Chapter 1

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Lanier, all we have is two single rooms at opposite ends of the motel," the desk clerk politely informed the well dressed woman standing opposite from him.

"Mother, I told you we shouldn't have taken this side trip," seventeen-year-old Lila Lanier remarked, a petulant look on her pretty, softly rounded face. The cute brunette teenager was dressed in form fitting sweater and slacks that displayed her promising young figure to best advantage.

"Be quiet, Lila," Barbara Lanier quickly dismissed her daughter's protest. "Are you sure?" she asked the clerk. "I didn't see too many cars parked outside." From her attitude, it was apparent that she was not the type of woman who could easily be turned down.

"Positive, Mrs. Lanier," the clerk replied. "There's nothing left but the two singles. I'm afraid it's take it or leave it."

"All right, all right," Mrs. Lanier said in a resigned voice. "We'll take them."

"Mother, I don't want to stay by myself!" Lila protested, her voice clearly indicating that she would be afraid to be alone.

"You'll be all right," Barbara Lanier quietly assured the unhappy teenager as she began signing the registration form the clerk had placed in front of him.

"Very well," the clerk replied as she returned the signed form to him. He examined it cursorily, noting the Astor Street address in Chicago with she had listed as her home address. "Your car keys, please?"

"Keys?" Barbara Lanier seemed puzzled by the unusual request.

"Yes, we have attendant parking here, Mrs. Lanier," he explained.

"Oh, I see," the attractive matron replied, quickly fishing into her purse and surrendering the keys.

"Front!" the desk clerk called out to the one bellboy on duty. "Take Mrs. Lanier to 201 and then take Miss Lanier to 343. Sorry we only have one bellboy on duty right now, Mrs. Lanier."

"That's all right," Barbara Lanier said. "Oh, by the way, would you send this telegram to my husband?"

"Certainly, ma'am," the clerk replied, accepting the slip of paper. "And thank you for registering at the Sleepwell Motel."

The desk clerk watched quietly as the two guests were ushered to their respective rooms. His name was Max Thompson and he was in fact the owner of the Sleepwell Motel. Normally he would have preferred to have someone else working the desk, but the motel had fallen on hard times since the construction of a new super highway a few miles away and he could not afford a large staff. Moreover, he had contracted some large gambling debts that had made his financial position all the more precarious. As a result, he and his trusted associates at the motel had worked out a contingency plan to bail themselves out quickly if the opportunity ever presented itself. And ever since the moment Barbara Lanier, well dressed and aristocratic in bearing, had walked into the motel lobby, his mind had been working as rapidly as a calculating machine.

Left alone in the lobby, Max Thompson opened the telegram message and read it: "Lila and I have decided to take a side trip through Wisconsin for a few days. Will expect you to join us in Denver on the fifteenth. Love, Barbara."

"Perfect!" Max exclaimed aloud. He immediately reached for the telephone and began dialing his business partner, Ned Davis.

"Ned, this is it!" Max spoke excitedly the instant the other man came on the line. "Exactly what we've been looking for! A mother and daughter! They've got plenty of money and no one knows they're here. We'll keep them apart so they'll be too worried about each other's safety to try anything. I'll have Steve drive their car to Chicago and phone a ransom demand to her husband. And since they're going to be here awhile, we might as well enjoy ourselves! The girl's in 343 if you want to try your luck with her!" Laughing, he abruptly hung up the phone.

In the meantime, the bellboy had returned to the lobby.

"Steve, come here," Max called out from behind the desk. "The Plan is going into operation."

"I thought so," the young man replied with a grin.

"Okay," Max spoke quickly. "Get out of that uniform as fast as you can, and drive the Lanier car to Chicago and leave it there. Go to a pay phone and tell old mail Lanier we want a hundred grand for his wife and daughter! It'll take him a few days to get that into cash, so tell him to get the cash together and wait for instructions. Got it?"

"Right!" Steve replied, quickly dashing out the door as Max handed him the car keys.

Left alone behind the desk, Max rubbed his hands with satisfaction. "Both of them are real good lookers too!" he said to himself.