Wiping his hands on his apron, Jim stepped through the connecting doorway. Lynne was right behind him with a welcoming smile.
“I didn’t recognize you yesterday,” Jim commented to David, his expression calm, but his eyes looking wary. “You’re Maggie’s David, right? You really did buy that keyboard for her—they weren’t joshing me?”
“Maggie’s going to be composing on that keyboard as soon as the music room is ready at her home,” David replied easily. “Hello, Lynne. I’m sorry your name wasn’t drawn so you could attend the concert inside.”
“You pointed me out to Maggie. I saw you do it. That was nice of you.”
David smiled. “She remembers the tangelos you brought to the dressing room for her that night. That was nice of you.”
“Thanks. Mom sent me this weird message. I was supposed to stay put until you showed me a photo?”
“There’s someone you met last night behind the hotel,” David began. “I’d like you to take a look at the picture and tell me what you remember about your conversation.”
“Sure.”
David must have been recognized by someone in the coffee shop, as a couple of college students were now glancing his way and whispering together near the arched doorway leading into the music store. Evie shifted her jacket to show her badge, shook her head, and they left again.
David showed Lynne the first photo he’d printed.
“This is before the evening got started,” Lynne said immediately. “See the empty spot here? That’s where the bus parked with the choir kids. They arrived after the program started since they were the last ones onstage. And this space here, that’s where the florist’s van parked. Did you see the white roses for Maggie’s concert? I stayed on the rope line until she arrived, then went to the back to watch the crew come and go.”
David listened patiently until she stopped to take a breath, then tapped the photo of Lynne talking to Andrew Timmets. “It’s good you dressed warmly for the evening. Do you remember what you two were talking about?”
Lynne wrinkled her forehead. “Just casual stuff.”
“Can you remember some topics?” David asked. “Anything you said, he said?”
Lynne pointed out a woman in the background. “He was asking if that was Maggie’s hairdresser. I told him no, that’s Jessica Noland, who styles mostly politicians’ and their wives’ hair. She was probably there to help one of the platform guests. Maggie has her own stylist, and she was already inside. Not that there aren’t good ones in Chicago she could use,” Lynne said earnestly. “For music videos produced in Chicago, bands often use Kathy Gibson, Evelyn Marsh, or Tate Philips, while Maggie is loyal to Amy Frond. And I’d seen Amy and her assistants arrive shortly after Ashley carried in Maggie’s wardrobe box.”
David tapped the photo of the man talking with Lynne again. “Did he say anything personal, his name or where he was from? Did he sound like someone from Chicago?”
“Indiana,” Lynne said promptly. She patted her left wrist. “His watch was Indiana Bluedogs. That’s basketball, and a collector’s piece. It’s exclusively for sale to alumni, or I suppose you could buy one from other alumni. Most people don’t wear watches anymore, unless it’s the smart kind, so the college must mean something to him. He wasn’t old enough to have been out of college that many years.”
“That’s really helpful information, Lynne,” David encouraged. “What else do you remember? It looks like he talked to you again about half an hour later.”
“He was staying with friends and arrived late, missed Maggie coming in because he couldn’t find a place to park. He wasn’t a hotel guest and didn’t qualify to use their parking lot. He finally found street parking in a neighborhood and walked a mile to the hotel. He wasn’t dressed for the weather. He had a warm jacket and gloves, but not a decent hat or boots, only tennis shoes. I’d brought a big thermos along, so I shared my coffee with him. He made that face that says he’s not accustomed to drinking it with so much sugar.”
“Did he say anything about his friends, the people he was staying with?”
“I got the impression it was a married couple rather than college buddies, but he really didn’t say much more. Just said ‘she’ when he mentioned being glad he was staying somewhere less costly than this hotel, and said, ‘He didn’t warn me about the parking problems.’”
“Was he interested in anyone else who came or went?”