A Dallas Suite

Chapter Sixteen

Jeff had just sat down in front of the hotel security monitors before there was a knock at the door to the office. He opened it and was greeted by two detectives. One of them was the confident, handsome one he saw going into the parking garage a short time ago. He was even more attractive up close. Jeff normally didn't notice that sort of things about men, but he couldn't help it with this detective.

"How's it going, Sir? I'm Detective Seeks and this is Sergeant Moore. We're looking for Jeff Marshall," his speech was confident, too. Well articulated with just enough Southern drawl that no one would question his Texas heritage. Jeff didn't like him, he didn't want someone this confident and well put together working on a case where he was the killer.

"That'd be me, Detectives. What can I do you for?"

"Would you mind if we stepped in, Mr. Marshall? We just have a few questions we want to ask you."

"Of course, come on in. And please, call me Jeff."

"Well Jeff, here's the deal. I know you're aware of the murder of Jason Diggs in the Belvedere Suite upstairs this morning," Detective Seeks said.

"Yes Sir, it was my off day yesterday but I've heard all about it since then."

"Good. We just talked to Reggie and he told us that you may be able offer us more information about Diggs and the suite," Seeks was relaxed when he talked to Jeff. He made it sound like a friendly conversation, not like he was trying to find out details in a murder case.

"I did work with Mr. Diggs more closely than Reggie did. Was there anything in particular you wanted to know?"

"There is, actually. I was hoping you'd be able to tell me more about the men who used the room. I hear you may have had more interactions with them?"

"Well I know this is going to sound strange since I organized most of the behind the scenes stuff, but I don't know a lot of what happened," Jeff replied as he took a seat. He was trying to keep the easy going vibe as well.

"That does sound strange, and we don't have a lot of time. So why don't you go ahead and just tell us what you do know," Jeff realized the sergeant wasn't quite as pleasant as Detective Seeks was. He was a little older and reminded him a lot of the hard-ass old school leaders he had in the military. You could always tell who's seen war after you've seen it yourself. Jeff knew right away both of these men were former military like him.

"Well I set everything up, as far as ensuring no one saw anyone come or go from the hotel. I also made sure that whenever Mr. Diggs needed a new delivery brought into the room, that he was free to do so privately. But that's why I don't know much, Mr. Diggs paid me extra to keep everything secret, including from myself. I never asked questions and always looked the other way."

"So you're saying you never talked to these guys at all? You just walked around with your eyes closed and your mouth shut?" Sergeant Moore asked in a tiredly annoyed voice.

"Not at all, Sir," Jeff politely responded. He never liked people talking down to him this way. He wondered how it would feel to take his knife to the sergeant's throat right here in the room. "Sure I spoke to a few of the guys and to Mr. Diggs, but I never asked anything about them and learned as little as possible. I didn't know what happened inside that suite once the doors closed and I never wanted to know."

Moore got up to leave the room "I'm going to walk up to the room, Seeks. I'll meet you back at the office. If this guy actually decides to help with the murder investigation then brief me about it later"

"Okay, well it sounds like did a good job of doing what Diggs paid you to do. I was wondering, did you know anything else about the parking garage next door? There was another victim found there tonight."

"Yeah, I head about Caping. That's a shame, he was a great surgeon. Or that's what it sounded like at least, I could never afford him," Jeff replied with a laugh that he tried his hardest to make sound nervous. He was used to playing a character whenever interviewed or questioned. It wasn't hard for him to play a nervous, clueless person. But he realized right away that he had just made another massive mistake.