“Detective, I don’t know why you’re being so hard on me. I’m just trying to make an honest living here.”
“He’s not a detective,” Quincy said. “He’s the police commissioner.”
“No shit. That’s why you looked familiar.”
“Take him downstairs,” Dino barked.
The uniform put a hand on the manager’s shoulder and started pushing him down the hall.
“All right,” Dino said. “Let’s see if Mr. Kroger or Mr. Estrada left us anything interesting.”
Eric Bryant, second-shift manager atthe Hotel Weathersby, knew he should just let it go. Cops were going to cop, after all. Nothing he could do about that. And it was always better not to get involved.
Still, he’d known Dominic and Manny for years, and neither had ever caused him any problems. In fact, they’d helped him out with a troublesome guest before, more times than Eric could remember.
He eyed the four cops in the lobby, made sure none were looking his way, and then carefully pulled out his cell phone and set it on the desk, where no one could see it except him.
Moving as little as possible, he typed out a text to Dominic.
Don’t come back. Cops searching yours and Manny’s rooms.
He was about to add that the commissioner himself was here, but then one of the cops looked his way. He took that as a sign to stop typing. He’d said enough.
He hitSend, then deleted the text from his phone.
“What are you doing?”
One of the cops was walking his way, looking at him suspiciously.
“Me?” Eric said. “Nothing.”
“I saw your hands moving.”
“Just doing some work.” He held up the inventory report he’d been working on when the cops first arrived, while his other hand hid his phone under his thigh.
The cop glanced at the paper, then peeked over the counter. “All right. Keep it that way, huh?”
As the cop walked away, Eric’s phone started to vibrate. Eric quickly silenced it, then glanced at the cop, expecting to see him heading back. But the guy apparently hadn’t noticed.
Not wanting to push his luck, Eric waited until all four cops were deep in conversation before checking his screen.
It was a reply from Dominic.
Thanks for the heads-up.
Eric deleted the message.
Chapter 43
Several blocks away, Manny gavehis coffee order to the counter person at a Dunkin’ Donuts and turned to Dominic, expecting him to chime in with what he wanted. But Dominic was staring at his phone, looking pensive.
“Dom, what do you want?” Manny asked.
Dominic looked up. “Huh? Forget the coffee. We gotta go.”
“What do you mean gotta go?”
“Not here,” Dominic whispered, then made a beeline for the exit.
