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Death in the Honeymoon Hotel
A Kenneth Hall Mystery
Chapter Five
Tom and George entered The Peter Pan Hotel lobby at 6:30 AM the following morning. They thought of the day ahead of them as D Day, Death Day. There were several wingback chairs and a cane-back sofa in the lobby. The sofa faced the desk so they sat down on it.
"Are you nervous?" Tom asked.
George shrugged his shoulders, but he answered Tom. "A little," he admitted.
They wouldn't confide in each other that they were both extremely nervous. They hardly spoke but kept sharp eyes on the front desk.
After an hour or so, the desk clerk finally began to wonder why they were sitting there. "Can I help you guys?" he asked. "Are you going to book a room?"
It was time for Tom to put on his cutesy act. It worked every time. He approached the desk, flashed his ingratiating smile, leaned into the clerk, and whispered, "This is somewhat embarrassing."
The gay desk clerk had fallen instantly in love with Tom the moment he gave him his seduction smile. "Don't be embarrassed," he said. "I've heard everything at this desk."
Now that he had the clerk's attention, Tom said, "My brother and I have had a pen pal for several months now. We have no idea what he looks like, but he always signs his E-Mails, Mike F. He told us that he was coming to South Beach for spring break. We had already made plans to come down for spring break also. We didn't tell him that we would be here. We asked where he would be staying and when was he checking in. He told us that he was staying here, and checking in today. We're staying at a different hotel, and we checked in yesterday. Long story short, we want to surprise him."
"That's so cool," the desk clerk's reaction was that of pleasure.
"You can help us out," Tom said. "When someone named Mike F. checks in, just nod at us, say his room number out loud, and we'll take it from there."
"So much fun." The clerk smiled in conspiratorial pleasure.
Tom returned to the sofa and gave George thumbs up.
The two young men were not the trained investigators they thought they were. They were concentrating on the front desk exclusively and failed to notice two men in very modest swimsuits walk in and out of the lobby at intervals.
They finally noticed them when they stopped at the front desk and had a short conversation with the desk clerk. They left the lobby and George and Tom thought nothing of it.
Several minutes later they returned wearing street clothes. They walked over to the two wannabee sleuths and flashed badges at them.
"Get up. You're coming with us," one of them said.
"Why?" Tom asked.
"We didn't do anything wrong," George said.
"Well, maybe not, but you've both been acting strangely, and you've become persons of interest in a murder investigation."
"Oh no, you've got it wrong, officer. We're waiting for a friend to arrive. We want to surprise him, and then we have plans if you get my drift. Just ask the desk clerk. We told him what we were up to a while ago."
The policeman started to laugh. "The guy at the front desk only pretended to buy your phony story. He didn't believe you for a minute. In fact, he's the one who alerted us to you."
"Okay, you're right, the story is phony, but listen to me," Tom pleaded. "Our father is a detective, and he's working with your Detective Guzman on solving the case before there's another murder. My brother and I came into some information, and we believe that the murderer is going to check in here today to find his next prey. One of us was going to act as bait and the other was going to follow closely. That way, we hoped to catch him in the act. You must believe me. You're ruining our plan, and another murder will be inevitable. Please call Detective Guzman. He'll vouch for us, and our dad might even be with him."
The policeman thought that what he just heard was ridiculous, but if it was true he didn't want to screw up, and he felt he could afford a call to Guzman, just to see if he knew these two students. The phrase, `truth is stranger than fiction,' occurred to him, and he decided to call Detective Guzman, just in case.
Joe and Ken were just waking up, and they were still somewhere in the twilight zone. They heard a loud knocking on their door. Ken ran to find out who it was at this ungodly hour.
"Who is it?" he yelled.
"It's me, Alex. Please open the door."
"Ken opened the door and Alex flew in. He closed and locked it behind him, and grabbed the naked Ken in a strong bear hug."
"What's up, Alex?" Joe asked.
"My job today was to wait for a call from one of the undercover cops if they discovered something. They'd call my cell phone so I figured that Ken and I could wait it out together."
"Sure, that's a great idea," Ken said, "but you'll have to wait while Joe and I shower and dress. Then you can take us to breakfast. After that, we can wait here while you make up for lost time and wasted years."
"You guys are the greatest," Alex said, and he smiled at both of them.
An hour later they were seated at a table in the coffee shop around the corner waiting for their breakfast to be served. Ken's phone and Alex's phone rang simultaneously.
"George, where are you?" Alex heard Ken ask.
At the same time, the police officer told Alex that two young men had taken it upon themselves to try to bait the murderer, but he said that he didn't believe them, and they might be the murderer or murderers, as the case might be.
"What are their names?" Alex asked.
"Very fancy, Tom and George Vincente-Hall, hyphenated no less."
"Shit. They're legit but stay with them until one of their dads gets there. I can't show my face at that hotel."
The two detectives got off the phone at the same time.
"That was George," Ken said. "I guess you know what those two idiots did. They called from the manager's office. They want to be bait for the murderer. If they don't get murdered by the perp, I'll do it."
"Joe," Alex said, "neither Ken nor I can show our faces at The Pied Piper. Please go get those two boys."
"Wait," Ken interrupted, and he looked at Joe. "If all the undercover cops are watching our sons from well-hidden areas, maybe it's a good idea for them to ferret out the perp and act as bait. Joe you'll have to go there and watch out for them also."
"I don't like the whole idea of Tom and George being in harm's way. I'd rather take them home, and let the cops do their job."
"That's fine in theory, but we both know they'll never leave the hotel with you. They formulated a plan, and if I know them, they'll follow through. That's just the way they are."
"Okay, I'll go, but I'll be watching them like a hawk, and you two can fuck your brains out."
Joe entered the manager's office without knocking. He showed ID to the cop who was holding his sons. The cop was satisfied that he was the boys' father.
"Idiots," Joe yelled. "What were you thinking? Whatever it was, I don't want to hear. Ken and Alex want you to go through with your plan but all the undercover cops and yours truly won't let you out of our sights."
Just then the front desk clerk rushed into the room. "A young guy named Mike Forman just checked in. The bellboy took him to room 304. You guys better hurry there before he harms the kid."
Tom and George hurried up to the third floor. A cop went with them but he stayed completely hidden. The bellboy came out of the room, just as they got off the elevator. The door to 304 was closed so the cop came out of the shadows.
"Listen," Tom said to the cop, "we know from security tapes that he cruises the pool area in a swimsuit. George and I will hang out here. When he comes out of the room, and heads for the pool, we'll "accidentally" bump into him. We'll pretend to be guests, ask him if he's going to the pool, and ask him to go with us."
"And," George said, "I'll ask him if he'd rather play with us, that'll be okay with us also. If he's the homophobe Alex thinks he is, my invitation will disgust him enough to want to murder us.
"All of us will be watching you two, so be very careful, the cop warned.
To be continued ...