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“Chief! This is Michael Devon. That man you’re looking for. My security chief just informed me that he was here. He registered under the name Dirk Conrad. I’m getting the billing info now. We have footage of him all over the place and a shot of him leaving after he checked out. His car tag is in plain sight.”
Sonny was stunned. “He’s just now seeing this?”
“Oh. He’s been out of town for several days. He just got back this morning and saw the story in the paper.”
“Excellent catch, Michael. Give me about thirty minutes to finish what I’m doing, and I’ll be right there.”
“Take your time, sir,” Michael said.
Sonny was smiling when he walked into roll call. His officers were seated. Some were talking to each other. A few more were checking their phones, but they all snapped to attention when he reached the podium.
“Good morning, officers, and it is indeed a good morning. It appears our composite sketch hit pay dirt. Security footage at the Hotel Devon has a man oncamera matching the description we put out. He registered under the name Dirk Conrad. They’re pulling the info on him now. What we’re not going to do is make any announcements to the public until this man is located, because he’s already checked out, and we don’t yet know where he’s from or where he’s gone. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” they echoed.
“Excellent,” Sonny said, and proceeded to issue updates and BOLOs before dismissing them to their assignments. “Officer Pope, I’ll be needing a ride to Hotel Devon.”
“Yes, sir,” Aaron said.
Ron Daley, the hotel security chief, was watching for their arrival. When Aaron pulled up at the entrance and parked, Daley walked out to meet them.
“Pope, you’re with me,” Sonny said.
“Yes, sir,” Aaron said, and followed the men into the hotel. The array of cameras in their security area was dizzying, and the number of people watching the cameras impressive.
Michael Devon was in the room waiting for them.
“Show me,” Sonny said.
As Aaron moved up beside the chief to watch, he spied the man almost immediately.
“Yes!” Sonny said. “That man definitely matches thesketch, but we’ll show it to Charlie Raines for verification before we move forward. You said you were getting some stills for us from the footage?”
“Yes, sir,” Michael said, and handed him a file. “There are stills and the info we received when he checked in. I thought we’d have a credit card to help you run the man down, but I’m told that while he used one when he checked in, when he checked out, he paid everything he owed in cash and requested the card number be removed, which we did.”
“Damn it,” Sonny muttered. “Did he say why he wanted to do that?”
“Something about having had his identity stolen before.”
Aaron was frustrated but said nothing. It sounded far-fetched, but identity theft was a thing.
“Well, we have a license tag, a name, and a city, which is way more than we had before you called,” Sonny said. “I’ll ask you not to say anything about this. Not to the press. Not to your friends. No one. Until we can verify this is our man, and we know where he lives, we don’t want to spook him into running, understand?”
“Absolutely,” Michael said. “We pride ourselves on top-notch security here, which also means, at times, keeping our mouths shut,” he added, eyeing Ron Daley to make his point.
“You can count on us, sir,” Daley said. “I’ll make sure my people know.”
“I would ask if you’d please send clips of yoursecurity footage to the county sheriff’s office. Officially, this is Sheriff Woodley’s case. I’ll give him a heads-up to be expecting it and to call you to give you contact information.”
“Will do,” Michael said. “If that’s all you need, I’ll walk you out.” Then he glanced at Aaron. “We haven’t met, but I know who you are, and I think it’s time we did. My fiancée is Liz Caldwell, Rusty Pope’s cousin.”
“Ah,” Aaron said, and quickly shook Michael’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Michael. I’ve heard Rusty speak of her family here but had yet to meet them.”
“They’re good people, even if they are our biggest competitor,” Michael said, and then grinned.
“Marrying into the family should smooth all that over,” Aaron said.
Michael laughed. “You’d think. Liz lives here with me but is still working for her dad at the Serenity Inn. Follow me. I’ll escort you through the maze.”
