“For real?” he asked plaintively.

“For real,” Jessie assured him, still unable to tell whether he was sincere or not. Forget I.T. Guy. If he was faking it, this was easily his best performance.

“When?”

“The night before last,” she said. “That’s why Agent Dolan was asking you where you were then. And I noticed from his notes you didn’t have a very good answer.”

“You think I did this?” Collison asked, his eyes wide.

“We’re trying to eliminate you as a suspect, Jett,” she said supportively. “But it’s hard when, according to the notes I’m reading, you say that two nights ago you forgot your phone at the studio and hitchhiked back to get it because your car broke down.”

“But it’s true. The studio usually assigns me a driver. But by the time I realized I’d left my phone there, he was gone. And I don’t drive much so I didn’t know my car battery had died.”

“But you see the problem, Jett,” she said calmly. “We can’t trace your whereabouts using your vehicle because you didn’t drive it. You didn’t rideshare so we can’t track that either.”

“How was I supposed to call a Lyft without my phone?” he interrupted.

“But you didn’t call a cab either, which would have made sense. You hitched a ride into town from Malibu?”

“I used to do it all the time before I got famous. And a cab would have taken forever to get to my place.”

“But that means no one can vouch for you. Why didn’t you ask Matilda? I’m sure she would have driven you.”

“It was her night off. She lives in Culver City. I didn’t want to bother her to come all the way out to get me in Malibu and take me into Hollywood. That would have taken her hours.”

“Very thoughtful of you,” Jessie said. “So to review, we can’t use your phone to locate you because you left it at work. We can’t track your vehicle because you didn’t use it. You took an unverifiable method of transit to get your phone. That means that you were off the grid for about two hours, including the window when Claire was murdered.”

“It’s just a terrible coincidence,” he insisted.

“Maybe,” she said.

“It’s true. Can’t you check video cameras?”

“What, you mean all the security cameras the city posts on random, unpopulated stretches of the Pacific coastline? That’s not a thing, Jett.”

He looked like he wanted to reply but then stopped. He was at a loss. It didn’t matter because just then Decker poked his head in.

“Can I speak to you two?” he asked Jessie and Dolan.

“Sure,” she said and then to Collison, “stay put.”

“Where am I gonna go?” he moaned.

Jessie almost chuckled as she walked to the door. She didn’t know if this guy was guilty but she was enjoying tying him in knots. When she, Dolan, and Murph stepped out into the hall, the expression on Decker’s face told her she needed to get serious.