Raquel Santos interview #2

Raquel Santos found a severed finger in Room 120 of the Rebel Inn on August 21, 2022.

Detectives Murphy and Parker re-interviewed her at the Yoknapatawpha County Sheriff's Department.

Interview transcript

Saturday, September 3, 2022 – 1:00 p.m.

Participants:

Detective Parker: Good afternoon, Raquel. Please take a seat and state your name and address for the record.

Raquel Santos: Raquel Santos. 594 Hathorn Road in Oxford.

Detective Parker: We have a couple questions we'd like to ask you.

Raquel Santos: Great. Who doesn't want to spend their day off talking to the cops?

Detective Murphy: Have you been following the news, Raquel?

Raquel Santos: You mean, do I know that Oscar Knight is dead? Yeah.

Detective Murphy: Okay, so then you know that since we found the thumb in room 120 and that it belongs to Oscar Knight, we have some more questions for you.

Raquel Santos: I already told you everything I know.

Detective Parker: When forensics went through the room, they found a lot of hairs.

Raquel Santos: So?

Detective Parker: So when was the last time that you cleaned the room?

Raquel Santos: Saturday morning.

Detective Parker: What time?

Raquel Santos: I don't know. 11:00 a.m.? 11:30 a.m.?

Detective Parker: That's earlier than you cleaned the room on Sunday.

Raquel Santos: I guess.

Detective Parker: Why?

Raquel Santos: There were more Do Not Disturbs on Saturday morning.

Detective Parker: Why was that?

Raquel Santos: How should I know?

Detective Murphy: When you got into room 120 to clean that Saturday, Oscar Knight was there?

Raquel Santos: Yeah. I already told you that.

Detective Murphy: What was he doing?

Raquel Santos: Getting ready to leave. I asked him if he wanted me to come back later. He said no, he was on his way out, but he'd stay if I made it worth his while. And he'd make it worth mine if I did.

Detective Murphy: What did you say?

Raquel Santos: I probably said something like, "I'll be out of your way in a moment, sir." That's what I usually say when a guest wants to have a conversation. Or whatever.

Detective Murphy: So you didn't sleep with him?

Raquel Santos: Ew, no. I'm not that hard up.

Detective Parker: Did you change the bed linens that day?

Raquel Santos: No. I didn't like the way he was staring at my ass, so I just made up the bed and got out of there. I was going to go back and finish up after he was gone. I guess I just forgot.

Detective Murphy: Of course you did. So did you clean anything else in the room that day?

Raquel Santos: Yeah, I vacuumed and wiped down the bathroom.

Detective Murphy: That's it?

Raquel Santos: I was going to go back later and finish up.

Detective Murphy: Yeah, of course.

Detective Parker: So you made the bed on Saturday?

Raquel Santos: Yeah.

Detective Parker: And on Sunday, you said it looked like it hadn't been slept in.

Raquel Santos: Yeah.

Detective Parker: What made you think that?

Raquel Santos: The bed was still made. The day before, it was all messed up, like he'd been fighting somebody in his sleep or something.

Detective Parker: But it didn't look like that on Sunday?

Raquel Santos: No, it was just kind of crumpled, like someone sat on it or something. What difference does it make what the bed looked like?

Detective Murphy: Was there anything else in the room that was different to you that Saturday?

Raquel Santos: I didn't really have time to look over most of it that day, but now that you mention it, I don't know why you people had to take all the towels.

Detective Murphy: What do you mean?

Raquel Santos: When I went back in there to clean up after you people were done, there wasn't a single towel in there anywhere. You could've at least told Rick that you took them so that I didn't have to.

Detective Murphy: Right. How many towels was that?

Raquel Santos: Two bath towels, three hand towels, and two washcloths.

Detective Murphy: Okay. We'll look into it. Thanks for talking to us today, Raquel. If you think of anything else, you'll let us know, right?

Raquel Santos: Yeah, I'll be sure to do that—on your day off.

Interview ended – 1:21 p.m.