Lorna nodded. ‘Okay.’ Then she laughed, a sound made from nerves and not amusement. ‘I’m sorry for all this.’ She waved her hand around the room. ‘But I’ve never done this before, and if I can be honest, it’s nothing like it’s portrayed on television or in the movies.’

‘It rarely is,’ Alyssa agreed. ‘Though it would be nice if we could always solve crimes in the allotted hour of time.’ Carefully, she adjusted her body so that she blocked the little red dot that showed the recording was active. ‘Okay, Lorna, why don’t we begin with something easy? Where do you work?’

The question may have been simple, but Lorna’s body went taut. ‘I work at Hotel Camino behind that old shopping center they’re remodeling near the freeway. You know the one?’

‘I know it.’ It was an old, seedy hotel situated next to several newer ones going up in the area in the city’s efforts to refurbish and revitalize certain neighborhoods. Currently, it was a popular hangout for drug users, peddlers, and prostitutes, especially as it had a ‘pay by the hour’ option.

Before Lorna continued, she once again glanced at the door as if she was afraid there was someone on the outside of it, just waiting for her to disclose her reason for being there. And when she lowered her voice to a whisper, chewing at the tip of her finger, muffling her words even more, Alyssa had to lean in to hear. ‘That girl on the news? The one who went missing after school?’

Outwardly, Alyssa maintained her composure, kept her posture relaxed so she wouldn’t startle Lorna. On the inside, however, all her senses went on hyper alert, causing pinballs to ricochet throughout her nerve endings. ‘Do you mean Katelyn Phillipson?’

Lorna nodded, biting harder at her fingertip.

‘Do you know something that could help us locate her?’

‘Not exactly,’ Lorna admitted. ‘But I have seen her. Actually, I’ve seen two of them, I think. That Jane Doe that was on the news the other night? She kind of looked familiar, too.’

The words buzzed in Alyssa’s head. Apparently, Lorna hadn’t seen the news reports that “Jane Doe” had been identified as Meghan Jessup. ‘Where have you seen them?’

Lorna held her breath for a second before expelling it in a huge rush. She muttered something under her breath that sounded a lot like, ‘This is why you came here. Don’t back out now.’

Alyssa leaned in as close as she could get without actually scooting her chair closer. ‘Lorna, if you know something about Katelyn’s disappearance, I need you to tell me now. It could be the difference between saving her life or finding her dead.’ She hoped the urgency in her tone conveyed to Lorna the importance of sharing whatever information she had. ‘Now, where have you seen these girls?’

Lorna’s voice wavered, as if she were beginning to doubt the intelligence of coming here. ‘At the hotel where I work?’ She posed her answer as a question of its own.