Excerpt from Slow Burn by Stephen Leather

[Disguisedagent]

A waitress has her uniform stolen as part of an assassination involving a poisoned burger.

She nodded and opened the door. Shepherd followed her out. She took him through reception and then turned right to the hotel's restaurant-cum-coffee shop. There was a sign stating that the restaurant was closed and that it would reopen at 7 a.m. 'You're normally shut at this time?' asked Shepherd. The manager nodded. 'We stop taking orders at nine-thirty, but room service is available until midnight.' She pushed open a pair of double doors and they walked into a small kitchen. There was a gas oven with four burners next to a stainless steel table to the right, a large metal table in the middle of the room, and a walk-in fridge to the left. There was a frying pan on one of the burners and a bag of burger buns on the table, along with a breadboard and a large stainless steel bowl of salad. 'Who should be on duty?' asked Shepherd. 'The night cook. He handles room service orders.' 'Who takes them up to the room?' 'There's a housekeeper on duty throughout the night and she'll usually take the orders up.' She went over to the walk-in fridge and pulled it open. She gasped and took a step back. Shepherd hurried over. There were two bodies on the floor of the fridge, bound and gagged and lying face down. One was a man wearing chef whites, the other was a girl who had been stripped down to her underwear. He felt for a pulse in the girl's neck, but when he touched her she flinched, so he pulled back his hand and touched the man's neck. He too shifted on the floor. 'It's okay,' he said. 'They're alive.' "Thank God for that,' said the manager. 'Can you pass me a knife?’ The manager hurried over to the metal counter and pulled a knife from a wooden block. Shepherd used it to cut the duct tape that had been wound around the girl's mouth, and she began to cough and splutter. 'Take it easy,' he said. 'Just lie still while I cut you loose.' He cut the duct tape that was binding her wrists, and then freed her feet. He helped her up and she staggered out and fell into the arms of the manager. Shepherd cut the gag away from the chef's face and then freed his arms and legs. 'Fucking bastards jumped me,' said the chef as he got up.

'Who the fuck robs a kitchen?' He was Scottish, short and stocky with a crew cut. He put his hand up to his head and it came away glistening with blood. 'You should get a scan, check that there's no internal damage,' said Shepherd. 'I've got a thick skull,' growled the chef. 'He's right, Ronnie,' said the manager, still holding the girl. 'I'll get someone to run you to the hospital.' She looked at the girl. 'What about you, Lisa, did they hurt you?' The girl shook her head. “They just grabbed me and tied me up.' 'How many of them were there?' asked Shepherd. 'I didn't see them,' said the girl. 'They grabbed me from behind.' "They hit me from behind, too,' said the chef, touching his scalp again. 'Bastards.' 'And neither of you got a look at them?' 'It all happened so quickly,' said the girl. The chef took a jacket from a hook on the wall and wrapped it around the girl. — 'You were wearing your uniform black skirt and a white shirt?' asked Shepherd. The girl nodded. The girl who had delivered the burger to the room must have taken her uniform. And either she or one of her accomplices had cooked the burger. 'How do we handle this?' asked the manager. "They can go home,' said Shepherd. 'The police can talk to them later.' He looked at the chef. 'You should go to hospital and get checked out.' 'What about the paramedics?' asked the manager. ‘Couldn't they take him in the ambulance?' "They have to transport the body to the mortuary,' said Shepherd. 'What body?' asked the chef. 'It doesn't matter,' said Shepherd. 'What matters is that you get to hospital for a scan.' 'I can drive myself,' said the chef. 'Are you sure?' asked the manager.

‘I'm fine. I can drive.' He nodded at the girl. ‘I can drop Lisa home on the way.' The manager frowned. 'I'd be happier if someone drove you. Come with me and I'll fix something up.' 'What happened?' asked Lisa. 'Why did they take my uniform?' 'I'll explain everything tomorrow,' said the manager. ‘At the moment I have to help the police. But the important thing is that you and Ronnie are okay.' She hugged Lisa. 'You can wait in the office for me,' the manager said to Shepherd. 'It won't take long.' 'Of course,' said Shepherd. They left the kitchen and while the manager took the two employees to reception, Shepherd walked back to her office and sat down in front of the monitors. He wasn't familiar with the system but it was similar to others that he'd used so it didn't take him long to work out how to view historical footage. By the time the manager returned, he had the view of the corridor outside Jaraf's room on the main screen and was watching the woman carrying the tray with the poisoned burger. The camera was at the far end of the corridor, near to where the lifts were, and all he saw was her back as she walked to the room. She kept her back to the camera as she knocked on the door and handed the tray to Aspinall, and didn't move until Shepherd handed her the folder with the signed bill. As the door closed she turned away and walked back towards the elevators, keeping her head down so that her hair hung over her face. She was deliberately avoiding the camera. The door opened and the manager joined him. ‘So that's the girl who took Lisa's uniform?' she said as she saw what he was looking at. Shepherd nodded. 'She's clearly aware of the cameras. 'Do you have any in the lifts?' he asked. 'Sure,' she said, and reached across for the mouse, before scrolling through the timeline until she found the woman in the lift. She had her back to the camera. 'She knows what she's doing, all right,' said Shepherd. ‘Is there a camera in the kitchen?' 'No,' she said. "That was considered too Big Brother-ish.

[simon4242]

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