“What did he do?”
“He got up, I thought maybe he was going to walk towards me, but instead he turns and goes through this side door. And this big bouncer gets in my way, makes it clear I shouldn’t follow. And then Pete pulls me away.”
“To get you safely away from the bouncer.”
Another long pause. Simpson took a drag, stubbed his cigarette on the porch railing, and flicked it into the reeds below. The sun was setting, lights flicking on in the houses around the lake. Across the water, a family was setting up for a barbecue.
Simpson took a deep breath, then said, “If I have to testify about this, my marriage is in trouble.”
“Only if you admit to getting laid.”
Simpson didn’t respond to that. He stared out at the lake. “Something else you need to know… the girls were young. Some of them.”
“How young?”
“Too young.”
Brodie nodded. That put this place, and this witness, in a whole new category of sleaze. “Well… we’ll work out your testimony if the time comes.” He asked, “What was the name of this place?”
“Don’t know if it even had a name.”
“Okay, can you describe the exterior?”
“Just what I told you.”
“What color was the building?”
Simpson shrugged. “I think white. Like stucco or something.”
“One story? Two stories?”
“One.”
“Roof? Windows?”
Simpson thought for a moment. “Flat roof, like most of the buildings up there. I don’t think there were windows.”
“Interior?”
“Dark as hell. Like I said, there was a bar, couches, tables… hard to remember details.”
“How long a ride was it from the Marriott to this place?”
“About twenty, thirty minutes.”
“What about landmarks on the way from the Marriott?”
Simpson shook his head. “I was drunk, it was dark as shit. The city doesn’t even keep the streetlights on any more. The place is fucked.”
“Right.” Brodie took a drag on his cigarette. “I need to find this place, Al. I need to find Kyle Mercer.”
“You going there?”
Brodie didn’t reply, and he watched Simpson as he stared out at the water, thinking.
Simpson said, “I do remember there was an airstrip. It was one of the few things that was lit up, the runway lights. I don’t think we’d been on the road too long when I saw that. And we passed an old church when we were in the hills—it was tall and it stood out from all the low, shitty buildings.”
“What did the church look like?”
