“You okay?” asked King.
“I was just propositioned by a six-foot-tall naked woman named Heidi.”
“I can wait out in the car if you want.”
“Shut up!”
“Must’ve been the come-hither look.”
At the last room the door was opened by a young woman wearing a long robe that didn’t entirely hide her heavy curves and inflated bosom. Her dyed-blond hair was in a ponytail, and her feet were bare. She was sipping a cup of black coffee. She introduced herself only as Pam, and after they had told her what they wanted, she actually invited them in.
They sat at a small table around which were placed four chairs. The room looked comfy enough, although King caught himself staring at the rumpled bed in the corner and the array of lingerie piled there. He turned to find Michelle’s severe gaze on him.
“So you knew Rhonda?” asked King.
“Yes, sir.”
King ran his eye over her. She was so young-looking that had he seen her half-naked rubbing against a pole, he would have probably thrown a blanket over her and called her father to come retrieve her. “Have the police already talked to you?”
“Yes, sir, the FBI actually. That’s what they said they were anyway.”
“Can you tell us what you told them?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You don’t have to call me sir, Pam. I’m Sean, this is Michelle.”
Pam looked at her stubby toes with the cracked polish and crossed one pudgy foot over the other. “Sorry, I guess I’m sorta nervous, Sean.”
Michelle patted her hand. “There’s nothing to be nervous about.”
“I mean with Rhonda getting killed and all. I guess it could’ve been any one of us, though Rhonda took chances I never would.”
“What sort of chances?” asked King.
“We worked the same clubs together. She’d go off with men she didn’t even know if they were nice to her. I only been doing this a couple of years, and I know better than that. But she always came back.” Pam dabbed at some tears. “Only this time she didn’t.”
“Do you have any idea whom she went off with this time?” asked Michelle.
“No. Like I told them others, sometimes she tells me before she goes, other times not. This time she didn’t.” She took a sip of her coffee and wiped her thick lips with the back of a shaky hand. King noted that her red nail polish was chipped.
“When was the last time you saw her?”
“Couple of weeks before they found her. Our contracts were up here, but I signed on for another month. I like it here. The pay’s good, and the folks here treat us nice. Not that many places give you a room and meals and all.”
“And no customers back here to bother you, I take it,” said King.
“No, sir, none of that,” she said. “They’re real particular about that.”
“Did you ever see her with anyone, a man you didn’t know? Did she mention anyone she was seeing?”
“No, nothing like that. Sorry.”
He handed her one of his cards. “If you remember anything else, give us a call.”
Both lost in thought, King and Michelle walked outside to her truck.
King was eyeing the full parking lot. “Hard to believe people find the time in the middle of the day to come here.”