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“I’ll swing by,” she said. “Call you back in a minute.”
Less than a minute later, my phone rang. Terri said, “Ott’s there, in room 319, on the west side of the building. The clerk was talking to him as I walked past. All I saw was a white male in a short-sleeved white shirt and blue pants. Almost like uniform pants. Very average-looking.”
Concise yet thorough. As good a report as I had ever heard. Sounded like our guy.
Today was the day we’d finally meet. I was sure of it.
Chapter 90
Through running water, Daniel Ott heard the knock on his door. He was at the sink, sanitizing the tool he had used to kill the barmaid. His last New York City kill.
Ott looked through the peephole and immediately recognized the scraggly hotel clerk. He twisted his head and could see there was no one standing next to the man. He opened the door slowly.
Ott stared at the young man but got no response. Finally, he said, “Yes?”
The clerk said, “You just called the front desk and said the cops were looking for you. I couldn’t answer you because they were standing nearby. I played them like fools.”
Ott assessed the clerk’s bad posture and dirty fingernails. He doubted the young man had played anyone for a fool.
Just then an attractive woman with dark hair walked past in the hallway. Her eyes cut into the room for just a moment. Ott immediately pegged her for a cop. Detective Michael Bennett couldn’t be far behind.
Ott stepped over to the table where his work pouch sat. He pulled on a fresh pair of rubber gloves, replaced the freshly washed tool, picked up the kit, and clipped it onto his belt.
“The cops are downstairs in the lobby right now?” he asked.
The clerk looked confused. “Yes. Isn’t that why you called me?”
Ott could put the pieces of this puzzle together. He knew they had tricked this dull-witted clerk, and he knew he had to get moving right now.
The clerk said, “You said there’d be a thousand bucks in it for me if I helped you.”
“You haven’t figured out that wasn’t me on the phone? They were just trying to trick you into giving away my room number.” Ott almost felt bad for the clerk. The young man’s look of confusion turned to disappointment.
Ott pulled out his wallet. He had withdrawn some extra cash in preparation for his trip home. He handed a fistful of twenties and tens to the clerk. “I don’t know how much is there, but I’ll try to get you some more. I need you to do something that will help me out and piss off the cops at the same time.”
The clerk smiled. “All right!”
“Is the woman who passed us still in the hallway?”
The clerk looked in each direction. “I don’t see anyone.”
Ott stepped into the hallway and shut the door silently. He whispered as they walked to the stairwell, “Run down the stairs and shout, He’s out on the fire escape, climbing to the roof! Make sure the cops hear you,” Ott stressed to the clerk.
“Then what do I do?”
“Run out the front door. Don’t stop for anything.”
“How will I get the rest of the money from you?”
Ott was surprised the clerk had thought that far ahead. “I’ll leave it in an envelope at the front desk later.”
The clerk said, “What do the cops want you for?”
Ott paused, then said, “I burned down an ICE building.”
“Cool.”
“Do what I said and we’ll both be heroes.”
