The mysterious Mr Ted

8pm Santa Fe Hilton
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SA Leo Jones was right. There was no 'post office', and there were too many left turnings for him to make a wise decision. In the end, it had taken him 45 minutes and stopping for 3 times asking for directions before he reached the Hilton.

Running two steps at one time, he raced up the steps to the hotel.

Here I come, Mr Ted.

The entrance of the hotel led way into the lobby. It was after dinner time, and there were alot of people still hanging around, talking, drinking, relaxing.

Leo made his way to the registration counter. A handsome, well-tan blonde man in his twenties was attending to a newly wedded couple, and he smiled in Leo's directions to let him know that his arrival was noted. After waiting behind the couple for about a decade, as they registrated and told the smiling man about their meeting, courtship, and wedding, it was his turn.

"May I help you?" The man, still smiling, asked Leo.

Leo looked at his name tag. He was half expecting to see the name California Sunshine Boy, but saw instead 'John T. Goodman'

"May I help you?" CSB asked again.

Leo thought for a while, then lied.

"I am here to meet a friend. I believe that he is staying at Room 315. May I know is he in?"

"He?"

"Yes. He. I don't know what name does he register in, but its a he all right."

CSB smiled.

"I'm afraid that Room 315's occupant is not your friend, sir. In fact, you just met them."

"Just?" Leo was surprised.

"Yes, the newly weds in front of you just now? They stayed in Room 315."

Damn.

Then, "FBI." with the now-familiar flash-ID action.

"FBI? Is anything the matter?" CSB asked, starting to sweat.

"May I have a record of the past and current occupants staying in Room 315 for the past 2 months?"

"Excuse me, sir. But may I ask why?"

"You may not." Leo was abrupt, blunt.

CSB turned a shade paler, and shook a degree more obviously.

"Please wait, sir, while I go and get the manager."

And as CSB left the counter in search of the hotel's manager, Leo stood there and sweared.

<>

As Leo waited for CSB to return with the manager, he looked around the lobby, noticing how strategically the security cameras were placed. It seemed that every square inch of hotel public area was covered, which would mean that there must be some security cameras on each floor. Leo smiled to himself as he heard someone clearing their throat behind him.

"Mr. Jones? I'm Nicholas Rayne, manager of this hotel. Could you follow me to my office?"

"Sure." Leo said, as he fell in behind the manager. A minute or two later, Leo found himself in a rather smallish-looking office, seated across a big desk from the manager.

"Now, Mr. Jones. I hear that you want room occupancy records for one of our rooms, is that correct?"

"Exactly. There's reason to believe that the person that stayed in room 315 is a suspect in a murder." Leo said, staring straight at the manager. "Is each floor equipped with security cameras in this hotel?"

"Why yes, it is. Security is one of our main concerns."

"Is there a video record of what those cameras capture?"

"Yes, it's all recorded. Although the video tapes are recycled every other day. I suppose you would want to look at them also, by your questions."

"If possible, I'd like to review them in your security room. That way it would save us some time and hassle."

Mr. Rayne nodded. "Let's see... ", he trailed off, punching a few keys on his PC. "The last person to check out of Room 315 was a Mr. Ted, First Initial T. He checked out at the front desk at 8:35 am this morning. Paid cash for all of his room charges. No incoming messages logged, no outgoing calls made that were charged to his room."

"I'd like to review the hall camera records from 7:00 am to 9:00 am this morning." Leo said, writing down this information.

"Very well, Mr. Jones. One moment." Mr Rayne picked up the phone and called down to the Security room, telling them what to set up and to expect Leo there in a few moments. "It will be set up for you when you get there. As hotel manager, I'd like to request that any negative... er.. press... be kept to a minimum regarding this case, if you don't mind. The hotel could do without the publicity."

"I'm sure we can keep the press out of this." Leo said as he stood up and shook Mr. Rayne's hand.

"Thank you." Rayne sat back down. "As soon as you go out of the door, turn left. The security room will be down the hall, 4th door on the left."

"Thanks for your time." Leo threw back over his shoulder as he left the manager's office.

When Leo entered the security office, the first thing that registered to him was the huge bank of TV screens lined up on one wall, two screens per hallway, several others for the lobby, and some for the outside grounds. A short, heavy-set man in his mid-40's stepped up to Leo and introduced himself.

"Hiya. I'm Nick, the night-shift foreman here. I've got all that Mr. Rayne said that you'd need over here. Tape's loaded, and if you need any printouts, just hit this button here. Room 315 is the 2nd door to your left there."

"Thanks a lot, Nick. I'm Leo, from the FBI."

"Hey, no problem. Just doin' my duty here. I better get back to my eyes in the sky." Nick turned back with a chuckle.

Leo laughed softly to himself as he sat down in front of the single TV/VCR set that was showing an empty hallway. As he started to watch the screen, not much seemed to happen for the first hour worth of tape. Then, at app 8:10 by the timestamp, a woman approached Room 315. Pausing the tape for a while, then advancing it screen by screen, a picture of the female's face slowly came into view. Once he got a fairly clean shot of the face, he made a couple of prints. Letting the tape advance once again, he waited for the mysterious Mr. Ted and his female companion to come out of the room. at 8:26, they finally did. Once again, Leo advanced the tape, frame by frame, until he got a clean shot of both Mr. Ted and the female with him. Printing out several copies, he advanced the film to past the time when Mr. Ted checked out. Only the cleaning maid went into the room after that, and so Leo, taking his copies, left the security room with a wave of thanks to Nick.

Several minutes later, found Leo back at the hotel where everyone was staying at. Walking down the hall, he noticed that the light was still on in Zenya's room, so he decided to knock and see if Zenya would know who that woman in the picture was.

"Hold on. I'm coming." Zenya's voice rang out from within. As he heard the door being unbolted, Leo looked up and down the hall, getting that strange sensation that he was being watched. "Leo, you just got back from the hotel?"

With a half-smile, Leo nodded. "Yeah, I got some pics of our Mr. Ted and a female companion with him. Since your light was on, I figured you might be able to recognize the woman from someone at the funeral."

"let me see." Zenya looked at the pictures and knitted her brows with a frown.

"What's wrong?"

"This female companion of our Mr. Ted is none other than Rebecca Cross, Mary Ritchie's best friend!"

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Respectfully submitted,
Jeff Uribe
Agent Leo Jones, SA-2 Team Zulu
Agent Jeff Calderon, SA-1 Team Bravo