Murder and High Rollers: A High Desert Cozy Mystery (High Desert Cozy Mystery Series Book 10) by Dianne Harman

Author:Dianne Harman [Harman, Dianne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2019-12-17T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 15

Jeff was sitting at his desk contemplating his next move on the case when his secretary buzzed him. He pressed the intercom and said, “What can I do for you, Nina?”

“Sir, there’s a woman on the phone who says it’s very important that she talk to the lead detective about the gambler’s murder. I know how busy you are, so I tried to pawn her off on one of the other detectives, but she wants to speak with you.”

“No problem, Nina. I’ll take the call. Thanks.”

He picked up the phone and said, “This is Detective Jeff Combs. How may I help you?”

The voice on the other end hesitantly said, “Detective, I think I’ve found out something that might help you with the gambler’s murder.”

“I can use all the help I can get,” Jeff said. “And you are?”

“My name is Becky Wilson. Before I tell you about it, I need to know something.”

“All right. What is it?”

“If someone is an illegal immigrant and they tell law enforcement that they might be able to identify a murderer, would the fact that they’re an illegal immigrant cause problems for them? And would anything happen to them if they had to go to court and testify against a defendant?”

“Becky, that’s a very fair question and from it I’m assuming that the person you’re calling on behalf of is an illegal immigrant. However, let me make something crystal clear. The fact that someone is an illegal immigrant has absolutely nothing to do with witnessing something and then reporting to law enforcement authorities what he or she saw.”

“What if the case went to trial and the person was called to be a witness?”

“It would be like mixing apples and oranges. The fact that someone is illegally in the country has absolutely nothing to do with them witnessing something that was involved in a crime.

“As a matter of fact, if the defense attorney was stupid enough to even bring it up, the prosecuting attorney would object immediately and the judge would rule that it was irrelevant, which it is. I can absolutely assure you that the legal status of the person would not only not be an issue, it would not even be brought up.”

“Thank you, Detective,” Becky said. “Just a moment.” She put her hand over the phone and Jeff could vaguely hear her talking to someone in Spanish. In a moment, she came back on the line.

“Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way,” Jeff said, “why don’t you tell me about what this person witnessed. Let’s begin with a name.”

“It’s my cleaning lady. Her name is Juana Ortega. I’m her only private client. She works at the hotel at the casino, cleaning rooms. So many people gamble during the early morning hours that she works five days a week there from 11:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m., when the hotel guests are generally out of their rooms and gambling in the casino.”

“Those would be brutal hours for me, but I can see where a hotel that caters to gamblers would need people to work those hours.

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