Under Cover

Chapter 7

       "It appears our hitman is a woman," Richards announced to O'Connor as he watched the security video on his computer for the tenth time.

The video showed a woman with long blonde hair leaving the elevator on the fourth floor and walking in the direction of Styles' room at 11.53 pm. Another video showed the same woman leaving the hotel lobby eleven minutes later.

"Notice how she keeps her head down," he commented, "She knows there are security cameras in the building, and she's wearing running shoes as she leaves. She had this planned, and I can't believe I came so close to getting her. If only I'd known. I called out to her since she was outside Style's room, but she just waved and kept walking away from me. I should have gone after her. So Dan how are you going with questioning the staff?"

"I've spoken with most of them but most of them don't remember seeing her. I have one more girl to talk to tonight at six o'clock when she comes on duty, a Ms Chantelle Leclair. Apparently she served our suspect in the bar last night."

*****
Hannah sat in her car carefully looking through the contents of a fresh envelope which had been left in the usual place under the driver's seat while she was at work. Another job already. This time it was a very high profile person, Niles Jefferson, the assistant district attorney. He must be prosecuting a case against someone important to her employers. After this hit all hell would break loose. Every cop in the city would be after her. This would take some careful planning.

She placed the envelope back under the seat, started the car and drove home. For a change Michael was there when she arrived. He was sitting on the couch with a glass of wine in his hand.

Hannah sat down next to him and kissed him. "It's nice to see you, sweetheart," she murmured, "Our jobs seem to so often keep us away from each other. So tell me all about your day."

*****
"Yes, I remember this woman from last night."

Dan O'Connor sat across from Chantelle Leclair at a table at the bar at the Fairmont Hotel. She was an attractive girl in her late twenties with long dark brown hair tied back in a braid.

"Can we make this quick please, Detective? I have to start work in five minutes."

"Sure. Just tell me everything you can remember about her."

"Well she was attractive, long blonde hair, too much makeup, short black dress, I thought she might be a hooker. That guy Styles who got murdered sure took an interest in her."

"When Styles left the bar did she go with him?"

"No, she left about five minutes later."

"I'd like you come in to the station tomorrow morning and we'll get a police artist to draw up a picture of her from your description."

"Yes, I suppose so."

"Thank you Ms Leclair. We appreciate your assistance. I'll see you in the morning."

As O'Connor walked out the door and onto the street he heard a voice calling his name. He turned around to see Chantelle running after him. He stopped as she came up to him.

"Detective, there's one more thing. I've been thinking about it and I am one hundred per cent sure I'm right."

"Okay, what is it?" 

"That woman was not a blonde. She was wearing a wig."

*****
Hannah returned to her office after visiting a client. Her assistant, Tracy, met her with a worried expression. "Hannah, the police are here. There's a detective waiting in your office."

The police! Hannah took a deep breath. This could mean one of two things. Either the police had somehow found some incriminating evidence against her, or....
She entered her office. A man stood looking out the window with his back to her. He turned around to face her.

Hannah smiled. "Detective Michael Richards, what brings you to my office?"

He stepped forward to give her a hug. "Can't I surprise my wife with an invitation to lunch?"

"Ha ha, of course you can. Did you ask my assistant to try and scare me like that?"

"Well," he laughed, "I may have."

"Tracy, you have the office for an hour," Hannah called to her assistant as she walked out the door with Michael on her arm, "I'm going to lunch with the police."

"So how is your latest case going, the serial killer? Any leads?" she asked as they waited for their order to arrive at a small café not far from Hannah's travel agency.

"Well I'm not really supposed to talk to anyone about the case," Michael replied, "But I know you won't repeat it. We are now reasonably sure the killer is really an assassin, and we think it's a woman. We have video surveillance of a woman at the hotel, and would you believe I even saw her near the victim's room, but of course at that point I thought she was just another hotel guest."

"Did you see her face?"

"No, she had her back to me, but we have a fairly good artist's sketch of her thanks to a waitress in the bar. She had blonde hair, but we now think she was wearing a wig."

"So the artist's sketch of this woman, will that help you find her?"

"Maybe. Here, what do you think?"

Michael reached into his pocket and withdrew a folded A4 sheet of paper. He passed it to Hannah. She opened it and studied the sketch closely.

"It's a bit vague," she replied while quietly breathing a sigh of relief. The picture barely resembled her at all. She handed the paper back to Michael. "So do you think she'll strike again?"

"Yes, if she stays true to form, which means we have four weeks to find her or work out who her next target will be?"

"So will you go to the psychic again?"

"Yes, Dan is going to see her next week. She put us in the ball park with Styles. Maybe she can do it again, and maybe this time we can get lucky."

After returning to her office after lunch Hannah sat at her desk deep in thought. She smiled to herself. The police would never suspect that the wife of the detective in charge of the case was the killer they were so desperately searching for. She had the perfect cover, no, she was 'under cover'! Michael could never find out of course. He loved her. He thought she was the perfect wife. Ha ha!

She had moved here from Los Angeles eighteen months ago and bought a travel agency. Then she met Michael, a police detective. Very useful to have as a husband when she decided to reactivate her part time job as a professional assassin. After a whirlwind romance they were married six months later. A few months after that she got her first job from her mysterious employers who she only knew as 'The Organization', and by a happy coincidence her husband was the detective assigned to the case. Poor Michael had often unwittingly revealed information to her which had helped her stay several steps ahead of the police. Except for that night at the Fairmont Hotel. He had told her about the psychic's vague prediction, but he hadn't said anything about them doing surveillance on William Styles. It had been a last minute decision by Michael to go to the hotel, and as a result she had nearly been caught.

But now this psychic had her worried. What if she gave the police an even better lead this time? Could she afford to take the risk of getting caught? Michael had mentioned the name of the psychic. Hannah would have to pay her a visit.