“God, I don’t know,” he snapped, then took control of his temper again. “Look, I don’t remember. Hell, I still don’t remember some of the things that happened a couple of weeks ago. But . . . maybe when I moved in. I never use the thing and don’t recall taking it out of the drawer. I’ve had it for years, bought it from a dealer in Seattle, but . . . I just don’t need it.” He slid the plastic-encased Glock back to Rivers as if he never wanted to see the pistol again.

He seemed sincere, but Rivers didn’t trust him.

“So what was your relationship to Willow Valente?”

“Nothing. I mean, she was an employee, obviously. On the payroll.”

“And that was it?”

“Yeah.” He shrugged. “Uh, she helped Sophia clean my house after you guys trashed it doing your thing, but I didn’t ask her to. I knew her well enough to say ‘hi,’ but that was about it.”

“When was that?”

Cahill glanced at the calendar on his watch and gave the date, then said, “Sophia insisted, and Willow helped her. I’d been camping out at the inn after I got out of the hospital . . . so . . .” His voice faded.

Rivers took out the pictures of Willow in James’s bed from the manila folder on the table. He’d copied the images from the digital images that had been sent to Zena Wallace and printed them out once he’d arrived at the office. “How do you explain these?” He slid the pictures out of a folder and sent them James’s way.

“What are these?” James took a quick glance at the nude shots and scooted his chair back, distancing himself from the photos. “Why the hell are you showing me these?” He gestured quickly at the pictures. “Because she has the gun?”

“Look a little closer,” Mendoza suggested.

“Why?” Swallowing hard, Cahill inched his chair closer again. “I mean, she’s naked, and she’s got the gun and . . .” His already pale face lost all color, and his mouth fell open a bit. “Holy shit.” He looked up at Rivers. “She was in my bed?” he said, and he seemed dumbfounded. “In my bed with the gun and . . .” He held up both hands, palms out. “I don’t know what this means, but wow . . . oh, wow. I don’t get this. The only time, only time she’d been in that room was to clean it.”

“You’re sure?”