We spent the next morning separately checking out the Annamae Hotel. I went in first, playing tourist. That wasn’t hard to pull off since the hotel was listed on the national register of historical places. With a camera hanging around my neck, black-framed glasses perched on my nose and guidebook in one hand, I wandered around, gawking and taking pictures of the public areas. Those included the ballroom where the gala was being held, the mezzanine overlooking it, and smaller events rooms that opened onto it. Off the mezzanine were two of the balconies we’d seen the previous night. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t be usable for what we had planned. A two-story fall might break an arm or leg, but that was about it.
Coop went in after I left. His job was to check the rest of the hotel, especiall
