Twenty seven year old Mandy opened the door of her hotel room to someone she thought was
room service. To be fair to her, it was a member of the hotel staff, but it was not room
service. It was not the person who was supposed to be bringing her a cheese and pickle
sandwich (heavy on the cheese, light on the pickle) and a cup of raspberry tip tea. Room
service had been told by The Manager not to bother making the sandwich, because Mandy
would not be staying long enough in the hotel to enjoy her sandwich. Then instead of room
service, The Manager told this person to visit Mandy. 

The person at Mandy`s hotel room door was the security officer for the hotel. He had been
sent up to Mandy`s room by The Manager a few minutes after Mandy had rung down for her
cheese and pickle sandwich (heavy on the cheese, light on the pickle) and her cup of
raspberry tip tea. He had intended to to send the security officer up later anyway, but
the fact that Mandy had ordered the light snack caused him to bring his plans forward.
Sometimes guests got suspicious if a member of the hotel staff knocked on their door
without good reason. Not that they got suspicious of the staff themselves, most hotel
guests trusted hotel staff (up to a point), but when someone knocked on their door and
announced "I am the hotel`s security officer, can I come in for a moment", some
guests did not believe them, they had heard of people pretending to be hotel staff to get
into a hotel room then robbing the unsuspecting guest, stealing their money, jewellery,
passport, or kidneys. OK, so most people did not believe stories about "strange
men" drugging people in low rent hotels and removing one or more of their internal
organs to sell on the black market. But when a "strange man" knocks on their
door, and they are all alone in a low rent hotel, unreasonable fear takes over their mind,
and they get scared for the bits inside their bodies that they would rather see remain
inside their bodies. And even if fear of organ snatchers does not cross their mind, fear
of the common, or garden, variety of thief hits their paranoid little brains. In general
people tend not to like being hit on the head and having their valuables stolen. 

Of course, in most cases, this fear is unreasonable and stupid. 

But in Mandy`s case, it was both reasonable and sensible. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The hotel Manager liked to do a bit of a background check on his guests before they
checked in. This was because when they paid by credit card they sometimes used a stolen
card. And sometimes they skipped out without even attempting to pay with a stolen card,
just snuck out without paying. Either way, The Manager lost money. So wherever possible he
did a check as soon as they arrived. These checks were usually useless, there is little
you can do to check up on a hotel guest unless you have the resources of the FBI, and the
hotel Manager did not have the resources of the FBI. All he had was a broadband Internet
connection, and a receptionist who claimed to be an ex-private eye (this was a lie, but
the receptionist did know a bit about the business and was occasionally able to find
something for his boss this way). 

Mandy was one of those "occasional times". The receptionist had found out that
her name was not Mandy Franks at all, but he could not find out her real name. All he got
was that she was travelling anonymously on a false passport, that she had told no one
where she was going, and that she was trying hard to make sure that no one ever found out
where she was. This, in itself, was not a problem for The Manager. The hotel was one of
those shabby little holes, slightly off the beaten track, and desperately in need of a
good cleaner, a coat of paint, and (preferably) being knocked down and replaced with a
better building. But none of these were going to happen. Consequently the clientèle
consisted of two elderly people who had become permanent residents as they could not
afford anything better, a few low paid itinerant workers, who used it for the same reason,
a guy who had been thrown out by his wife and did not want to get anything better because
he hoped that she would have him back on day (she never would, and eventually he would
commit suicide in the hotel), an occasional travelling salesman trying to economise,
prostitutes who lived there because they no longer cared, prostitutes who did not live
there but used the hotel to bring their clients to, "couples" who were not
"couples", but were cheating on their spouses, and wanted somewhere out of the
way to fuck, and people who had committed crimes and were hiding out until the heat died
down and they could spend their loot. This last group were The Manager`s favourite type of
guest. Although you would think, as criminals, they would be a high risk group - very
likely to skip out without paying, and taking anything they could nick with them. But they
were not like that. The last thing they wanted was The Manager calling the police because
they had not paid the bill, it would start a trail that might lead the police to wherever
they went to next. So they were prompt payers, and rarely argued over the bill. Also, most
were model guests. They did not want anyone to notice them, so they kept quiet, kept their
heads down, and behaved themselves. Thirdly, they usually paid in cash. The Manager loved
this, the money went straight in his pocket without the tax man knowing about it. 

When the hotel receptionist told The Manager that Mandy was travelling anonymously under
a false name and on a false passport, had told no one where she was going, and was trying
hard to make sure that no one ever found out where she was, he decided she was either a
criminal on the run (his favourite type of guest) or a woman who had left her husband and
did not want him to find her. Either way he expected her to pay, and probably pay in cash
too. 

But there was another reason The Manager took special notice of the information his
receptionist gave him. And it was all to do with a secret buried in The Manager`s past.