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that?”
    He nodded.
    “Let’s begin. Do you have any children?”
    I started with a baseline question. It was a question that would fetch a truthful answer.
    “No.” His answer was quick, direct, and truthful.
    “When did you see Sarah last?”
    “The morning she left to come here. Her flight didn’t leave until the afternoon. She planned to take care of her errands before she left.”
    “Was that the last time you spoke?” I asked.
    “No. She called me when she arrived at the Tampa airport.”
    “Anything odd about the conversation? Did she mention anyone from the flight or airport?”
    He shook his head. “No. She said the flight was fine. We just talked for a couple minutes, and then she said she would call me when she got settled into her hotel room.” He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “When I didn’t get a phone call, I just figured she went to bed.”
    “What time did her flight arrive?”
    “It was a little after nine. I have a copy of her itinerary that I printed out.”
    He pulled a folded-up paper from his pocket, unfolded it, and handed it to me.
    I looked over the travel arrangements and made a note of the flight time and number. “Can we keep this?”
    He nodded. I slid it into the file.
    “And the hotel confirmed that she had never checked in?” Hank asked.
    “That’s what the woman told me when I called.”
    “Mr. McMillian, how did she plan to get to the hotel? Did she have a business colleague picking her up from the airport? Did she plan to take a hotel shuttle? Cab?”
    He put his glasses back on and took a deep breath. “I’m not sure. She didn’t mention that anyone from the company was picking her up, so I would think a shuttle or a cab.”
    I made a note to check it out. “What company?” I asked.
    He sat quietly for a moment before speaking. “I think this one was called Ace Marketing. She did sales training for marketing firms all over the country. The places hire her company, and then her company sends her to whatever city.”
    The information got written in my notes. “So, Ace Marketing?”
    “I believe so.”
    “Do you know where the place is located?”
    “Sorry, I don’t know.”
    “That’s fine. What hotel did she have a room at?” I asked.
    “Imperial Suites. I believe the hotel is downtown here somewhere.”
    I was familiar with the hotel. It was a few blocks away. “How long did your wife plan to be in town for?”
    “All week. Her flight back was on Saturday morning.”
    “Okay. Now, what can you tell us about her job? Is there an element of competition? Did she have rivals at work? Enemies?”
    He coughed and took a sip of the water. “Her job wasn’t like that. She’s a sales trainer. Traveled to different companies and put on presentations. She didn’t have coworkers that she worked alongside. It was a different city and different employees that she presented to every few weeks. When she didn’t travel for work, she was at home. She loved her job.”
    “What about the places she did her presentations? Did she ever mention problems with any of the company’s staff?” I asked.
    He shook his head.
    “And these presentations she did. None of the employees attending were at risk of losing their jobs for underperforming or anything like that?” Hank asked.
    “No. The trainings were for new hires.”
    “All right. Now, our forensics team has looked over the clothes she wore when she was found.” I pulled the translucent bag with its orange adhesive evidence strip up onto the table and slid it toward him. “I just wanted to see if you recognized the outfit.”
    He began to cry when he saw it. “She didn’t own anything like that. She wasn’t—”
    I held up my hand and shook my head to interrupt him. I knew what his question was, and I didn’t want him to have to ask it. “No.”
    He nodded.
    We would keep the outfit as evidence. We had all we needed about his wife and the day she arrived. I dug through the file and removed