kicker is that a patron recalled them talking the night that Roxanne disappeared.”

“That’s indeed notable.”

“Chuck’s alibi was that he was at the restaurant until the bar closed up. And that was verified by the bartender.”

“So he’s saying that if Roxanne was attacked at twelve, it couldn’t have been him because he was still at the place until one in the morning.”

“Exactly. But if things were busy and no one remembered Roxanne leaving, Tinsley could have easily left and come back. I mean honestly, Loo, what was he doing with Roxanne’s necklace?”

Decker thought a moment. “Maybe we’ll be lucky enough to pull some DNA off the hair and it’ll be a match with Roxanne. Then we can say that Tinsley had her necklace. It’s still circumstantial.”

“A little more than circumstantial.”

“Sure. Putting Chuck in the vicinity is both good and bad. You can make a case that Tinsley was involved with her murder. Or you can make a case that Tinsley found her body after she was dead and ripped the necklace off her neck.” When Wanda gave him a look, Decker said, “It’s what his attorney will say.”

Wanda said, “Remember the primary suspect, Burt Barney?”

“The homeless guy who found the body.”

“Yes. Oxnard police grilled him for hours. They asked him over and over what he did with the necklace. He never gave it up, Loo. He swore he didn’t kill Roxanne, and when he found the body, there was no necklace.”