“Like I said, I don’t know if it’s true. If it is, he's one sick fuck.”
I didn't need him to spell it out. "How long had he been abusing her?"
"She said it started at 12."
I cringed.
"If you want all the details, you can go back to her livestreams. She talked about it a lot. But that guy’s followers are so brainwashed, nobody believed her. Nobody did anything. Then yesterday, she said it was all bullshit. I guess losing her account and getting hit with a defamation lawsuit scared the shit out of her. I don't think she had much choice.”
“Did you watch her recant yesterday?”
He hesitated, then looked over his shoulder. Jesse stepped into the hallway and pulled the door shut behind him. In a whisper, he said, “Yeah. I watched.”
“You still have feelings for her, don’t you?”
His eyes filled, and he nodded. Jesse tried to muscle through it. He wiped the tears away and sniffled.
"How long did you two date?” I asked.
Jesse shrugged. “A little over a year.”
"You must have gotten a sense of whether she was telling the truth or not?"
Jesse thought about it for a moment. "I really don't know. I think back about a lot of stuff. Little things. She’d lie for no reason. I just think it was in her nature. Sometimes I wonder if anything she told me was the truth.” Sadness filled his eyes.
“Where were you yesterday evening between 5:00 and 7:00 PM?”
“I was here, why?” His suspicious eyes flicked between the two of us as he caught on. “You think I killed her?”
I shrugged. “Scorned lover, still bitter about the breakup.”
“I’m not bitter.” He was bitter.
“Ask Lana and Saylor. They’ll vouch for me.”
He opened the door and called for them. The gorgeous blondes appeared at the door a moment later and answered my questions with unease. I had no doubt they’d say whatever Jesse wanted them to. He wasn’t a troll, but he wasn’t exactly a GQ cover model either. Still, he managed to score women way out of his league.
“Yeah, he was here with us, then we went out to dinner,” Lana said.
“Where’d you go?”
“The Five Fathoms.”
I lifted an impressed brow. “Nice.”
“What time did you get back to the Trident?”
She shared a glance with Saylor and Jesse, communicating telepathically. “We went out afterward and hit a few bars. We ended up at Blue Ruin for most of the night, then got back here around 3:00 AM.”
Saylor nodded.
It would be easy enough to verify.
I gave Jesse a card and told him to get in touch if he thought of anything else helpful.
We left and headed back down to the lobby.
"I think we need to have another talk with Lisa Scott,” Jack said. “Seems like she left out a pretty important detail.”
