City Police · Cold Case Unit
Case 1147Status OpenPriority Red
Halcyon Hotel · 14 March · Room 903

The guest who never arrived

A man booked room 903 under the name of V. Auber, paid in cash, and was seen on the ninth floor at 23:40. The room was found empty at 06:00, the lift was at the ninth floor, and the river was four hundred metres away.

SUBJECT 04HALCYON

Case summary

Reported16 March, 09:12, by night manager E. Kolbe
SubjectMale, 40–50, grey coat, carries a canvas holdall
Last seen23:40, ninth floor, west corridor
Room903 — paid in cash, one night, no luggage
EntryKey card used at 21:55, 14 March. No record of exit.

The corridor camera for the ninth floor has been running since 2011. It was replaced in March and the footage between 21:00 and 06:00 was overwritten by a loop. The card reader logs are intact.

A neighbour in 906 reported someone using the service stair at approximately 00:20. She heard two sets of footsteps going down and one coming up.

Key card 9041 used at the west lift. Nobody exits.

Room service brings a coffee to 903. The trolley is returned empty, 22:52.

Subject seen by the night porter at the west corridor, without the holdall.

Witness 903/906 reports footsteps in the service stair. Two down, one up.

Room found empty. Window closed. Heater on. Ashtray contains one stub, still warm.

01
Physical

The coffee cup

Lipstick on the rim, no DNA match. The coffee was drunk black; the subject was seen carrying a sugar bowl.

02
CCTV

Ninth floor loop

Seventy-two hours, overwritten. The service stair camera is on a separate circuit and was left running.

03
Financial

Cash register

The cash drawer was counted correctly. The subject paid with a fifty that was flagged at the front desk, unused for four years.