It could have worked that way. Maybe it did and maybe it didn’t, but it was a starting place.
Reluctantly, I sat up on the bed. I put on my shoes, then my tie and coat. I made sure I had my key and left the room. I walked down past the bank of elevators and opened the door to the stairs. I walked down the ten flights to the basement and stepped out into it.
I made a few false starts before I got my bearings and headed for the rear of the hotel. I saw two employees as I went along the corridor, but they paid no attention to me.
It looked like clear sailing and then I came to the exit. There was a man there, sitting on a stool, wearing a gray uniform with the name of the hotel stitched on the pocket. He looked up as he heard my footsteps.
“Sorry,” he said as I reached him, “you must have
