Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-six

Amelia had to admit she was more than a little awed by how smoothly Gideon conducted the “interview” with Pete Ellerbeck. He really was a pro, she thought.

They met with Ellerbeck in his small office behind the front desk. He poured glasses of iced tea, left the door open in case a guest entered the lobby, and then leaned back in his chair.

“Nope, you’re not the first folks to take an interest in that old hotel,” he said in response to one of Gideon’s casual questions. “We’ve had some curiosity seekers drop by to ask directions. They usually call it the Lost Night Files Hotel. Evidently the place was featured on a podcast or something. Took me a while to figure out what they were talking about.”

“Forget the tourists,” Gideon said. “We’re here to get the facts. We know the basics of the early history of the hotel but we haven’t been able to find out much about the fire seven months ago.”

“Well, like I told you before, most of the locals assume those three women who decided to party out there started the fire to keep warm and it got away from them. That’s the scenario the former police captain went with, and I admit that’s the most likely explanation.”

Amelia pretended not to notice the warning glance Gideon sent her way. She would not lose her temper. She could be cool.

“You sound like you have another theory,” Gideon said to Pete.

“Between you and me, I’ve always kind of wondered if it might have been arson,” Pete said.

“A firebug?” Gideon asked.

Ellerbeck shook his head. “Insurance fraud.”

“Really?” Amelia asked, deliberately widening her eyes a little. “What gave you that idea?”

Ellerbeck shrugged. “The place was beyond renovation. Trust me. I’ve done enough construction to recognize a teardown when I see one. I think the hotel company didn’t know what it was getting into when it bought the property and in the end decided the quickest, cleanest way out was a fire.”

“Fascinating,” Amelia said.

Gideon made a note and looked up, frowning a little. “We hadn’t heard that theory. Were any of the company officials in town around the time of the fire?”

“No.” Ellerbeck drank some of his tea and lowered the glass. “I’ve never seen any of the hotel execs. Course, if they did show up they would have stayed at one of the big resorts. But no one mentioned they were in town, and news travels fast around here.”

Gideon watched Pete with a knowing look. “You think you know who the arsonist was, don’t you?”

“Maybe.” Pete leaned forward a little and lowered his voice, although there was no one else except the three of them within hearing distance. “A guy claiming to be a doctor checked in a couple of days before the fire. He wanted directions to the hotel. I asked him why he was interested in that run-down property. He said something about its history as a sanatorium.”

Amelia stilled. “Someone else was exploring the story of the hotel? Maybe we should interview him, too.”

Ellerbeck shook his head. “Afraid I can’t help you there.”

“Of course not,” Gideon said. “There are customer confidentiality issues. We understand.”

“Well, that, too, naturally,” Ellerbeck said. “But there’s another reason you can’t talk to him. He left early the morning of the fire. Took off before dawn. I wasn’t too concerned at the time because he’d paid cash in advance for the room. But he must have been in a rush, because he left some clothes behind in a drawer. When I tried to contact him I found out that the name, address, and phone number he’d put down on the registration form were fake.”

Gideon made a note. “Now, that is interesting.”

“The day before the fire, he told me he’d lost his key and needed a replacement,” Ellerbeck said. “I’ve been meaning to rekey the room but haven’t gotten around to it.” He peered at Gideon. “He was booked into your room, by the way. Number ten.”

“Okay, that’s a little disturbing,” Amelia said. “He gave a false ID and then disappeared shortly after the fire? I can see why you had some questions about him.”

“You bet I did,” Ellerbeck said, warming to his topic.

“Did you mention your suspicions to the police captain?” Gideon asked.

“Sure, but he was convinced those three women were responsible. A drug party gone bad.”