Read Online Blood Crimes: Book One by Dave Zeltserman - Free Book Online

for each detective while Hayes milked his last whiskey and soda so he could limit himself to three drinks. It wasn’t just so he’d be ready for that waitress later, he still had more work to do that night. He also didn’t want to sound at all tipsy when he called his client.
          After dinner, he hit the low-budget motels around the airport. He knew the type of motel that
Jim
and his girlfriend usually stayed at. Dirt cheap, no frills, and always at motor lodges where the rooms had their own street level entrances. Hayes guessed that
Jim
wanted to be able to enter and leave his room without a desk clerk noticing him. These were places that were usually used for hours instead of nights—the type of motels favored by drug addicts and prostitutes.
          After Hayes ran out of motels around the airport, he cracked open a Kansas City yellow pages and expanded his search. Two hours later he found the one
Jim
and his girlfriend had been staying at. It was as seedy as all the others Hayes had tracked them to, and it was less than two miles from the alley in which Wilkerson was killed in. The desk clerk, a thin man in his twenties with a sallow complexion and bad teeth, looked bored, and clearly had little interest in talking to a PI. Stifling a yawn, he examined the sketch Hayes showed him. He nodded, recognizing the girl.
          “She wasn’t a blonde, though,” he said. “That babe was definitely a brunette. And it was no dye job.”
          “You paid close attention to her then?”
          He grinned, showing off bad gums and crooked teeth. “Shit, take a look at her.” He glanced over his shoulder and lowered his voice “Why wouldn’t I pay close attention to a piece of ass like that?”
          Hayes showed him
Jim
’s sketch. The desk clerk gave it a quick look and told the PI he didn’t recognize the guy. “She was the only one I saw from her room, but I’m pretty sure she had company. Whether it was this guy, I couldn’t tell you,” he added. This didn’t come as any surprise to Hayes. So far it had been the same story with every desk clerk Hayes had spoken to; the girl always checked in and out while
Jim
stayed out of sight.
          “Did she give a name?
M
aybe a car registration?”
          The desk clerk made a face at Hayes as if he were nuts. “She paid cash for the room. No name, and I didn’t pay attention to what type of car she had. Probably some junker, but I couldn’t tell you positively.”
          Again, that didn’t surprise Hayes. Same old story. He leaned closer to the desk clerk and laid twenty bucks on the counter.
          “When was she here?”
          “We don’t keep a registry.”
          “I’m sure you could figure it out.”
          The desk clerk looked at the money, nodded, and slid the twenty dollars into a shirt pocket. Counting it out on his fingers he told Hayes that she was there for ten days. “She left Sunday,” he added.
          Hayes felt a buzz of excitement. Sunday was only four days ago. This was the closest he’d been to their trail.
          “You’re sure?” he asked.
          “Shit, yeah, I’m sure.”
          “She didn’t say where she was going next?”
          “No.”
          “Any clue at all? Did you see any road maps? Did she ask for any directions?”
          “Sorry. Nothing.”
          “Anything unusual left in the room?”
          The desk clerk shrugged. “I don’t know. You’ll have to ask the maid. She’ll be in tomorrow morning at seven.”
          “How about a phone number?”
          The desk clerk again made a face indicating Hayes was nuts. He started tapping impatiently along the counter. “You think this is the kind of motel where we keep a maid on twenty-four hour call? Or where she’s not an illegal and we actually care about keeping her phone number and address? Buddy, just come