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go check.” Mai wiped her eyes. “It gave me something better to do than wait around.”
    “Did you see any of the wardrobe people today?”
    She nodded. “Yolanda was in the RV when I got here this morning. It was a little after six, I think. No cell phones allowed on the set, and I don’t wear a watch. No, wait. First, I went to a lounge for coffee. Didn’t want to take a chance on spilling any on the wardrobe. After that, I came here and changed.”
    “So, maybe six-fifteen?”
    She shrugged. “Sounds about right.”
    “Who else was in the wardrobe RV?”
    “Nobody except Yolanda. She’s in charge of wardrobe. The extras are all wearing their own clothes for background shots. Aside from the stand-ins, Ian and I are the only cast members in this morning’s shoot. He’d been by earlier, according to Yolanda—so once I was dressed, I went to the street to wait to be called.”
    “Ian’s last name?”
    “Patrick.”
    He wrote it down. “What about when you stopped in the lounge? Was anyone else there?”
    “Of course. There are always people in there.”
    “I’ll need their names.”
    She inhaled a deep, shaky breath. “A bunch of extras I don’t know. Local people for background. Most of the main players aren’t on call until after lunch. And there’s an unspoken hierarchy, so the more important ones tend to use the other lounge, even though everyone’s free to use either. Or, if they’re really important, like Cassidy and Lily, they get their own places and may or may not use the lounges.”
    “About how many in the bunch you mentioned?” At her hesitant expression, he went on. “Close your eyes, visualize where everyone was sitting, standing. Men? Women? Kids?”
    She tilted her head upward and shut her eyes. “Six. No, seven. Two men, three women, and two kids. Plus some of the crew. Two men, one woman. I don’t know their names either. Still early days. Sorry.”
    As Gordon recalled, the morning’s shooting was simply people walking along the street. Of course, nothing was that simple, but he could see why using extras instead of paying higher rates for real actors made sense. When Officers Gaubatz and Jost appeared through the walkway, Gordon asked Mai to wait while he spoke with his officers. Gaubatz quickened his pace, and Gordon couldn’t help but wonder whether it was because he was eager to help, or because he wanted to beat Jost. The two officers had had a few run-ins not that long ago, but they seemed to have moved past them.
    “Titch said to report here,” Gaubatz said.
    Gordon explained how the unlocked RV had expanded the scope of their potential suspects. “There are still people inside some of the units. I need all of Seesaw Village secured. Nobody comes in, and the people already inside the units will have to be questioned before we release them. Solomon is the lead.”
    “Yes, sir.” Gaubatz looked at Jost, then pointed to his left. “I’ll start at that end. Meet you in the middle.”
    Titch’s voice came over the radio. “Sir, Mayor McKenna says he needs to talk to you. Now.”
    Of course he would.
    “Tell him I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
    “Sir, I don’t think he’s going to like that.” Titch’s voice dropped. “He’s kind of steamed.”
    “I know he’s not going to like it. Tell him I’m conducting a crucial interview, and I’ll be with him as soon as I’m finished. Be charming. But firm. Under no circumstances is anyone—mayor or not—other than medical or law enforcement personnel to come back here until we know what’s what. Feed him the line about how I’m making sure Mapleton is represented as a city that makes sure everyone’s rights are respected, that we’re not going to do anything that would show us in a bad light, that we know how to investigate a crime properly—whatever it takes to unruffle his feathers. And let’s switch all related radio traffic to channel five.”
    “Yes, sir.” Titch didn’t sound happy. He liked