James noticed Grantham was about to speak again but stopped himself.
'Something else you want to add?' asked James.
'Why are you asking all these questions about Mr. Skylar?'
'I think you should show us to room 1219. Then we can answer all your questions.'
Grantham could tell something was very wrong. He called his assistant manager over and informed him to comply with police and explain to the guests this will be only a minor inconvenience. He then placed the keys inside the lock and opened the door. The four men stepped inside the lobby door. Grantham turned around and relocked the doors. Lee crossed the lobby calling to Mr. Foster.
'Hey Mr. Foster, didn't you hear me calling to you?' James, Kirkland and Grantham stepped into the main lobby and looked around. 'What the hell is this?' asked Grantham as they noticed no one in the lobby had moved. 'Mr. Foster?' called Lee. He turned to the others, 'Hey, I think something is wrong with Mr. Foster.'
'I think you're right Lee, I think he's dead, along with everyone else in the room' said Grantham. James could see Grantham was right. No one was moving. Men and women were frozen dead in their armchairs. Cups of coffee were still lukewarm as if time had just stopped.
'Guys, don't take another step. Something is seriously wrong here. Everyone cover your mouths and back out slowly. Let's get back out on the street. Mike get on the phone and call Hazmat, the bomb squad and get as many officers over here as fast as you can and take Lee with you. God, I wonder if anyone else is alive in here. Dick, how many rooms are in this hotel?'
'The Aleris has 629 guest rooms, 20 additional luxury suites,' said Grantham as he relocked the lobby doors.
'Any vacancies?' asked James.
'We're a five star hotel in an international city, what do you think?'
'I think we're about to face some serious shit.'
'You still want to go upstairs?' asked Grantham.
'Yeah, I do. Once Hazmat gives us the all clear. Something tells me whatever is going on in room 1219, it's going to be connected to all of this.'
The four men methodically retraced their steps back to the street. Once outside, Grantham made certain the lobby doors were secure. Leaning against them he turned to James. 'Have you ever seen anything like this before?' Shaking his head no, James added 'But after today nothing would surprise me.'
Within the hour the city police had blocked off every street leading to The Aleris Hotel. Crowds of people had been gathering with several activists trying to break through the police barriers. James laughed to himself. Every time there is some kind of media event in this city, the liberal hardliners think it's their personal mission to be in the middle of it all. James loved arresting people who thought the rules didn't apply to them. Hazmat had arrived and they were putting on their nuclear suits while some jerk shouted in the background, 'The people have a right to know!'
Standing at the lobby doors, James and Grantham waited for Lee and Kirkland to return. Looking at his watch, James became more and more annoyed that it was taking so long. He could feel valuable clues slipping away from him.
Finally, James could see Kirkland and Lee leading the Hazmat crew to the hotel's main entrance.
'Tom, this is Steve Vermillion. He's the crew leader for Hazmat. Steve, this is my partner, Inspector Thomas James.' The two men shook hands quickly and Steve asked who had the keys. Grantham reached into his pocket and retrieved them.
'Here you go.'
'Thanks, we will let you know as soon as we can what we find,' said Steve.
'Wait a second, hold it, Steve. You can't go in there without us. This entire hotel is a crime scene. You gotta take us with you,' commanded James.
'You're kidding, right?'
'No, I'm not. I can't take the chance that you or your men could accidentally compromise my scene here. We not just dealing with one homicide, everyone in this lobby is a murder victim.'
Steve sighed and radioed for someone to bring up some more gas masks. 'But you're taking full responsibility for everyone who's not Hazmat cleared right?' Steve stated. James nodded in agreement as another member of the Hazmat crew arrived with respirators for James, Kirkland and Grantham.
'Lee, I want you to wait here at the lobby doors, handle any questions that Steve's back-up crew have about the hotel. You're also going to be our outside liaison,' instructed James. He then turned to the rest of the men and spoke, 'Are we ready?'
'We're ready. Okay Mr. Grantham, I want you to follow Jake, my second in command here. He and I are going inside first. You, Mike and Tom will be right behind us. Since you know the layout of the hotel, you can guide us where we need to go and Tom can keep the integrity of his crime scene. Understood?' asked Steve.
Grantham nodded nervously acknowledging he understood the Hazmat leader's instructions.
'Okay, let's go,' said Steve as he unlocked the lobby doors and the five men stepped inside. Steve and Jake slowly swept their Geiger counters from left to right, checking for any signs of radiation. Jake read the Geiger counter and gave Steve a puzzled look. Moving deeper into the lobby, he switched the counter off and removed a small handheld RAE gas detector. Sweeping it from side to side and up and down he stopped in the middle of the lobby.
'Jake, are you getting the same readings I'm getting?'
'Same thing, Steve.'
'What is it? What do you guys have?' asked James.
Steve turned to James and pulled his respirator off. 'Nothing Tom. The air is clean.'
'You're sure?'
'You think I would take this thing off if I wasn't sure? Here look for yourself,' said Steve as he showed James the clear reading from his portable RAE unit. James looked over at Jake and watched him pull off his mask as he nodded his agreement with Steve. James slowly removed his own gas mask, as did Kirkland and Grantham.
'I don't know what's scarier. The fact I'm standing in the middle of a room full of dead people. Or the fact for the first time in my life, I'm afraid to breath,' said James.
'Either way Tom, it doesn't change the fact, something in this building killed these people,' said Steve.
So it has to be something else,' said Kirkland.
'You're right, Mike. So Steve, any chance we're gonna need to put these things back on again?'
'No, if there was any type of danger. Our instruments would have picked up even the smallest particle. But we'll stay with you guys just the same.'
James sighed and turned to Grantham. 'Okay Dick, you're on, take us to room 1219.' Grantham gave a look of hopelessness. 'I was afraid you were going to say that. And I do wish you would stop calling me Dick,' Grantham said as he slowly made his way to the main desk. Behind the counter, two of his staff were lying dead on the floor. Their eyes wide open and their hands clutched to their throats.
'Oh my God. What the hell happened here?' asked Grantham as he moved to his office door. 'Hey one of you guys want to cover me before I go in here alone?'
James joined Grantham and watched him open up his office. Stepping inside it was quiet. Grantham quickly moved over to and opened an old world safe, retrieving a set of skeleton keys. Lying on the floor next to the safe door was a dead rat.
'Hey Mike, contact Lee and tell him so far everything is clear and then meet us at the elevators,' said James.
'This day isn't going to get any better. I can tell,' lamented Grantham.
James and Grantham stepped from the office and joined Jake and Steve. 'We checked the hallways and gift shops this floor,' reported Jake.
'You find anything?' asked James.
'Just more dead bodies,' said Steve.
'Jesus, okay, let's get over to the elevator.'
The four men made their way to the main elevators where Kirkland met them.
'Lee's in communication with the fire chief, and I told him to watch for our evidence crew. He's going to
