Dan woke with a start. Someone was pounding on the hotel room door.

He looked at the clock. Three thirty in the morning.

“Mr. Roberge, this is the police. Open the door.”

That was fast. Or slow. He wasn’t sure.

Dan hadn’t brought a change of clothes, and had fallen asleep in the clothes he had been wearing yesterday. He sat up on the bed.

“Yeah, just a minute.”

“You have twenty seconds.”

Dan rubbed his eyes as he walked to the door. He flipped back the security catch, then twisted the deadbolt.

“Do you have a gun?”

“Yes,” Dan said, “but it’s on the dresser. Ten feet away from me.”

“Open the door slowly.”

Dan opened the door. In the hallway stood two police officers, and man and a women, with their hands resting on their holstered but unstrapped weapons.

Dan raised his hands slowly in front of him, palms upward to show that he was unarmed.

The man said, “I’m Officer Andollo, and this is Officer Yonce.”

“I wasn’t expecting you so soon.”

Andollo laughed. “What do you mean so soon? It’s been twelve hours.”

Yonce unhooked a pair of handcuffs. “Turn around.”

Dan turned around and held his hands behind him at his waist. He felt the cold rings clamp around his wrists. He said, “You’re usually faster than twelve hours?”

“When they make it as easy for us as you did? Yeah.”

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, tattered card. “Daniel Roberge, you are under arrest for the murder of Faith Roberge and Zorem Bigote.”

“Yes,” Dan said. “I made it to easy for you?”

Officer Yonce said, “From the moment we entered the bedroom it was obvious what had happened.” She glanced at Andollo pointed beyond Dan into the room.

Andollo walked into the room pulling thin plastic gloves onto his hands. Dan’s gun, wallet, and cell phone lay on the dresser. Andollo picked them up one at a time and placed each in a separate plastic bag.

He turned to Yonce. “Let’s go.”

Dan said, “Don’t you have to read me my rights?”

Andollo laughed. “You watch too much TV.”