“They been here before?”
“No, they's first-timers.”
“What about their guide?”
“Gomez? Shit, he be here a couple times a week. He work for this offworld company on the Square.”
“Jungle Expeditions.”
“Yeah, that's it.”
“What kind of shit are his clients into?”
“The one's he bring here is mostly just lookin' for straight pussy. Sometimes he bring one along who want a little kink, but you know we ain't one of them specialty houses.”
“Do you have an exclusive arrangement with him?”
“No. He always shoppin' around on price and shit. We get most of his straight pussy business though.”
“Where else does he go?”
“Listen, if you lookin' for some weird shit, you should check out Kaiser. He another one of them guides that work with Gomez, but he the one that take the special orders.”
“What kind of special orders?”
“Shit, man, them Jungle Expeditions folk cater to the dowackados. They get some regular customers, too, like them parrot motherfuckers in there, but they's main business is in kink. They's customers is regulars at the Red Room and the Cellar Dweller. From what I hear, they does some big kiddie biz. They's also into rape sims and all that bondage shit. I heard they even done some necro.”
“Necro?”
“Ha! I told you they was some dowackados, didn't I? Didn't I?”
“Thanks, Idris.”
“Anytime, Juno. You needs anything else?”
“I'll let you know.”
I walked out the way I came in. Nobody bothered me, not after they'd seen me chatting with Idris. It was courtesy of Idris that they got to stay in this alley. Piss him off and they could find themselves evicted from the alley, and this alley was primo, being covered and all.
I reached the fifth floor and Maggie was already there, waiting at the end of the hall. We walked toward each other, meeting in the middle.
“Sorry it took me so long to get here.”
“No problem,” Maggie said as she led me down the hall.
“How was work?”
“The same. How was your afternoon?” Maggie knocked on door number 511.
“I got some dirt on Jungle Expeditions. That jungle adventure crap is just a cover. They do sex tours.”
Maggie nodded, not surprised at all. The door swung open, revealing a slightly heavy woman wearing a frumpy number. Maggie held up her badge. “Are you Inez Shenko?”
“Yes,” she said as she fiddled with her dated hair.
“I'm Detective Orzo, and this is Detective Mozambe. Can we come in?”
“Yes, of course.”
We entered her apartment, a plain-looking place with a decent view of the river.
“Can I get you some tea?”
“Please,” said Maggie.
Inez Shenko went into her kitchen.
My eyes inventoried the sitting room-floral print upholstery, cheap plastic angel figurines in glass cases, no vid system, no sign of a man. Total square.
Inez came back in after having put some water on the stove. “How can I help you, officers?”
I hoped this line of investigation would yield some results. We decided to start with the only victims we could identify: Margarita and Hector Juarez. If it wasn't their daughter who did them in, it was somebody else, and lase-whipping them in their own home didn't match the MO of our offworld serial killer with the medieval fetish.
Maggie said, “I appreciate your willingness to speak with us. We'd like to talk to you about the Juarez family.”
“I've already told everything I know to Officer Davies.”
“Yes, we know. But I'm sure you're aware of the fact that Adela Juarez is due to be executed on the fifth.”
“Yes.”
“Well, it's standard procedure for us to conduct follow-up interviews just to make sure we have everything in order before we turn our records over to the Koba Office of Records.”
“I see.”
“So if it's not too great an inconvenience, could you please tell us how you know the Juarez family?”
“Sure,” she said. “I went to school with Margarita, and we've been friends ever since.”
“Did you see her regularly?”
“We'd get together a couple times a week and have lunch or go shopping.” She targeted Maggie as she said, “Sometimes we'd treat ourselves to a spa.” She said it like she was confessing a dirty little secret, like visiting the spa was the biggest curve in her otherwise square life.
“What can you tell us about her husband?”
“Well, Hector worked a lot. He had a very important job, you know.”