“If the hotel administration wanted to play hardball, yes,” Decker said. “On the other hand, the place is closing down, so maybe they’ll give us a little latitude. We’ll ask for a list of all the employees, which we won’t get. Then we’ll ask for just a list of the people working on Sunday, which we’ll probably get. Let’s stop by the office once we’ve looked at Terry’s suite. Who we really need to talk to is Alex or Trent, the self-parking lot attendants. Now that Terry’s an official missing person, I want to see if (a) someone remembers Terry leaving in her car; (b) if someone does remember her leaving, was she alone; (c) if she wasn’t alone, who was she with; (d) does anyone remember Chris Donatti coming in and leaving and coming back; and (e) if they do remember all this, what was the time frame?”

“That’s a lot to remember.”

“Maybe the attendant wouldn’t pay too much attention to Chris, but I’m betting an attendant would remember Terry. She’d been holed up here for a while, and like I said, she seemed to be an amiable person.”

They stopped at the door to Terry’s suite. Since she had paid up until the end of the month, the card key that Gabe had given him still worked. On the night of Terry’s departure or disappearance, Decker had given the hotel instructions not to go inside and clean the suite. It was a compromise reached between a reticent clerk and Decker. In exchange, Decker agreed not to string up crime-scene tape across the door.

The rooms were exactly as Marge and he had left it. It smelled a little stale in the heat. Decker opened the patio door and stepped outside. He examined the planting area that surrounded the brick pad—azaleas, impatiens, gardenias, and camellias. He was looking for anything that signaled a fight or a struggle: broken branches, crushed bushes, footprints in the dirt. The space was impeccably manicured and in full bloom. He came back into the suite.

Eliza was in the bathroom. “Medicine cabinet is empty.”

“We bagged the contents.”

“What did you find?”

“Advil, Tylenol, Benadryl, a recent prescription for Ambien, and a prescription for Vicodin. The bottle was dated two months ago and it was half full. I don’t think she’d been using it recently. You want me to drop the stuff off at West L.A.?”

“No, you can keep it in your evidence room,” Eliza said. “What about birth control?”

Decker raised his eyebrows. “Didn’t find it.”

“How long had she been with her husband?”

“I don’t know exactly when they married, but they’ve known each other for around sixteen years.”

“She must have been taking something to prevent future babies, don’t you think?”