Page 47 of Race to Save Her

“Where do you work?”

“Carriage House Restaurant.”

“Waiter?”

“Yeah.”

“Did Shelby visit you at the restaurant?” said Katie.

“Sure. She would wait for my shift to end and then we would go next door to the hotel and have a drink or sit at the pool area. Sometimes talking for hours.” He tried to smile.

Katie could see how much he was grieving. She knew that hotel; it was a high-end establishment. “Tyler, did anything unusual ever happen at the restaurant or hotel when you were there with Shelby?”

He shook his head. “No. Oh wait. There was a guy who would watch us at the hotel sometimes. The only reason I noticed was he wore thick clothes when it was warm… strange stuff like that.”

“How often?”

“Not every time.”

“Did Shelby notice him?”

“I don’t think so. She never said anything and I didn’t want to draw attention to him.”

“What did he look like?” said McGaven.

“Average. Dark hair, I think. He always had a baseball cap on or a hood. Sometimes a leather jacket. I got a feeling he was hiding something or he didn’t want to be seen.”

“How old?”

“I don’t know… I’m not good at that. Thirty maybe forty?”

“Where can we take you?” said Katie.

“My car is down the street.”

“Okay. Please go to the department to make that statement today.”

“Otherwise, we will find you,” said McGaven.

Tyler stood up. “Of course.”

“Here’s my card,” said Katie. “Call us if you remember anything or see that man again. Understand?”

Tyler nodded. “Can I go?”

The detectives escorted him to the front door.

“Detectives? Please find who killed Shelby.” He looked at each of them and then left.

Katie stayed quiet for a moment. “What do you think? Maybe a good person for Deputy Anderson to watch?”

“Absolutely,” said McGaven.

TWENTY-NINE

Wednesday 1350 hours

Katie and McGaven entered their office space to update the board. It was a quiet place to work and she knew the sheriff was going to ask for the report that she hadn’t submitted yet.