THE VIDEO TECH put the security tape from the lobby of the Four Seasons into the FBI’s sophisticated computer. We had to bring the desk clerk with us to identify Winston Keyes, promising him a special tour of FBI Headquarters. The Four Seasons’ manager wasn’t happy about it, but we needed the clerk.
As far as we knew, the clerk was the only person who could lead us to the killer. I was hoping this wasn’t a waste of precious time. It seemed promising, but you never know about leads. I’d wasted lots of time following leads that led to dead ends before. Every law enforcement officer has. But I had a hunch we were on the right track.
The tape was time-date indexed. All we had to do was speed the tape up to the time when Winston Keyes had checked in. The tech froze the picture when the Four Seasons desk clerk identified Keyes, who was looking directly into the camera. The tech hit a couple of buttons, and voila, we had a picture of the man we hoped was our suspect. Keyes was a black man, wearing a chauffeur’s uniform. I wondered if Judge Taylor was having an affair with him.
The tech inserted the tape of the floor Keyes was registered for and fast-forwarded. We got lucky again. An expensively dressed white woman was seen entering his suite. She obviously didn’t want to be seen. She kept her head lowered, and she was wearing a wide-brimmed sunbonnet.
Either Keyes was having relations with her or he was her driver. Maybe both. I’ve seen that sort of thing many times. Certainly, someone with more than a chauffeur’s pay had to be paying the bill. The Four Seasons was a very expensive hotel. The suite he was staying in was a $5,500-a-night penthouse.
Again we fast-forwarded the tape. At 8:30, Judge Taylor went to the chauffeur’s room. According to the time on the tape, the woman who had arrived earlier had been in there with Keyes for six hours. Now Taylor was there, too. Was there some kind of freaky sex going on? I wondered.
Then, unexpectedly, the clerk said, “This may be nothing, but I got a complaint from a guest in the next room about two women arguing. When I called the room, Mr. Keyes apologized and that was the end of it.”
Kelly and I looked at each other. We knew we were onto something. What it was, I didn’t know yet. We fast-forwarded the tape again and saw Judge Taylor standing in the doorway. It appeared as if she and the other woman were having words. There was a lot of finger pointing from both women.
“Phoenix, what if this is just a guy who got caught screwing around with two wealthy women?” Kelly asked.
“I was wondering about that myself. I’m thinking, this is either the mother lode or this has been a serious waste of time.”
The clerk said, “Can I get that tour now, Agent Perry?”
“Sure.”
The tech volunteered to show him around. I think she found him attractive. I picked up the telephone logs from Keyes’ room, wondering if he had made any other calls in addition to the four to the Taylors. According to the logs, he had made one more call that night. I picked up the nearest phone and punched in the number. A woman’s voice informed me that I had reached the Capitol Hill Hyatt Regency. I hung up.
“Hmmmm,” I muttered.
“What?” Kelly asked.
“He called the Hyatt Regency right after the Judge left. It may be nothing, but let’s check it out anyway. I’m going to take my own car, then go on home. I’m tired.”