“Jeez, Sam…”
“I know.”
“I’ll get back to you.”
To Wright, he said, “We’ll need to wake up the guests.”
The horrified look on Wright’s face would’ve amused him under any other circumstances.
“We can’t do that.”
Gonzo had had just about enough of this guy. “We’re doing it. I’ll remind you yet again that if you get in my way, I’ll arrest you to get you out of my way. You got me?”
Wright’s only reply was a glare over the handkerchief he held over his nose and mouth.
Gonzo called Captain Malone.
“Hey, I’ve requested the warrant for the hotel video.”
“I also need one to get into the victim’s room, if it’s actually his room, since the manager won’t tell me who he is.”
Wright doubled down on the glare.
“Can we wake up a judge for this?” Gonzo asked Malone.
“Already on it. Waiting to hear back.”
“Okay, let me know.”
“I’ll be right back to you.”
“I’m calling in our team and will also need additional resources from Patrol to canvass one hundred and eighty-two rooms. Is that approved?”
“Yes,” the captain said with a sigh. He was probably calculating overtime costs that would add up fast in a case like this. “Go ahead. What’re you hearing from Sam?”
“Nothing new as of a few minutes ago.”
“What the hell is going on there?”
“No idea, but it doesn’t seem good.”
“It sure doesn’t.”
Chapter Six
Right at eleven thirty, Sam got a call from Dr. Deborah Monahan, superintendent of DC’s public schools, which had been arranged with Roberto’s assistance. She put the woman’s call on speaker so Tracy, Mike and Freddie could hear.
“We’ve checked our entire database, and we have no student named Brecken enrolled in the system. We do, however, have one student named Brecken who’s homeschooled, but his reporting is out of date.”
“Do you have an age, last name and address for him?”
“Brecken Mayfield is fifteen and completed eighth grade before we lost touch with his family. The last known address we have is on O Street Northwest in Truxton Circle.”
“This is Lieutenant Holland. What’s the process for finding kids who fall off the map?”
After a short pause, the woman said, “We have a team assigned to that, but the numbers are increasing all the time, and a lot of these people don’t want to be found.”
“Have you had someone looking for Brecken?”
