"Let's just hope it's something that moves the needle," Kari said, trying not to get too excited.
Maria checked her watch—just after eleven AM. "She said she'll be here in an hour. Let's set up interview room two, make sure we've got everything recording properly. This could be the testimony that breaks this whole case open."
They spent the next hour preparing, making sure the interview room was comfortable rather than intimidating, arranging for water and coffee, and ensuring all recording equipment was functioning. When the desk sergeant called up at noon to say Tessa Crane had arrived, they were ready.
Tessa looked exhausted, scared, but determined. She was in her late twenties, attractive in a girl-next-door way that hadprobably served her profession well. Her hands shook as Maria shook them, but her voice was steady when she spoke.
"Thank you for coming in," Kari said as they led her to the interview room. "I know this wasn't easy."
"I should have done it days ago," Tessa said quietly. "I just... I panicked."
Once they were settled, the formalities completed, and the recording started, Maria began with gentle questions about Tessa's relationship with Victor Sheridan. Tessa was honest, describing herself as an escort, explaining the arrangement she'd had with Victor for five years.
"He was kind," she said, her voice carrying a note of grief. "In five years, he never once made me feel less than human. We'd talk for an hour before anything else—he'd ask about my real estate classes, my plans for the future. He actually cared about me as a person, not just as... what I did for him."
"Tell us about the night you found him," Kari said gently.
Tessa walked through it methodically—arriving at eight PM as scheduled, ringing the doorbell twice as their signal, waiting. The door code Victor had texted her. Finding him dead on the kitchen floor, the wine glass was shattered beside him.
"I called 911 immediately," she said. "I knew I should, knew he needed to be found properly. But then when the dispatcher asked my name, I just... I panicked. I thought about my record, about how police would treat me once they knew I was an escort, about how my name would be in all the reports and probably in the news. So I hung up and ran."
"That's understandable," Maria said. "Traumatic situations make people act on instinct rather than logic."
"But I shouldn't have run. I know that now." Tessa looked between them. "When I saw your press conference this morning, when I heard that you might not have the right person, thatsomeone innocent might go to prison... I couldn't live with that. I couldn't let my fear matter more than the truth."
"You're here now," Kari said. "That's what matters. You said you might know something that could help us?"
Tessa frowned thoughtfully. "I had an appointment with Victor eight days before he was killed. I was getting ready to leave, and I saw something silver caught between the couch cushions in his living room. I pulled it out and saw it was a bracelet—a delicate silver chain, a small turquoise stone set in a simple bezel. Pretty but not expensive. The kind of thing someone would wear daily and not realize it had slipped off."
"What did you do with it?"
"I left it on his kitchen counter so he'd find it. I figured it belonged to someone else he was seeing—another woman he'd had over." Tessa's smile was sad. "I wasn't jealous or anything. Victor and I weren't exclusive, weren't going to be. I just assumed he had other people in his life."
"Did you ask him about it?" Maria asked.
"No. It wasn't my business." Tessa paused. "But after he died, after I'd had time to think about it while hiding... I kept coming back to that bracelet. Kept thinking that maybe whoever wore it was the person who killed him. That maybe she'd found out about me, got jealous or angry, and decided to eliminate him. And then I thought maybe she'd come after me too, which is why I stayed hidden."
"Can you describe the bracelet in more detail?" Kari asked.
"Silver, definitely. The chain was thin, delicate. The turquoise stone was small, maybe the size of a pea, set in a simple bezel. Nothing fancy or expensive-looking, but pretty. The kind of thing someone might wear every day."
That description matched the bracelet Diana had been wearing during their interview—Kari remembered noticing it.
"We're going to show you some photos," Maria said, pulling up images on her phone. "Tell me if you recognize anyone."
She showed Tessa several photos—some of people connected to the case, some unrelated. When Diana Gray's photo appeared, Tessa's eyes widened.
"Her. I've seen her before."
"Where?" Kari asked, keeping her voice neutral.
"At Victor's house. It was maybe... three or four months ago? I arrived early one evening—like fifteen minutes early—and I saw a woman leaving. Dark hair, pretty, well-dressed. She got into a nice car and drove off." Tessa pointed at Diana's photo. "That's her. I'm sure of it."
"Did Victor mention her?" Maria asked.
"Not that night. But..." Tessa hesitated. "A few weeks after that, I saw messages on his phone. He'd left it on the coffee table, and it lit up with texts. I wasn't trying to snoop, but I saw the name—Diana. The messages seemed... I don't know, friendly but businesslike. Something about 'meeting next week' and 'we need to discuss the timeline.'"
Tessa looked between them. "Is that important? The fact that I saw her there and saw her name in his messages?"
