The 17th Suspect (Women's Murder Club 17)

“Premium H2O,” she said, passing the bottle to Yates. “Comes from the heart of a glacier, I think. Or else the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir. I don’t really know,” she said with a grin.

He grinned back and thanked her, and Yuki showed Yates the tape recorder.

“I’ll be taping. Any problem?”

“None that I can think of.”

Yuki switched on the small recorder. Yates got comfortable in the chair across the desk from her and then reached over the desk and turned one of the framed photos to

ward him.

“Nice-looking guy,” said Yates. “Your husband?”

Yuki took the photo out of his hand, put it back under her desk lamp, and said, “Let’s talk about you.”

“If we must,” he said.

Paul Yates had come to San Francisco from Spokane five years before. He currently had a girlfriend, Amy, and they shared a rescue dog, Bosco. Yates was a copywriter at the Ad Shop and had won an award for last year’s Skipperoo dog food campaign. He knew Marc, but they didn’t hang out together.

Yuki said, “Paulie, I need to ask you about Briana Hill.”

“Okay. Shoot.”

“Did Marc tell you that she had raped him?”

“No. I only heard about it when the police started interviewing people at the agency.”

“And what did you think when you heard there had been a sexual assault?”

“I try to ignore gossip and office politics. I’ve never known of anything good to come out of either.”

“Good call,” Yuki said with a smile. “Why do you think Marc thought I should speak with you?”

“Probably because I went out with Briana. Before Amy. Before Marc, too.”

Yuki asked, “Can you tell me about dating Briana?”

“There’s not much to tell,” said Yates. “I only went out with her once.”

“Did you have sex with her?”

“Christ. You want me to talk about that?”

“Please.”

His expression tightened. He scowled.

He said, “What happens if I tell you? You’re going to ask me to testify, aren’t you?”

“Paul. I can’t say at this minute. Tell me what happened with you and Briana Hill. You’re in my office of your own volition. You’re here to help me, but you aren’t required to talk to me unless you committed a crime. Did you commit a crime?”

“Hell no. Unless going out with a psycho is a crime.”

“You’re saying that Briana Hill is a psycho?”

Paul Yates started shaking his head. Then, “Look, I don’t know you and this is embarrassing. I’ve never told anyone, and I don’t want to ever tell anyone else. Not for any reason.”

“What happened, Paulie? Did she threaten you?”