Chapter 13 #3
“We keep them locked in the manager’s office,” he said. “Anyone who takes one has to sign for it. Jessica signed for yours since you’re law enforcement.”
“Is she in the office?” he asked.
“Sure is,” Ben said. “Just knock on the door.”
We went around the concierge desk and knocked on the door behind it.
“Come in,” Jessica called out.
Her office was the kind of space that would close a lease.
Walnut desk, cream upholstered chairs, leather binders lined up on the built-in shelves, and a monitor on the wall running a live grid of every camera in the building.
Two windows behind her desk looked out over the park, the fountain visible between the trees.
No family photos, no coffee mugs, nothing out of place.
Style and elegance. Everything telling a prospective resident they’d made the right choice.
She looked up from her computer when we came in and her expression made clear she’d been hoping we were done with her.
“We have a few more questions,” Jack said.
She gestured at the chairs across the desk. We sat. She didn’t move from behind it.
“We want to talk about your relationship with Wade,” Jack said.
“We were friendly,” she said. “I’ve told you that.”
“We’ve been going back over the footage,” Jack said. “We’ve noticed some things that suggest the relationship might have been a little more than professional on your end. Is that a fair characterization?”
She picked up a pen from her desk and set it back down. “He was charming. He had a way of making you feel like you were the only person in the room.”
“Did he have that effect on you specifically?”
Her cheeks colored. “I admired him. He was a wonderful resident. He was kind and he remembered people’s names and he never made anyone feel invisible.” She stopped. “I’m sorry. It’s been a hard couple of days.”
“Were you involved with him?” Jack asked.
“No.”
“Did you want to be?”
She looked out the window at the park. The fountain was running. “He was out of my league,” she said quietly. “He knew it and I knew it. That was just the reality of things.”
“The women he brought home,” I said. “Did that bother you?”
She was quiet for a moment. “I understood who he was. I never had any illusions about that.” She straightened a stack of papers on her desk that didn’t need straightening. “But there were times it was harder to look the other way than others.”
“Like when he was having sex in the pool?” Jack asked.
Her mouth tightened. “The pool, the gym, the conference room. I had to speak to him once the front desk team brought it to my attention.”
“Did it stop?”
She looked down and adjusted the papers on her desk instead of answering.
“Did you ever go inside his condo?” Jack asked.
“No.”
“You have a key to it though,” Jack said.
“We keep a physical master key for every unit in the building.” She nodded toward the electronic cabinet on the wall beside the credenza. “They’re logged in and out. Code access. The key fob is separate—that covers the lobby, the elevator, the pool, the amenity spaces.”
“Who else has the cabinet code?”
“Just me,” she said. “And the regional property manager.”
“We’re going to need the key log for the past thirty days,” Jack said. “And specifically whether anyone accessed Wade’s condo key Tuesday night.”
She turned to her computer and pulled it up and sent it to the printer on the credenza. “No one signed it out Tuesday night,” she said, handing the pages to Jack.
Jack turned and looked at the monitor on the wall behind her. The camera feeds were all running—lobby, elevator, courtyard, pool. “The building cameras went offline at ten o’clock Tuesday night,” he said. “Did you know that?”
She shifted in her chair. “I received an alert on my phone, but I didn’t see it until morning. By the time I did see it everything was back up and running.”
“What did you do about it?”
“I checked the app. The system showed it had restarted. I assumed it was a software issue.” She paused. “I didn’t think it warranted a call at that hour.”
“Do you have the ability to shut the cameras down yourself?” Jack asked.
“I have administrative access, yes. For maintenance purposes.”
“Who else?”
“The security company. Corporate office.”
“What about the concierge team?”
“They can view the feeds remotely. They don’t have administrative access.”
“I’m struggling with your alibi, Ms. Contreras,” Jack said.
“You go up the elevator with the victim, making you one of the last people to see him alive. You live on the same floor he does. You have access to the cameras and a master key to his condo. Your alibi of being home alone doesn’t help you much. ”
“I didn’t kill Wade!” she yelled, the emotion bubbling up inside her for the first time. “I could never kill him. I loved him.”
“A lot of jealous people kill for love.”
Tears leaked from her eyes and tracked down her cheeks, smearing her eye makeup.
“I saw the camera footage,” she said, reaching for a Kleenex and blotting her eyes.
“I was visiting my mom last weekend, and when I came back to work Monday morning Brett showed me the footage of Wade and Paige at the pool.” Her face crumpled and the tears fell faster.
“He lied to me. He told me Paige was just a roommate. But that bitch was sleeping with him the whole time.”
“That must have made you pretty angry,” Jack said.
She laughed, a harsh sound that came from the gut. “Yeah, pretty angry. But the joke was on her, I guess, considering all the other women he was cheating on her with. But I’d had enough. I was going to issue him a final warning with the threat of turning him in to the police.”
“So what did you really do the night Wade was murdered?”
“I ordered Chinese takeout around nine o’clock, opened a bottle of wine, and I logged into this dating site I’ve been on for a couple of months and messaged with a guy named Derek until my wine ran out and I went to bed. We’re supposed to hook up tomorrow.”
“I hope you’re telling the truth,” Jack said. “I’m going to send my tech guy with a warrant to pick up your electronics. Do you have Derek’s last name?”
She wiped at her eyes aggressively, smearing her mascara even more.
“Brummel,” she said, anger taking over the tears.
“You have his number?”
“We only communicate through the dating site for now. Like I said, we’re supposed to meet tomorrow. I’m done now. If you want to talk again I want a lawyer present.”
“Fair enough,” Jack said, getting to his feet. “We’ll be back with that warrant soon.”