Chapter 110
IT WAS LATE afternoon. Both Rich Conklin and I had wanted to return to the Hall of Justice. We’d heard about the incident at Yuki’s trial. We wanted to help. But the scene was being handled. There was nothing we could do.
After I’d finished a phone call, I turned to Rich. “Did you hear that Frank Hodges was killed in the courtroom?”
Rich nodded slowly. “He was a good dude. I don’t know why he took the bailiff’s job after he retired from the PD. I know he thought he’d be safe at the courthouse. He has two kids in high school.”
We were silent as we contemplated our friend’s death.
After a few seconds, I said, “The woman Brady shot in the throat looks like she’s going to survive. Elio Huerta is in ICU. He broke his neck when the cops jumped on him.”
Rich mumbled, “Hope he ends up in a wheelchair like the poor grocer he shot.”
I didn’t like to say things like that. But I was definitely thinking along the same lines.
We decided to make use of our time with the information Gina Scrittori and Kyle Anderson had given us.
We’d already checked one of the hotels Gina told us about.
There were two girls in the room there. Neither of them seemed surprised the police were checking on them or happy that their job was over.
Next we visited the Hotel Randall in the Mission.
Relatively small and privately owned, the hotel wasn’t known for issues.
Some people might call it a “boutique” hotel.
There were rose bushes in the front. A cozy, friendly feeling in the lobby.
And best of all, freshly baked cookies at the front desk.
We had no problem with the manager once we explained there’d be no arrests. We were merely checking on the welfare of one or more girls who were in a room. We needed the manager to point out which room had been rented long-term. He knew exactly who we wanted to see.
The manager took me and Conklin to the fourth floor. I was surprised by how clean the hotel was on the inside. The only odor I smelled was disinfectant. The carpet was in good shape and the walls freshly painted.
The manager had a passkey just in case we needed it. We had him wait at the end of the hall.
I said, “Just to be on the safe side. There’s a chance there could be someone in the room with the girls. I don’t want to risk a random gunshot.”
The manager, who’d already told them he’d only been on the job two weeks, seemed more than happy to wait down the hall.
Conklin and I approached the door. We stood on either side of it. I knocked on the door with my right fist. Three good hard raps.
About ten seconds later, I heard the chain on the inside of the door being unlatched. The door opened and a cute girl with dyed blue hair poked her head out. She looked at me, then Conklin. “Hey, what’s up?”
I badged her. She didn’t seem concerned. I said, “Can we come in and talk to you for a minute?”
“Am I under arrest?”
“Nope.”
“Then come on in.” She stepped away from the door and welcomed us in with a sweep of her arm.
It was a big room with two double beds and a cot crammed in the corner.
A dark-skinned girl looked up from a table.
It looked like she was writing something.
She too didn’t seem concerned strangers were in the room.
We had so much to discuss with them I wasn’t sure where to start.
Did I tell them about Kyle being arrested?
Did I ask them how they’d ended up here?
Did we try to identify other members of the trafficking organization?
Then someone stepped out of the bathroom. She was drying her hair with a blue striped towel and had another towel wrapped around her torso. She came to a stop just past the bathroom door. When she dropped the towel she’d been drying her hair with, I had to take a deep breath.
It was Nicole Snaff.