Free Accidents Waiting to Happen by Simon Wood

here I can exploit.   Mr. Michaels, you’re giving me a lot of material.   A germ of an idea began to grow.   It would be messy but it would be very dramatic if it worked.   It would be one of his best efforts.   He leaned his head against the rail of the polar bear habitat, one amongst many, but his was the only one not turned toward the marine mammal.  
    He watched the woman get up and leave his target.   It looked like a touching moment and he wished he could tell what was being said.   He would look into lip reading classes after this contract.   She headed in the direction of the exit and he followed.   He could afford to leave Michaels alone, for now.   He had what he needed on him for the moment.   He wanted to find out more about this woman.   She could be useful.
    In the parking lot, the woman got into a black, Chevy Cobalt coupe and the professional followed in his Taurus.   He shadowed her progress north across town to the Radisson Hotel.   She went in and he kept a reasonable non-stalking distance behind.   At the entrance, a doorman greeted her and he checked out her ass after she passed him.   The professional was greeted similarly but without having his ass checked.   The woman walked up to the young female desk clerk.
    The professional picked up a free local newspaper off the stand and made sure he got close enough to hear the conversation.
    “Hello, how can I help you?” the desk clerk asked.
    “Any messages for room 307?” she asked.  
    The desk clerk checked and told her there weren’t any.   The woman headed over to the elevator.
    The professional went up to the other clerk on duty, a bored looking man in his thirties.   “Excuse me, could I use your restrooms?”
    “Yes, sir.   No problem, just turn left at the restaurant and they’re on your left.”   The desk clerk leaned over the counter and pointed to his right, in the opposite direction of the elevators.
    “Thanks,” the professional said and smiled.
    “Not at all, sir.”  
    The professional went off in search of the restrooms as directed.   He locked himself into a stall and sat on the toilet for a respectable time before flushing and leaving the restroom.  
    He returned to the reception desk.   The male desk clerk the professional had spoken to earlier was occupied with a customer.   He approached the young female desk clerk who had dealt with Josh Michaels’ secret woman.
    She smiled at him.
    “Excuse me, you have a lady in room 307, an Asian woman, early thirties.   Now I’m sure I know her from a company we used to work for and I wanted to check to see if it was her.”   The professional managed to look benign, hopeless and charming all at the same time.
    She checked her computer records.   “Room 307 is a Miss Belinda Wong.”
    “It is her,” he beamed.
    The desk clerk beamed back, happy for him and for her.   It was probably the first interesting thing to happen all day.
    “Do you have a card with a phone number I could call her back on?”
    The desk clerk nodded.   She gave him a matchbook and pointed to the number on the back.   “Just change the last three numbers with her room number and you’ll get straight through.”
    “Thanks, very much,” he fawned.
    “But don’t wait too long, she checks out tomorrow.”
    “Does she now?”   A crooked smile trickled across his face.   “Thank you very much indeed for your help.”
    The professional walked away from the reception back to the parking lot.   He would be waiting here tomorrow to see where she went.
    The professional didn’t get far before the desk clerk called out to him.   He stopped and turned around.
    “Good luck sir,” she said in a hoarse whisper and grinned.
    The professional grinned back and gave her the thumbs up.
    The doorman showed the professional out of the hotel.   Hello, Miss Belinda Wong, who are you and what do you want? The professional thought.
     

Chapter Nine
     
     
    “Daddy, daddy, I heard