Chapter 1 #2
“Somebody should care, but too often nobody does,” Riff stated. “Remember that.”
Feeling as if he had just heard some lecture on the underbelly of the universe, Wallace nodded and kept on walking.
In a way it was true, and a sad truth, since so often people didn’t care.
As long as you acted with authority and intent, nobody questioned you.
But now that they had a missing woman, surely he and Riff should talk to people, to potential witnesses.
Yet Wallace presumed MI6 had already done so.
Or MI5, depending on where they thought this kidnapping was going.
He frowned at that and asked Riff, “Is there any coordination between MI5 and MI6?”
“Sometimes.” Riff gave him a lopsided grin. “How much coordination and communication do you think there is between any two government departments?”
Wallace sighed. “You would think there would at least be weekly meetings or something.”
“Nope, not happening. On the other hand, if Jonas is spearheading the investigation, then rest assured that we will get the cooperation of both.”
“Even though he’s MI6?”
“Yep, absolutely.” Riff smiled. “We do have some advantages to having Jonas on our side of the table.”
“I would think so, but it needs to be a big-enough advantage to make a difference,” he murmured. “We really do need a break on this.”
At the door to Amy’s hotel room, Riff stopped, looked around, pondered.
“What are you thinking?” Wallace asked him.
“I’m wondering when her room was last cleaned and if they saw anything.”
“Chances are, it wasn’t cleaned because she wasn’t due to check out yet, but…”
“Right, but we can’t count on that.”
“Nope, we sure can’t,” Wallace confirmed. “I can track down maid service—unless it’s the same people who worked yesterday…”
“Exactly,” Riff agreed. “Let’s check out the room first.” And, with that, Riff let himself into the room.
A moment later, Wallace realized that Riff didn’t have a key, and Wallace saw no lockpicks used either.
He tucked away that bit of information in the back of his head.
As he walked into the hotel room, they both stopped, and Wallace frowned.
“Cold, empty, no energy at all. Is this even her room?” he asked, curiously looking around. “It doesn’t feel like her room.”
“I know. It doesn’t feel like anybody’s room.” Riff frowned, as he looked around. “If this was her room, I don’t think she ever stayed in it.”
“I agree with you there,” Wallace replied. “And, if it wasn’t her room, then why were we told it was?”
“Exactly.”
Frowning at that, he turned to Riff. “I’ll head back down to the front desk and double-check the information we got.”
Riff just nodded.
Wallace quickly headed for the elevators, and a few minutes later was at the main reception area. He explained to the desk clerk just who he was and why he was here. He explained how there appeared to be some mix-up, and they were given the wrong room number.
The woman frowned at him. “That’s what I have on the registry.” She clicked on the computer keys, bringing up the registration.
“Then she obviously changed her room,” Wallace suggested.
The woman shook her head, while she read the notes on the computer, then exclaimed, “She did. You’re right. I am so sorry for the mix-up.”
“Good, so what room was she in then?” he asked, sounding harsher than he intended.
The clerk checked a few other screens and then replied, “Fifth floor. Room 512. I’m so sorry for the mix-up.”
“Was a reason given for why she changed rooms?” He studied the clerk. “Did you ever see her?”
She shook her head. “No, I haven’t seen her myself. So I haven’t checked her in or out.”
“Right now, as far as we’re concerned, she’s missing.”
“But maybe she’s in the other room.”
“Would you not have had that information to give the cops in the first place?” he asked, getting frustrated.
She frowned and nodded. “We should have, yes. So I don’t understand why we didn’t.”
“And that is my concern. If 512 is her room, then why did everybody else get sent to a different room? This can’t be a simple mistake.”
“I see a notation that her room was changed at her request, but I don’t see a reason why.”
“Not that a reason is necessarily an issue, but the fact that she made a request and that you gave it to her is good. Yet, when the cops contacted you, they should have been directed to the new room that she was checked into. The fact that the cops weren’t given that info raises questions, serious questions.
” Wallace sighed. More research to do, including deep background checks into all the employees in this hotel, whether part-time or full-time, then cross-referencing their friends and family.
Levi and Terk may both need to be on this project.
“I don’t know why, sir. You are absolutely correct, but I can offer no explanation.” She kept apologizing over and over, but the conversation wasn’t going anywhere.
He finally held up a hand to her. “Stop. Our people will check into that. Can you just give me the correct room key? I need to check that room.”
She seemed distraught as she handed over the key.
Wallace headed to the elevator, already texting Levi and Terk with his latest need for more research. He went straight up to the fifth floor, now texting Riff about the room change and to meet up here.
At the door to Amy’s actual room, Wallace used the key and let himself in.
Inside the room, he noted the energy. Unfortunately it was all the wrong kind.
Because this room hadn’t been mentioned initially to the cops, the assumption had been made that Amy had been missing since she had been dropped off.
However, now it seemed more likely that she had had a visitor, who had completely destroyed the room, looking for something or just wanting to destroy things.
He phoned the front desk and asked when the door to 512 had last been opened.
After a few keystrokes, the clerk stated that the room was opened at 11:15 last night. When he asked when it had opened afterward, she replied in a concerned voice, “I don’t have anything else here, not until you just entered the room only minutes ago.”
“So, you’re saying that it was opened at 11:15 p.m., and I presume she left at that hour and was she alone?”
“I don’t know,” the clerk admitted, her tone nervous. “All I can tell you is that, according to the computer, the room was accessed at 11:15 p.m., and that’s all.”
“And to access security camera footage?” he asked.
“You’ll need the manager for that.”
Thanking her, he ended the call.
The only way a kidnapping could happen was if Amy had opened the door to somebody, who promptly knocked her out.
Then propped open the door, so her intruder could destroy the place—or could make it look as if they were destroying it.
Thereafter, the kidnapper picked up Amy and took her away, letting the door close at that time.
If that was what really happened—and it was a big if —this sucked.
As he stood here, Riff walked in behind him and whistled. “What happened here?”
“At 11:15 last night somebody accessed her room, but the door hasn’t been opened since then, not until I came in just now.”
“We think she opened her door willingly?”
“If it’s just the one time instance—and that’s what the desk clerk is saying—then Amy obviously let somebody in, or at least opened the door, thinking it was somebody she needed to talk to.
” Wallace gave a wave of his hand. “What we’re looking at then is that somebody possibly came in at that time and snagged her but destroyed the room to make it appear that a burglary or an argument or something happened here.
Then they somehow managed to get Amy out of here at the same time. ”
“So, we also need to check the elevators at that time period,” Riff suggested, looking around. “We need to see who may have knocked her out and took her away.”
“That’s what I’m thinking,” Wallace said, staring at the room. “Definitely energy is here, but it’s just not energy I like.”
“There’s nothing about it I like,” Riff declared. “This feels as if there was a struggle, a woman fighting for herself, for her life, and I won’t say she lost her life, but she certainly lost her freedom.”
With that, Wallace turned and headed back downstairs, looking for the security camera feeds from last night.
It took a little bit longer to get a manager and to get the clearance to bring up that footage.
As soon as they had it, he watched as a cleaning cart rolled down the hallway, and the maid in a uniform stopped at Amy’s door, as if to hand over extra towels, and the laundry hamper was pushed in.
When it was pushed back out again, it headed back down toward the same service elevator and then disappeared.
When he asked for cameras for the service elevator, it was a no-go. “Sorry, we don’t have any of those,” the manager replied. “They’re literally just for workers.”
“Of course it’s for workers, but maybe your workers are involved in this kidnapping ring.
Did you consider that?” he asked in frustration.
The manager frowned and shook his head. Wallace continued.
“I’ve already got a team doing a deep dive into all your employees and their known associates.
Meanwhile, you guys can explain to MI6 why you don’t have cameras in this area and why a guest the government brought in was kidnapped from your hotel at that hour, and you don’t have any record of it. ”
The manager paled and panicked. “It is something that we’re in the process of getting,” he offered, “but nothing’s been set up yet.”
“Where does the service elevator go?”