“He’s alive,” I said. “Probably drugged, because I can’t imagine he wouldn’t have done all that he could to avoid wallowing in his own waste.”
“I’ll contact Jack or Betty or whoever is manning the line right now and get them to get everyone over here, then let the hotel know.”
“It’d be Betty at this hour.”
I dragged out my phone and quickly photographed the scene. Then I carefully untied the gag, doing my best not to breathe too deeply as I worked on the ropes leashing his wrists and his feet. They were freaking tight, a situation probably made worse by the godawful amount of fluids covering the lower sections of his body.
Thank god for gloves....
“Here, let me,” Ginny said as she came back into the room. “My claws are naturally stronger than yours.”
“I think it’s going to take a knife to remove the ones around his ankles.” I stepped back to give her room to get past me. “Did the information on Luke come with a photo? Is this our man?”
“It’s not, which does mean Monica isn’t a complete idiot.”
I frowned, not understanding the comment. “Why?”
She waved a hand toward his groin. “Well, doesthatlook like the world’s largest dong to you?”
Despite the seriousness of the situation, I just about choked on my laughter. “No, but some men do get more impressive when erect. Or so I’m told. It’s not like I’ve had a whole lot of experience in that regard.”
“Yeah, and that is just insane. Good god, woman, your kid is probably having more sex than you are.”
I rolled my eyes. “Aside from the fact I have no desire to think about my son having sex, he’s young, and it’s natural for him to be active. Me, I’m old and drier than the Sahara.” A fact I knew for certain. “Now, can we just concentrate on the matter at hand?”
“I’d rather not. He stinks.” She paused. “His lips are puffy, and there’s bruising around his mouth, suggesting he was punched at some point, and his arms have newish-looking needle tracks. Maybe someone was coming in here to keep him doped up.”
If that was true, then the hotel’s security tapes might give us our first real lead. “Why not just kill him, though? It’s not like they’ve shown any reluctance to do so previously.”
“That’s assuming he’s connected to Monica’s disappearance. Until we can ID him, we can’t be sure.”
“You don’t believe this is a random event any more than I do.” I took a close-up photo of his face, then sent it through to Betty and asked her to run a facial rec. Her thumbs-up reply came back almost instantly.
I squeezed back past Ginny, then moved on to inspect the rest of the room. There was nothing here—no suitcases, no clothes, no wallet. If Luke and Monica had been staying here, then they’d cleared out the minute they’d finished trussing up the man on the bed. Though again, why restrain and drug him rather than kill? It made no logical sense—and probably wouldn’t until we knew what the hell was going on.
The earwig buzzed. I double tapped it, then said, “Don’t tell me you’ve got an ID already.”
“Hey, we don’t muck around up here in Queensland, you know.” It was primly said, but I had a suspicion she was smiling. “Your unconscious gent is none other than one Mark Marlowe, from the Paris line of Marlowes.”
“Fuck,” I said, looking at Ginny. “It’s Monica’s husband-to-be.”
“Yes, indeed,” Betty replied, obviously thinking I was speaking to her. “His immediate family arrived here last week for the wedding, and they’re staying with relatives in Canberra. Is he dead?”
“No, very much alive.”
“Well, that does make a nice change, Agent Kang.”
I snorted. “Did Jack have any success with the two searches I asked him to do?”
“We’re still waiting for the security tapes from Mr. Ashworth’s building, but we’ve uncovered nothing untoward in Glebe other than the old gent driving off that cliff.”
“Did we get an ID on the old gent?”
“We’ve put in a request to police headquarters for information.”
I frowned. “Surely a search through Births, Deaths, and Marriages would have been better. If he died, there would have been a certificate issued.”
“I daresay there was, but his name was not mentioned in any of the news reports and, until we have said name, we cannot request the certificate. Have you any idea how many people on average die each day in any given city in Australia?”
