“When was the last time you saw her?” Eliza Slaughter asked.

“Last time I saw her?” Alex frowned. “Something happen to Ms. McLaughlin?”

“She appears to be missing,” Decker said.

“Missing?” Alex grimaced. “Oh my, that’s not good.”

“She may have left on her own,” Decker said. “That’s why we’re trying to retrace her steps. When was the last time you remember seeing her?”

“Golly, must have been a couple of days ago. Maybe Sunday.” He studied Decker’s face. “I’ve seen you before.”

“I was here on Sunday, too. I left around two-thirty.”

“Aha.”

“When I left, Ms. McLaughlin was still at the hotel. Do you remember if you saw her after three in the afternoon?”

“No, sir, I was pretty busy.”

“But you remember the lieutenant?” Eliza said.

“He’s a hard man to miss.”

Decker showed Alex a picture of Donatti. “What about this man?”

Alex looked at it for a while. “This guy…” The attendant tapped the picture with his fingers. “He was here on Sunday. He was carrying a bunch of flowers. Who is he?”

“Ms. McLaughlin’s husband.”

“She’s married?”

“Yes,” Eliza said. “Does that surprise you?”

“Yeah, a little. She just seemed so carefree to be married.” When both Decker and Eliza erupted into laughter, Alex said, “I didn’t mean it like that. Been married for forty-two years—”

“I’m happily married, too,” Decker said, “but I know what you mean.”

Eliza said, “So you remember this guy carrying flowers. Did you give him a ticket?”

“I give everyone who’s not a long-term guest a ticket. They got to get it validated at the hotel or restaurant. Otherwise they can’t park here.”

Decker said, “Do you remember what time he arrived?”

“Sunday’s brunch is between eleven and four. It gets real busy.” He snapped his fingers. “But I’ll tell you something that might help. Every time someone comes in here, I write down the license number on the ticket. That way, at the end of the day when I turn in the tickets, the folks in accounting can reconcile the validations with the cars.”

“A license plate would be handy since I didn’t bother taking it down myself,” Decker said.

“Do you know how long accounting keeps the tickets?” Eliza asked.

“Nah, you’d have to check with them.”

“What time did you get off work on Sunday?” Decker asked.

“Me? Around five.”

Eliza said, “And you don’t remember Ms. McLaughlin coming into the lot to pick up her car?”

Alex thought very hard. “Can’t say yes or no. I don’t want to say something that might mess you up later on.”

“That’s fine,” Decker said. “We’ll see if we can get her husband’s ticket. Thanks, Alex, you’ve been a big help.”

“Wish I could be a bigger help,” the attendant said. “But you know how it is, you can’t pay attention to everything.”