Booktree.ng_Forgotten-Witness

something to warm you up. Or Mulligan’s is open. ’Bout a
block down if you want something to eat.”
“I just had some coffee, but I appreciate the offer. I came to
visit a friend. Ian Francis. Can you tell me what room he’s in?”
“You already looked in the book. I saw you. You’re not a PI.
You’d be better than that if you were. You his wife? Maybe
you’re a spy. You look like one of them Bond girls. They
weren’t too smart neither but they were lookers.”
“Promise. I’m not a spy.” Josie crossed her heart.
“It’s the way you got your coat, you know.” He made a
circle around his neck. “Spies turn up the collars on their coats
like that.” He ambled to the end of the counter, stopped and
crossed his arms on the edge. “So, did you find him?”
“I found someone with the same last name, but the initial is
wrong,” she said.
“Sometimes people do that. Stupid just to change your first
initial.” Josie heard the last trill of a Viagra commercial.
Whatever he was watching would start soon so she pressed on.
“This man is about five-ten. His hair is close cut and brown.
Stubble on the face. Greying. Glasses. Mid-fifties. Maybe
older. He was wearing a blue suit when I saw him.”
“That the best you got?” the man asked.
Josie shrugged, “He’s a nervous guy. Kind of stops and
starts.”
The clerk raised his chin and two more came with it. “Him.
Yeah. I know him. Odd duck. He ain’t drunk.”
“Could he have signed in as A. Francis?” Josie asked.
“Yeah, but he didn’t. It was a kid. A girl. She signed in. I
didn’t figure out he was with her until a day later.”
“What did she look like?”
“Like a kid in a coat and hat. What do I know?”