“Did they seem close?”
“Actually, she seemed upset.”
Claire remembered hearing Jessica say, “My marriage isn’t something you can buy.”
I stared at her.
“She said that?”
Claire nodded.
The gentleman looked embarrassed. Other guests noticed.
“What happened next?”
“She said she wanted to go back to her husband. He offered her a ride.”
Jessica hadn’t gone there for a romantic evening.
She’d rejected Richard.
But why did she end up on his boat?
Back at the hotel, I found the bartender who’d spoken to me after Jessica disappeared.
His name was Owen.
When I told him Jessica had died, his expression changed.
“I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”
I asked him to describe their conversation.
Owen explained that Jessica had come downstairs looking upset.
Richard approached her a few minutes later.
“She wasn’t flirting,” Owen said. “I remember her telling him she was married.”
“Then why did they leave together?”
