The Accidental Florist

without going to their headquarters and telling them why we need to know about certain guests.
    “So I went to a third hotel, and the desk clerk was being cranky about missing his lunch break. An overweight man who must have never missed a lunch in his life.“
    Mel smiled back at her. “Go on, Officer Needham.“
    “The desk guy kept complaining that his substitute was late, and I sat down in the lobby as if I were waiting for someone, and when the substitute turned up, a spotty young man, I went back to the front desk and asked if they had records of a person or people named Welbourne staying there recently.
    “He claimed he wasn’t supposed to talk about visitors. He’d have to ask the man having his lunch.
    “I got really chummy and friendly and said, `Won’t it be a bad idea to interrupt his lunch?’
    “He grinned, glanced over his shoulder, and opened the reservation book. Turns out there were two Welbournes there during the time Miss Welbourne was attacked. They came three days before, and left two days later.“
    Mel said, “Sit down and tell me what else he said.“
    “That they were in their forties, good tippers, and had Australian passports. He said he himself had been at the front desk when they asked him to book a limo to the airport. He called the limo company and they asked him what flight number, takeoff time, and destination.“
    “And what was that?“ Mel said, pleased that she’d gotten so much information out of a hotel employee.
    “Destination was San Francisco and the man said they were staying there to see the sights before their long trip home to Sydney, to rest again, visit friends, then go home to Perth.“
    “This is amazing,“ Mel said.
    “Not really. The temp at the desk liked the man. The temp was always around at lunchtime and the pair of them asked him about restaurants. The temp wasn’t crazy about the man’s sister, though.“
    “You did get first names, right?“
    “William G. and Anne L.“
    Mel jotted the names down.
    “Where can we go from here?“ Officer Needham asked. She’d already gotten a bit in her mouth and was eager to pursue anything her boss wanted her to do.
    “I think you need to leave that to me. I’ll call some police detectives in San Francisco I’ve met before and ask about finding them. Apparently they stay in nice hotels. I’ll tell him that a woman died on my turf and left a substantial amount of money in her will. And we’re trying to find her heirs, who are seemingly staying there.“
    “So she left her money to them?“
    Mel smiled. “Nope. She left it to various charities. Mostly shelters for abused women, and the Salvation Army. But I don’t have to say that.“
    “How did you get the will, sir? May I know?“
    “Yes, it’s no secret. She lived in a luxurious condo full of antique furniture. All but the will and an old set of trust papers were in the files. But there was a key to a lockbox taped to the back of a drawer.“
    “But lockbox keys and paper containers have nothing about a name of the bank, sir. Just the box number.“
    “She’d handwritten the name of the bank on the back of the packet the key was in.“
    Officer Needham said, “I can understand that, sir. My grandma had a whole lot of stuff in various banks and didn’t indicate what banks they were. It took my dad three years to go to each bank in Chicago. And he only found one that would allow him to use the key. The box was full of titles to cars. Most of them hadn’t been owned for forty years.“
    Mel laughed. “That happens to a lot of people. My mother had to hire someone to open a small house safe she found behind a bookshelf in her father’s house. It had the same things in it.“
    “May I ask another question, sir?“
    “Only if you stop calling me `sir.’ It makes me feel old. And I may not know the answer.“
    “Yes, s—. What was the trust about?“
    “It’s not common knowledge, and I want you to keep it to yourself“
    “I will.“
    “It’s a trust in the name of an aunt of hers, leaving her a large amount of money to house, feed, and educate her children. I assume that given that the aunt was probably much older than Miss Welbourne, she’s no longer living and the remainder of the assets have gone to Miss Welbourne’s children, or have been used up.“
    “May I have the aunt’s name and look her up on my own computer at home? There are a lot of sites that list census results, and court rulings, and such.“
    “So long