The Consummata

instructed.”

I walked down to the elevators, wondering if they’d add impersonating a cop to the other charges against me. The bellboy was tagging along, with a mischievous smile. We took the elevator to my floor and got off. The kid had been watching me, all the way.

Finally he said, “You are a strange one, senor. Or maybe all Americans are loco.”

“I’m not nuts, amigo, just curious. A guy in a dull line of work like mine doesn’t get to see excitement up close every day.”

The smile stretched a little. “That would not be my description of you, senor.”

“No?”

“No. You are very the much active man. Remember, I said there are things I do not miss?”

“Yeah. Sorry. Forgot the big rule for a second there.”

“What rule is that, senor?”

“Don’t shit a shitter.”

He laughed. “Those are words of wisdom. It is always wise not to insult the intelligence of those around you. Even one in a menial position may provide the great insight, now and then.”

“Damn, are you all college graduates around here?”

A white flash of smile again. “Not yet, senor...but I intend to be one day.”

“Amigo,” I told him, with a pat on the shoulder, “you’ll make it all the way.”

“I have the grades and the ambition. But the world turns on money, senor.”

“Then maybe you’d like to add a little more to your piggy bank.”

He looked at me with eyes narrowed and alert.

I said, “Somebody was in that room since it was cleaned after the last check-out. Somebody who left a package under the bed, with a timer on it. Luckily, like some bridegrooms on their wedding night, the thing went off prematurely.”

His eyes widened. “But it has been five days since the last guest...”

“This would have been recent—in the last day or so. Before then, nobody knew who was going to occupy that room.”

His voice was very soft. “I see....”

“You can’t be the only one around here who notices things. Someone else on the hotel staff must have seen him. Or anyway there’s a hell of a chance of that.”

Nodding, the boy said, “I understand, senor.”

“Be discreet, son.”

He grinned. “That is the way of the world at any hotel.”

After he took the elevator down, I walked back to my room and stretched out on the bed.

A couple of things were pretty obvious.

Luis Saldar’s operation had one big goddamn leak in it. So far seven adults were in on the hardcore facts of this particular junket, and if one or more of them hadn’t tried to tap me out directly, they could have tipped somebody else to it...either by accident or design.

The other obvious factor was this: somebody wanted me dead bad enough to put a hurry-up job like this botched hotel room bombing in motion—meaning there would be another try. Maybe with more care, next time.

Or maybe not.

Either way, all I had to do now was make myself available for next time, and be ready for it.

Well, here I was.

I fell asleep thinking, jarred from sleep twice because some odd little piece about Jaimie Halaquez and his seventy-fivethousand- buck haul kept rattling around loose; then finally I fell into a fitful doze...

...until an insistent tapping jolted me awake, and I sat up with the .45 in my hand.

When I reached the door, I yanked it open and the bellboy was staring down the hole in the muzzle of the gun with a shocked expression, a real ay caramba moment, though he didn’t say it.

Then I yanked him inside, eased the door shut, and shoved the rod in my belt.

“Sorry, amigo,” I said.

He nodded, feeling for his voice. “Looking down that gun barrel, senor, is a most uncomfortable feeling.” Little beads of sweat had popped out on his forehead.

“No shit.” I checked my watch. In another half-hour the sun would be up. “It’s getting late, my friend. Or early. Not quite sure which.”

“Either way, there is still time.”

“For what?”

He licked his lips nervously and patted his forehead dry with his sleeve. “The old one, the porter you spoke to?”

“Yeah?”

Slowly, his eyes crawled up my face until they were meeting my own. “He is in a closet near where the explosion happened. He is quite dead, senor. Someone has broken his neck for him...very expertly, I would say.”

I said, “Damn,” very softly.

“His body, it is cold and...and stiff. I do not know much about such things, but I know enough to say it must have happened some time ago. Perhaps shortly after you talked to him in the hallway.”

“You haven’t reported this?”

“Just to you, senor.”

“If you hadn’t found the body, who would be most likely to discover it?”

He didn’t have to think about it. “In the morning, the maid whose equipment is in that closet, she would find him, maybe. Or perhaps the police, when they come back to investigate more in that blown-up room. That is why there is still time for you to leave, senor.”

“How did you come across the dead guy?”

“I was trying to find out things for you. I went to his room first and he was not there. The old one never goes out at night. I had hoped to speak to him. He is like a ghost, that one. He could watch, he could spy, and no one would notice —an old man in a menial position, he is invisible. Until his death, at least.”

“What do you mean, kid?”

“Whoever put him in the closet failed to close the door tight. I went back to the hallway, where we were earlier, where the explosion room is? Looking for the old man. I notice that door, it is...what is the word...ajar. So I open it, only to close it better, harder, and then...there he was.”

I waited a second, watching him close. “And you haven’t spoken to anyone about this?”

“Senor!” His tone was sharp, his eyes wide. “The maid, let her do the discovering. I know nothing of this, should anyone ask...but it is important that you know.”

I gave him a smile and squeezed his arm. “Thanks, amigo.”

“What does it mean, senor, this death? This...murder?”

I shrugged. “Probably that the old boy was paid to plant the gimmick. Maybe that’s why the timing was off. He didn’t know enough about setting the mechanism, and it blew early.”

“But to kill him...why? Surely he would never talk to the police, and risk arrest for himself.”

“Nobody was worried about him going to the cops. Whoever set this in motion, they know I’m still alive...and were afraid I’d get to him.”

“Senor...you must go. Before the body is found.”

I fished out the roll of bills Saladar had given me and peeled off a hundred-dollar leaf.

“Enroll in some courses on me, amigo,” I said.

“This is not necessary.” His eyes were glittering. “But I am very grateful.”

“Back at you, kid.”