Code to Zero Page 0,77

him, but he was determined to unravel the mystery, and impatient to get on with it

Billie parked around the corner from the entrance. I'll go first,' she said. 'If there's anyone suspicious in the lobby, I'll come right out again. When you see me take my coat off, you'll know it's all clear.'

Luke was not comfortable with this plan. 'What if Anthony's there?'

'He won't shoot me.' She got out of the car.

Luke contemplated arguing with her and decided against it She was probably right. He presumed that Anthony had thoroughly searched his hotel room, and had destroyed anything he thought might be a clue to the secret he so badly wanted to keep. But Anthony also needed to maintain a semblance of normality, to support the fiction that Luke had lost his memory after a drinking bout. So Luke expected to find most of his own stuff. That would help him reorient himself. And there might be a clue that Anthony had overlooked.

They approached the hotel separately, Luke remaining on the opposite side of the street He watched Billie go in, enjoying her jaunty walk and the swing of Her coat He could see through the glass doors into the lobby. A porter approached her immediately, suspicious of a glamorous woman arriving alone so late at night He saw her speak, and guessed she was saying: 'I'm Mrs Lucas, my husband will be along in a moment' Then she took off her coat

Luke crossed the road and entered the hotel.

For the porter's benefit he said: 'I want to make, a call before we go upstairs, honey.' There was an internal phone on the reception desk, but he did not want the porter to hear his conversation. Next to the reception desk was a little lobby that had a payphone in an enclosed booth with a seat Luke went inside. Billie followed him and closed the door. They were very close together. He put a dime in the slot and called the hotel. He angled the handset so that Billie could hear. Tense though he was, he found it deliciously exciting to be so near to Billie.

'Sheraton-Carlton, good morning.'

It was morning, he realized - Thursday morning. He had been awake for twenty hours. But he did not feel sleepy. He was too tense. 'Room five-thirty, please.'

The operator hesitated. 'Sir, it's past one o'clock -is this an emergency?'

'Dr Lucas asked me to call no matter how late.'

'Very good.'

There was a pause, then a ringing tone. Luke felt very conscious of Billie's warm body in a purple silk dress. He had to resist the urge to put his arm around her small, neat shoulders and hug her to him.

After four rings, he was ready to believe that the room was empty - then the phone was picked up. So Anthony, or one of his men, was lying in wait That was a nuisance; but Luke felt better knowing where the enemy was deployed.

A voice said: 'Hello?' The tone was uncertain. It was not Anthony, but it might have been Pete.

Luke put on a tipsy voice. 'Hey, Ronnie, this is Tim. We're all waitin'for ya!'

The man grunted with irritation. 'Drunk/ he muttered, as if speaking to someone else. You got the wrong room, buddy.'

'Oh, gee, I'm sorry, I hope I didn't wake - ' Luke broke off as the phone was hung up.

'Someone there,' Billie said.

'Maybe more than one.'

'I know how to get them out.' She grinned. 'I did it in Lisbon, during the war. Come on.'

They left the phone booth. Luke noticed Billie discreetly pick up a book of matches from -an ashtray by the elevator. The porter took them up to the fifth floor.

They found Room 530 and went quietly past it Billie opened an unmarked door to reveal a linen closet 'Perfect,' she said in a low voice. 'Is there a fire alarm nearby?'

Luke looked around and saw an alarm of the type that could be set off by breaking a pane of glass with the little hammer hanging next to it 'Right there,' he said.

'Good.' In the closet, sheets and blankets stood in neat stacks on slatted wooden shelves. Billie unfolded a blanket and dropped it on the floor. She did the same with several more until she had a pile of loose fabric. Luke guessed what she was going to do, and his .conjecture was confirmed when she.took a breakfast order from a doorknob and lit it with a match. As it flared up, she put the flame to