“The corporate offices are open twenty-four hours a day. Someone will get back to me soon.”
“Excellent. Keep me posted. In the meantime, I’m going to have my captain request the warrant. I should hope it goes without saying that no one is to touch the surveillance equipment between now and when that video is turned over to us. If you haven’t yet given that order, do so now.”
Oh, Mr. Wright did not like being told what to do. Too bad. He’d soon realize he wasn’t in charge of this situation.
Russell led the way to the ice room, where another staff member stood outside the door.
Gonzo showed the man his badge. “Sergeant Gonzales, MPD Homicide. Who’s had access?”
“Just the female guest who reported finding the body and your officers.”
“Great. Thank you.”
The man stepped aside before Gonzo had to ask him to. He wondered if he’d been on the job at one point. A bloodbath awaited Gonzo inside the room. It was on the walls, floor, ice machine and all over the man on the floor. Judging by the smell of urine and shit mixed in with the metallic scent of blood, the man had lost control of his bodily functions.
Gonzo pulled on gloves and squatted next to the man, reaching under him for a wallet but coming back with only shit that’d seeped through the man’s pants on his gloves. He had a handsome face marked by a scar on his top lip.
Noting the keycard on the floor next to the body, Gonzo said, “Can we get access to the room where he was staying?” He removed the gloves, rolled them into a ball and tossed them aside to dispose of them later.
Wright had put a monogrammed handkerchief over his nose and mouth. “We’ll need a warrant for that, too.”
“You could make this easier on all of us by letting us in there now so we can figure out who he was, what he was doing here and who might’ve wanted him dead. Not to mention, his family will need to be notified.”
“We can make that phone call.”
“You will not make that call. We’ll take care of that.”
“It’s corporate policy for us to notify the emergency contact when something happens to a guest at our facility.”
“If you or anyone on your staff makes that phone call, you’ll be arrested for interfering in a homicide investigation. Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal,” Wright said on a growl.
Gonzo took a look outside the room and saw the hallway extended some distance in both directions. “Does the hallway hook around that corner there?”
“Yes, there are thirty more rooms down there.”
Sighing, Gonzo realized this was going to be an all-nighter. He stepped away from the others to call Sam.
“What’ve you got?”
“A thirtysomething guy stabbed in the chest in the ice room on the sixth floor of a nine-story hotel with… How many rooms?”
“One hundred and eighty-two,” Russell said as Wright dry heaved at the smell coming from inside the ice room.
“Shit,” Sam said as she, too, realized they’d be processing a massive crime scene.
“I’ll need some help over here. Okay to call in the team to canvass?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“I’ve got to get with Malone about warrants. I’ll ask him to send some additional Patrol officers, too.”
“Sounds like a plan. Thank you for handling it.”
“I’d say it was no problem, but… Anything new over there?”
“Not yet.”
