Puzzles of the Black Widowers - By Isaac Asimov Page 0,43
have been known to do that."
"That's impossible," said Smith with intense irritation. "He's staying at the New York Hilton. Isn't that right in the neighborhood?"
"The New York Hilton?" Jones sounded nonplussed. "Yes, it is. It's right across the street. All he has to do is cross Fifty-fourth Street."
"Yes. So he wouldn't take a taxi, would he?"
"I guess not. The hotel's address is 1335 Sixth and we're at 1345 Sixth. The biggest greenhorn in the world wouldn't take a taxi to go ten numbers along a particular street, and this guy is a world traveler who's called Old Reliable."
I felt cynicism rising as high as my nostrils and said, "So Old Reliable is here in the big city. He's gone on a toot, brought home an amiable young woman, and he's sleeping it off."
Smith looked indignant. "Come on, the manager said he's forty-eight years old. He's no wild kid."
"He's no dead hulk, either," I said. "I'm older than he is and I could do it easily. I mean, I don't, but I could if I wanted to."
"Well, he wouldn't do it, if he had a date to keep in the morning. He's a professional man."
"All right," I said. "You're talking me into wondering if he didn't have a heart attack in the night; if he might not be lying in that hotel bed right now, dying, or maybe dead."
Smith and Jones both looked uneasy. Smith said uncertainly, "Do you think we ought to call the police?"
Jones said, "Not before we have someone look into his room."
Jones went to the phone this time. He spoke crisply into it, then hung up. We all maintained a worried silence for a while.
Smith said, "Do you suppose he came to this building and couldn't get in? I imagine the security is tight, and he may be wandering about the lobby right now."
"Security is tight, sure," said Jones, "but a pass was delivered to him last night. He should have had no trouble getting in."
"Maybe it never got to him," I said, ever the pessimist, "and he never got past the lobby."
Jones said, "I'll send someone to the lobby to look."
By that time the phone was ringing. Jones answered it, talked awhile, and came back to say, "Hotel security went into his room. His baggage is there, but he isn't. And there's no camera equipment. So he left with his cameras."
"Then where is he?" I asked.
There was no answer, of course. Jones thought awhile and said, "I suppose they looked in the bathroom."
Smith shrugged. "I assume the security people know their business."
By now I had been there nearly an hour and word came up that there was no sign of any cameraman wandering about the lobby. Obviously, if he was carrying camera equipment about with him, he would be easily spotted. For that matter, the security man downstairs had not seen anyone with such equipment come in, with or without a pass.
I said, "Did they check as to whether he had signed in?"
Jones shook his head. "He wouldn't have to sign in, if he had a pass. They'd just wave him through."
Smith said, "You don't suppose he got off the elevator on the wrong floor, do you? He couldn't be wandering about helplessly?"
Jones looked at his watch. "He was due here an hour and a half ago. How could he be wandering around on the wrong floor for an hour and a half? There's not a floor in this building which doesn't have security guards. No one would be allowed to wander about anywhere. - And he wouldn't, anyway. He'd ask. After all, he knew the name of this firm. For that matter, he knew the correct floor."
There was a sticky silence and we all took turns looking at our watches. Finally, Jones muttered an "Excuse me" and left. He was back in three minutes and said, "I just talked to Josie - "
"Who's she?" I asked.
"The receptionist. She swears no cameraman came in. In fact, no one, no one came in who wasn't a member of the firm, except you, Smith, and you, Mr. Hume."
Smith said, "Was she at her desk the whole time?"
"The receptionist insists she was."
"You mean she didn't go out to powder her nose, or whatever?"
"She says she didn't. She says she was on the job and alert all morning, and she says no one could possibly have gotten into the place without her seeing him."