Motor Mouth

button. When the doors opened, I hurried over and slipped into the elevator with them. Two more people followed.
    Beans’s ears instantly went up, his eyes got bright, and he started jumping around doing his happy dance. The guy was trying to control Beans, but Beans was having none of it. He pushed against me, snuffling my leg, leaving a wake of dog slobber from my knee to my crotch.
    “He’s usually so well behaved,” the guy said. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him.”
    “Dogs like me,” I said. “Must be something about the way I smell. Eau de pot roast.”
    The elevator stopped at the sixth floor and the guy got out, but Beans wouldn’t leave my side. Beans had his four feet planted and his toenails dug into the elevator floor. The guy pulled at the leash, and Beans sat down. Hard to move Beans when he’s got his mind made up not to move. The two remaining people were nervously crowded into a corner.
    “Maybe I should adopt him,” I said. “Want me to take him off your hands?”
    “Lady, I lose this dog and my life isn’t worth dirt.”
    I stepped out of the elevator, and Beans got up and moved to my side. “This isn’t my floor, but I’ll walk you to your room,” I told the dognapper. “Your dog seems to have attached himself to me.”
    “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s like he knows you.”
    “Yeah, it’s weird. I have this happen all the time.”
    We walked down the hall to the dognapper’s room, he inserted his key card, then he opened the door.
    I pointed to the sign dangling from the doorknob. “I see you have a DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door.”
    “Yeah, I keep it there so the maid doesn’t come in. I can’t take a chance on someone accidentally letting the dog out.” He stepped inside and tugged on the leash. “Come on, big guy. Be a good dog.”
    Beans pressed himself against me, and I fondled his head. “I don’t think he wants to go into the room.”
    “He’s got to. I got things to do, and I can’t take him with me.”
    “I could take him for a walk for you.”
    “Thanks for the offer, but he was just out for a walk, and he did everything, if you know what I mean.” He searched through his pockets and came up with a dog biscuit. “I save these for emergencies,” he said. “I don’t give him too many because I don’t want him to get fat.” He threw the dog biscuit into the room, Beans bounded in after it, and the door was slammed shut.
    I stood outside, waiting and listening, and a moment later I heard Beans give a
woof
. There was the sound of a body getting knocked to the floor, and there was some swearing.
    I got back into the elevator, returned to the lobby, and called Hooker. “I have a plan. Meet me in the lobby. And try not to be conspicuous.”
    A half hour later, Hooker and I were on a couch, our noses buried in a paper, our eyes trained on the elevator. We watched a lot of people go up and come down, but none of them was the Beans-napper. And then, there he was, stepping out of the elevator. He punched a number into his cell phone, talking as he walked to the door. He exited the hotel and got into a car that had just come up from valet parking.
    “Do you know him?” I asked Hooker.
    “Roger Estero. He works for Huevo. His official position is public relations, but he’s really a babysitter for Spanky. He tries to keep Spanky from punching out photographers, and he makes late-night pizza and Pepto-Bismol runs. I think he’s related to Huevo. A nephew or something. Not real bright. If you were even a little smart, you wouldn’t take a job babysitting Spanky.”
    We waited until Estero drove away, and then we hustled up to the seventh floor. I found Beans’s room and removed the DO NOT DISTURB sign.
    “Okay,” I said to Hooker. “You call room ser vice and tell them you want the room made up. Then as soon as the maid appears and puts the key in the door, you distract her and I’ll sneak in.”
    Hooker made the call, and we positioned ourselves at opposite ends of the hall. The door leading to the ser vice elevator opened, and I hid around the corner. Hooker was down the hall fumbling with his key card. I heard the maid’s cart roll out. I heard her at Estero’s door. I heard Hooker approach her.
    “Hey there, darlin’,” he said. And much as I hate to admit it, if I’d been the maid, I would have given him my full attention.
    Hooker handed the maid a line about not being able to get his door open. He switched to