“Sorry to interrupt, we’re in the wrong room,” said Rory.
“Yes, but I was wondering if you might help me with a demonstration,” said the man. Rory felt guilty for having interrupted the man’s presentation, but he really didn’t want to be a part of a demonstration. “I promise that it will only take a moment of your time.”
“Alright,” he nodded. He and Cade stepped onto the dais, easily eight inches taller than the speaker. He laughed, looking up at the men. Although both spoke passable Korean, they were not fluent. They did, however, pick up on the big man jokes.
“What is it you need help with?” asked Cade.
“It’s very simple. I am demonstrating a new technique for anesthesiology, and it is critical that they use height, weight, and hair color as a guide.”
“Hair color? I get height and weight,” said Cade. “But why hair color?”
“Red hair is linked to a specific genotype that generally requires redheads to need more anesthesia,” said the man. “May I ask your height and weight?”
“Six-feet-five. Two hundred and sixty-five pounds,” said Rory. There were whispers and nods in the room, then Cade spoke.
“Six-feet-seven. Two hundred and seventy-five pounds,” he grinned.
“Show off,” smirked Rory. The speaker turned to his audience.
“Very quickly, compute the milligram dosage to kilogram for these gentlemen. First one to get it earns a prize,” he smiled.
Numbers were called out, but a man in the second row got the answer right and was awarded a baseball cap.
“Are we done?” asked Rory.
“Yes. Thank you for your cooperation. I hope to never have to anesthetize you,” he smiled. “Your weight makes it challenging, but I suspect other things might interfere as well.”
The two men could only laugh, leaving the hotel and standing out in front on the street.
“Well, that was fun,” laughed JB.
“Yeah, a real blast. But we’re no better off now than we were before,” said Rory. “Let’s head over to the Monteleone and see what the others have found.”
Frank, Piper, Mike, Ethan, and Bodhi walked into the Monteleone Hotel with her famous Carousel Bar. It was packed for being so early in the day, but then again, it was always packed. In this very lobby was where Kari’s father killed himself, Tailor shielding her from the sight of it all while Miller handled the mess.
The hotel had been the site of many adventures for the team, mostly because of its historic significance but also because of others’ desire to stay there. It was rumored that she was haunted, but they hoped they didn’t have to contend with any more ghosts. At least not today.
“Good morning,” smiled the woman behind the desk. “May I help you?”
“Yes, I’m looking for this man,” said Piper. “Asian, about five-feet-ten, not very heavy.”
“I’m not sure if that’s him or not, but we have a guest here that looks similar. Our housekeeping manager made a big deal about him ruining a set of sheets. Something about him hitting the back of his head and bleeding everywhere.”
“May we speak to the housekeeping manager?” asked Frank.
“Sure. Give me just a moment. You can have a seat over there,” she said, nodding to the group of luxurious chairs.
“I hate chairs like this,” frowned Bodhi. “I always feel like I’m going to break them.”
“I’m sure they’ve had men much heavier than you sit in them,” smiled Piper. “Besides, hotels know to get well-made, sturdy furniture. You’ll be fine. If we break it, we buy it.”
They watched as hotel guests came into the lobby and either went to the elevators or to the Carousel Bar. When nearly thirty minutes had passed, Piper stood to confront the hotel agent again.
“Sorry, but did you forget about us?” she asked.
“Oh, no. I’m sorry, Miss. The housekeeping manager is on her way down. She had an incident she had to handle.” As Piper started to walk away, the woman called her back. “Miss? That’s her there. Rosanna? This lady had some questions for you about the guest who possibly was bleeding on the sheets.”
“Of course,” said the woman, following Piper. She took a seat in the circle, then looked at all the men, frowning. “Am I in trouble?”