Hello!!!! Here is another chapter!! Sorry this took a little longer.
Now there is a part that Cal says that was in the last chapter. It was from the T.V. when the woman was talking to Gillian. You will understand by the end of the chapter. Just wanted to give a heads up.
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Please enjoy!
**Brown's Hotel**
Ben looked at the manager and asked, "Do you have surveillance on the service elevator and the stairs?"
The manager nodded, "In the past we have had employees steal from us. So we put it up to catch them. The only ones who know about these cameras are the security team and I."
Ben looked at him and asked, "Do you have any employees that didn't show up to work tonight?"
The manager said, "We won't know until morning. Most of our staff works during the day."
Ben looked to Cal and then asked, "Have you had any employees acting strange or not themselves?"
The manager started to shake his head but Cal interrupted him, "You are lying. Who has been acting strange? And don't bloody say no one."
The manager wiped the sweat from his brow and quietly said, "Paul Bracker, but he has been going through some personal problems. He just lost his father to a mugging in New York. I don't expect him to be 'himself'."
Before anyone said anything else, an agent whistled to Ben and beckoned him to go outside the room into the hallway. Cal followed. Once they were outside the agent said, "I have some bad news. There is a live wire in there. They have probably been watching us all this time."
Cal was absolutely livid, "WHAT DO—"
Both Ben and the other agent 'shhh' him. Cal walked around for about ten seconds trying to control his emotions.
He turned back to the agents and whispered, "What do you mean they have been watching us? Do you mean the entire bloody time we have been here, on this case?" Cal looked incredulous when the agent shook his shoulders. "Well is there a way to find out?"
The agent thought for a moment and then said, "Well there should be a time stamp on the device but that would require us to take it out. Once they see that we have the live wire, they might do something drastic."
The men stood there thinking. Ben finally said, "Well can't we put it on a relapsing feed, to where it will repeat itself?"
The agent said, "We can do that, but it will take some time."
"How much time?" Both Ben and Cal said.
The agent shook his shoulders again, "Maybe a couple of hours, at the most four hours."
They were about to go in when Ben said, "Make it two hours; we don't have a lot of time." The agent nodded and everyone went back into the room. He went up to the manager and said, "Play the tape."
The manager pressed play and the surveillance came up on the screen. At first everything was quiet. Then a man wearing a baseball cap came into view from the service elevators. Cal just looked at Ben, telling him that that was Paul. Ben nodded. He came up to their room and knocked. Their room was right next to the service elevator, so they had a really good angle. It took a few minutes but then they saw the door open. Everyone could see Gillian's face. It was puffy and she looked like she had been crying. Ben looked at Cal, but he didn't say anything. Then they saw Gillian letting Paul in. Cal couldn't hold it anymore, "Is she really letting that stranger in? Is she stupid? Why would she do an idiotic thing like that? I know she knows better."
Ben grabbed his shoulder and quietly said, "He probably had a good excuse to get into the room." Cal did not say anything back to Ben. He just stared at the screen. Then about 18 minutes later on the tape, the door opens up. You can see Paul looking outside to see if the coast is clear. Then he started to drag out Gillian. She was unconscious but you could see bruises starting to form on her face. Cal started to pace, but again, he didn't say anything. After the elevator closed, there was nothing else to see.
Ben turned to the manager and said, "Thank you for your time and your patients. If you need or remember something, please don't hesitate to call." He turned to Cal and said fervently, "We didn't even see his face. Do you remember seeing anyone with a baseball cap on?"
Cal shook his head and said, "I need to think straight. Do you mind going to a pub with me?"
Ben shook his head and smiled, "Lightman, you are crazy but very insightful. What a great idea." They walked outside together. Ben got out his cell phone and texted all of the agents in the room to not talk about the case and that there was a live wire in the room.
Cal pushed the button for the elevator. When the doors opened, Gerald said, "Mr. Rigby, I am so sorry about what happened tonight. Are you any closer to finding Jules?"
Cal looked down and said, "We may have leads but we are not sure yet. Thanks, though." The doors opened to the lobby and Cal patted the older man on the back.
Ben went up to the manager and said, "Can we speak to you for a moment?"
The manager ushered them into his office. Cal spoke in a menacing voice, "Now, we have reason to believe that the room is being bugged. You will not talk about this case to anyone. Do you understand me?" The manager just nodded. "Good and if I find out that you are somehow connected to the kidnappings, I will hunt you down and kill you myself. Do you understand that?" The manager looked genuinely scared when he nodded. Cal walked out of the room without a glance back.
Ben, on the other hand asked, "Do you have surveillance on the alleyway in the back?" He nodded. "If you could, get those tapes ready for me as soon as possible. Call me as soon as you have them. Thank you." And he walked out to find Cal in the lobby. He told Cal, "We have to be back in about 10 to 15 minutes. They will have more tapes available for us to view. They are of the back alleyway." Cal just nodded as they walked towards a semi-busy pub.
***
Meanwhile…
Everyone was staring at the screen. It was a recording of the agents and Cal watching the surveillance footage. No one looked worried, yet no one was relaxed.
The only woman in the room said, "Could you give us a couple of minutes?" The two younger men nodded and walked out of the room.
The man that was left said, "Well at least they didn't see his face." He tried to smile a brilliant smile, but he looked at the woman's annoyed face and quickly got rid of it.
The woman sighed, "How do we know that they aren't faking it? They could be right at our doorstep without us knowing about it. You stupid man!"
The man looked defiant, "No they are not outside of our door. You saw their faces. They don't know anything. We are safe, believe me, I have saw this video five times now. They are just as clueless as the Met were about the other men." He got up and grabbed her hand and said, "We are safe. Trust me; I am right about this one."
The woman looked up at the man and said quietly, "I hope for your sake you are right. If it turns out that they are outside our door, I will kill you." She pointed her finger in his face. "In the meantime, keep cutting up the footage to show the little bitch in there. She still thinks they will come to save her. The more ammunition we have to break her down, the easier it will be to kill her."
The man swallowed hard and nodded. The woman got up and left without a glance back.
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