No Return

27

In the movies, when someone came home to find their place had been searched, it usually looked like a government-declared disaster area. That wasn’t quite what Wes found when he entered his hotel room, but close enough.

Everything that had been in his suitcase-shirts, underwear, socks, pants, a few books-had been tossed into a pile on the floor. The bed was skewed, the mattress twisted at a forty-five-degree angle from the box spring, the sheets and blankets ripped off and thrown in a separate pile against the far wall. Though Wes hadn’t used the dresser, all the drawers had been pulled out and were either on the floor or hanging in their openings. And in the bathroom, the contents of his shaving kit had been dumped into the sink.

Panicked, he ran over to the closet and jerked the door open. Surprisingly, the camera was still there. But the relief was only short-lived when he realized the backpack with his laptop and the case with the backup system for the cameras were both gone.

“No!” he yelled.

Anna came up behind him. “What is it?”

“They took the computers.”

While they waited for the police, Wes and Anna searched her room to see if anyone had been there, but it was untouched.

The same investigator from the previous evening, Detective Stevens, showed up accompanied by Detective Andrews. After a quick examination of Wes’s room, the night manager loaned them the motel office so they could talk to Wes in private.

“Not a good couple days for you,” Stevens said. “Detective Andrews told me about earlier tonight.”

“I’ve had better weekends,” Wes said.

“It’s only half over,” Andrews quipped.

“Thanks for that,” Wes said. “But what happened earlier tonight has to be connected to this.”

Stevens took out a notebook. “What makes you say that?”

“Don’t you see? The people chasing us were just buying time while their friends went through my room.”

Stevens held his gaze for a moment, but only said, “Perhaps.”

“Well, if they were,” Andrews said, “you’ve got a lot of people wanting to cause you trouble. At least one each in those cars, and someone here. So who is it you pissed off?”

Wes did have one idea, but he shook his head. “No one.”

“No enemies in town? Someone who might want to do you harm?”

“This is the first time I’ve been here in seventeen years. So no.”

“You’re from L.A., right? Any problems down there that might have followed you up?”

“No. Of course not. Look, whoever did this was obviously interested in our equipment, and was just waiting for an opportunity to take it.”

“Perhaps,” Stevens said again.

“But your camera’s still here,” Andrews pointed out. “Odd to leave that but take everything else, don’t you think?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they’re more interested in computer equipment,” Wes said.

“Do you think this is related to what happened in Miss Mendes’s room last night?” Stevens asked.

Wes hesitated. This was getting close to his own theory. “It is kind of coincidental, don’t you think?”

There were several more questions, all variations on ones already asked. When Wes was done, he found Anna in the lobby with Alison, so he slumped into the chair across from them.

“The manager said he’d put you in the room on the other side of mine,” Anna said. “He also said he’s comping you, too. Think he’s afraid we’re going to say something bad about the place on the show.”

“We should say something,” Alison said. “Anna’s room last night. Yours tonight. Who’s next? Me?”

“I doubt it,” Wes said.

Alison didn’t look convinced. “I’ll tell you one thing, I’m sleeping with a chair jammed under the doorknob until we leave.”

They fell silent for several moments.

“Should we tell the others?” Anna asked.

“Danny’s busy with his new lady friend,” Wes reminded her.

Alison rolled her eyes, disgusted. “The way you said that just sounds wrong.”

“Tell me a way to say it that sounds right.”

Alison paused for a moment. “Wow. I can’t think of one.”

“What about Tony?” Anna said.

“His room’s next to mine,” Alison said. “I could tell him.”

Wes nodded. “Sure. Go ahead.”

The door to the outside opened, and the night manager walked in, all energy and nerves. “Mr. Stewart, I’ve got you all set. I even sent someone out to get you some toiletries.”

“That wasn’t necessary,” Wes told him.

The manager waved him off. “I also wanted to let you all know that we are adding extra security every night for the remainder of your stay.”

“Thank you,” Anna said.

“Let me get you your keys.”

The man all but jogged to the reception desk. A moment later he was back with two keycards, one a spare in case Wes needed it.

As Wes took them he said, “I don’t remember seeing any damage to my room door. Could whoever broke in have had their own key?”

“I don’t see how,” the manager said, immediately defensive.

“Then how do you think they got in?”

“I guess that’s what the police will have to figure out.” He gave them a quick smile. “Please let us know if there is anything else you need.”

He made a hasty retreat to the reception desk.

“Don’t think he liked the question,” Alison said.

Wes rubbed the bridge of his nose. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m beat.” He stood up and led them outside.

Detective Andrews was standing near the doorway to Wes’s old room, talking to one of his colleagues.

“Any chance I could get my clothes?” Wes asked.

The two cops stopped talking and looked at Wes. After a moment Andrews said, “Hold on.”

He disappeared inside the trashed room, then returned a few seconds later.

“Yeah. It’s fine,” Andrews said. “But we’re going to have to keep the suitcase for evidence.”

“Why?” Wes asked.

“We got a partial fingerprint on the lock. Need to send it to the lab in Bakersfield.”

“I guess that’s something,” Wes said. “Can I go in now?”

“Yeah, just don’t touch anything else.”

“We’ll help you,” Anna said.

Before they entered the room, another thought came to Wes. “What about the camera and its case? Can we take those, too?”

Andrews pinched his mouth in annoyance. “Stevens, they want to know if they can take the camera bag, too.”

Wes crossed the threshold, hoping his presence would press the point. The other detective was near the bed, looking through a notebook. There were two uniformed officers present, one with a still camera and one putting Wes’s suitcase in a large plastic bag.

“Stevens?” Andrews said.

Stevens glanced up. “Huh? Yeah. That’s fine. It’s clean.”

Wes was about to ask Alison to get the camera bag, but she made a beeline for his clothes before he could. “She might need some help,” he said to Anna, then grabbed the camera bag himself.

Once they were loaded up, they headed over to his new room. As he was fumbling with the keycard, he heard a car pull in to one of the spots behind him and its door open.

“What’s going on?”

Wes looked over his shoulder in time to see Danny get out of the passenger side of an old Lincoln Continental.

“Switching rooms,” Wes said.

The driver’s door opened, and Dori stepped out. “What’s with all the police?”

“Weren’t you guys going out to dinner and then the bar?” Anna asked Danny.

“Just ate,” he said. “Gonna walk to the bar from here. So, what is with all the police?”

“Someone broke into his room,” Alison said.

“You’re kidding,” Danny said.

Wes went into the new room and put the camera bag in the closet. “You can dump the clothes on the dresser.”

Danny and Dori followed everyone inside.

“Do they know who?” Dori asked.

Anna shook her head.

“Did they take anything?” Danny asked.

“My laptop,” Wes said. “And the auto-backup drive.”

“Oh, crap. The footage,” Danny said. “Who the hell would do that?”

Wes shook his head, more in defeat than as an answer. “Can we talk about this later?”

“Great idea,” Anna said. She started for the door. “Let’s give him a little space, huh?”

“Sure, sure,” Danny said, but didn’t move. “Man, that sucks.”

“Danny,” Anna said.

“Come on, babe.” Dori wrapped her arm through Danny’s and pulled him toward the door. “Wes, I’m so sorry. Danny’s right. That does suck.”

Wes nodded, but said nothing.

Anna glanced at Wes, then left, but Alison lingered inside a moment longer.

“If you need someone to talk to, I’m just around the corner.”

“Thanks,” he said.

She smiled, and looked for a moment like she was going to say something else. But whatever it was, she decided to keep it to herself, and left.

Once Wes was alone, Danny’s final question ran through his mind again.

Who the hell would do that?

The idea Wes had had earlier hadn’t gone away. But there was no way he could be right.

No way.