arrive while James stood guard over the crime scene twelve floors above them. Kirkland stared into space as Grantham paced back and forth mumbling to himself about how bad for business this would be.
'Would you stop pacing, you're making me dizzy,' snapped Kirkland.
'Do you know how many people are dead in here detective?' shouted Grantham at Kirkland's seemingly disrespect, followed by an immediate apology. 'Sorry, I didn't mean it, I just don't know what to say to Jessalee.'
'You're not going to have to say anything. I will tell her,' said Kirkland.
Kirkland hated to give a death notification. It was always hard and even worse when it's one of your own he thought. That was the one thing all cops agree on, you never get used to it. Standing at a stranger's door in the middle of the night. Ringing the bell. The porch light clicks on. A single mom, looking weary and overworked, peeks from behind the porch window. Housecoat and her hair in curlers, years of worry carved into her features, she knows something is wrong. The bad news comes. She swears she has misunderstood what the officer has said. Her hand covers her mouth. Her chin shakes and quivers, then the silent scream and finally the breakdown begins.
'Here she is,' said Grantham as he nudged Kirkland. Kirkland forced a smile as he saw Jessalee approaching, he swallowed hard and cleared his throat as he began to walk towards her with Grantham following close behind.
Kirkland had always thought Jessalee Rivera was a very attractive woman. He always had noticed her. She was tall with brown eyes and a skin tone that easily tanned during the warm days of San Francisco. Her hair was always in a ponytail. Kirkland longed to see it completely down and free. Today, her hair was black. Kirkland could have sworn yesterday it was brown with hues of purple in it. Like a chameleon, Jessalee always seemed to be blending in and changing with the current theme of the time. Not to say she wasn't her own woman. Kirkland had seen her take on several officers in serious confrontation. She refused to be treated like less a person, simply because she was a woman.
Aside from his normal male attraction to her, Kirkland always had a fondness for Jessalee Rivera. Together they had worked on many cases and he had always found her professional and to the point. Yet it was her sarcastic sense of humor that drew him to her. Often he had wanted to ask her out, but dating a co-worker was seriously frowned upon. He wasn't even sure if she ever was interested in him. Regardless if she was or wasn't, what he liked best about her was that she was equally kind and generous as she was pretty. A combination not usually found in most of the women of Kirkland's life. Sometimes a close friendship was far more rewarding than a sexual relationship.
'Darling,' said Grantham as the three of them met at the lobby door.
'Mr. Grantham,' replied Jessalee maintaining a professional tone. Kirkland was happy, not only was she being her usual professional self, but there seemed to be a hint of dissatisfaction in her voice. Maybe things weren't so good in Grantham's garden of sin after all, he mused.
'Hey Mike, Bobby will be joining us as soon as he finishes cataloging the evidence from the funeral home. What have we got? Why the hell is Hazmat here?' she asked setting down her evidence bag as Kirkland kept her at the door.
'That's fine Jessa, we're going to be upstairs on twelve. Thomas James is in charge,' he said trying to make small talk before he dropped the bomb on her.
'This tied into the double 187 you guys had at the funeral home?' she asked as she knelt down and riffled through her evidence bag.
'We think so.'
'Crap. Mike I left my bag of memory cards for my camera in the car. I'll be right back.'
Kirkland placed his hand on her shoulder. 'That's okay, let that go for now. Actually I need to talk to you privately before we go up. But before that Jessa, you need to know, that there are a lot of dead bodies in there. I mean a lot. Before you ask, we don't know what happened here yet.'
Without hesitation, Jessalee responded with no hint of concern. Grabbing her evidence bag and placing it on her shoulder, the three of them walked to the manager's office. Jessalee looked around at the bodies in the lobby. From her point of view it had all the makings of something unspeakable.
'Why don't you use my office,' offered Grantham. He stepped forward and unlocked the door, holding it open for both Jessalee and Kirkland. Jessalee stepped inside and Kirkland turned around to face Grantham, blocking him from following.
'Mr. Grantham, do you mind if I speak with Miss Rivera alone?' Grantham looked at Jessalee and then back to Kirkland and nodded. 'Sure, no problem. You want me to wait here?'
'Actually Inspector James needed the power restored to room 1219.'
'I'll take care of it,' he said. Looking past Kirkland, Grantham smiled at Jessalee only to lose sight of her as Kirkland closed the door in his face. Stepping away Grantham cringed as he heard Kirkland turn the lock.
James was standing guard in the hallway leading to room 1219. The hotel seemed unnaturally quiet and as he looked down the hallway he could see the doors leading to rooms 1219, 1220 and 1221. The view gave him a chill. The scene became even more chilling, when he realized that the numbers on the doors had been numbered counterclockwise.
Waiting for Kirkland and the evidence collectors to show up seemed like an eternity. The silence was broken by the sound of labored breathing and a heavy footfall coming from the stairs. James slowly reached for his gun as the heavy breathing grew louder and closer. Seconds later a very winded Richard Grantham appeared at the landing. James felt relieved when he saw that it was the manager.
'Damn these stairs are going to be the death of me. Sorry to keep you in the dark, Inspector. Detective Kirkland told me you needed power restored to room 1219. I'm sorry I didn't realize it was out when I was up here earlier.'
'No worries, you did have quite a shock. You going to be okay to go in there again?'
'Actually I won't have to. The fuse box for rooms 1219, 1220, and 1221 are all tied together in room 1221.'
'You still use fuses?'
'Only in this part of the hotel. This is one of the original wings built in 1905. I'll have you up in running in just a few minutes,' said Grantham as he made his way down the hall to room 1221. James watched Grantham walk along the far wall, avoiding the side that housed room 1219. Hesitating at room 1221, Grantham turned back to James.
'Inspector James.'
'Yes?'
'Don't let Jessalee see her sister like that.'
'Don't worry, we'll take good care of her,' said James as he watched Grantham disappear into room 1221.
Kirkland sat on the edge of Grantham's desk trying to think of how he was going to break the news to Jessalee.
'So, alone at last Mike. You finally gonna ask me out?' joked Jessalee as she plopped down on the leather couch opposite of Kirkland.
Kirkland wanted to join in on the joking, and tried to be lighthearted.
'What about Grantham?' he quizzed.
'What about Dick?' she retorted.
'Never was much between me and him, Mike, literally,' she quipped with a quick hand version of a rim shot on the desk corner. 'Oh she's on today!' said Jessalee, admiring her own clever quick wit. Kirkland smiled and squirmed a bit. 'Thank you folks, I'll be here all week,' she added as her levity subsided, but she couldn't help
