He blew a breath out, pressed the tips of his fingers to his temples. Bracing himself. His shoulders slumped and Janine knew she had won. ‘He’s at The Midland Hotel, Crowne Plaza. He’s probably left by now,’ he added feebly.
And you hope he has, Janine thought. Harper’s cowardice ran all the way through him like print through a stick of Blackpool rock. He was a weak man. Even Marta had shown more guts in telling them about Sulikov.
The Midland was one of the ritziest hotels in town. Janine and Pete had spent a weekend there in their courting days. The café and restaurant were popular meeting places and the doormen in their black top hats and red livery gave a classy feel to the place.
The receptionist, whose face fell with consternation when she saw their police identification, confirmed that Mr Sulikov was staying there. ‘Polish gentleman. He checked in Wednesday evening.’
‘Wednesday? Not earlier?’ Janine was puzzled. Rosa had been killed on Monday. Where had Sulikov been that night, or on the Tuesday? Visiting other parts of his operation? Leaving the dirty work to Stone?
‘He’s still here?’ she asked.
‘That’s right.’
Relief sluiced through her – they weren’t too late.
‘Is he in his room, now?’ asked Richard.
The receptionist turned to check the keys, then back to them shaking her head and Janine felt a lurch of disappointment.
Janine told her they needed to see the room; the woman got someone to cover the reception desk while she took them up in the lift.
Shap was just arriving as they went into the room. While the receptionist watched, Janine, Richard and Shap examined the place. It barely looked occupied: a hold-all at the foot of the bed, ruffled covers and a small toilet bag in the bathroom the only signs that Sulikov was staying there. Shap riffled through the bag in search of any documents but it held only clothes.
‘Travels light,’ Janine observed, finding it hard to keep the frustration from her voice. Too impatient, she chided herself. At least now we know where he is we’ve a damn good chance of picking him up which is a much better state than we were in three hours ago.
Janine spoke to the receptionist. ‘We’ll be leaving Sergeant Shap here to wait for Mr Sulikov. He can sit in the lobby. Now, if you can let him know once Mr Sulikov is back, other officers will be on standby and we’ll make sure there’s as little disruption as possible. And please don’t mention our visit, to anyone.’
