Myth 08 – Myth-Nomers by Aspirin, Robert

was in would have given me pause. Between the garbage

in the streets and the metal shutters on the store windows,

it wasn’t an area in which I would normally be inclined to

get out of the cab, much less rent a room. I was about to

comment on this to my driver/guide, when I noticed the

uniformed doorman and decided to make my inquiry a bit

more gentle.

“Ah . . , this is the low-price hotel you’ve been figuring

on?”

“It’s about as low as you can go without ending up in a

real dive,” the cabbie shrugged. “Actually, it’s a little nicer

than most in the same price range. They’ve had to lower

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their prices because of the trouble they’ve been having.”

“Trouble?”

“Yeah. There’s an ax murderer loose around here that

the police haven’t been able to catch. He’s been killing

about one a week . . . last week he got one right in the

lobby.”

“Ax murderer??!”

“That’s right. You don’t have to worry about it, though.”

“How do you figure that?”

“Well, it’s been going on for a month now, and since

you’re just checking in, and you’ve never been here before,

there’s not much chance they’ll try to blame you for it.”

Actually, that hadn’t been my worry. I had been more

concerned with my odds on being the next victim. Before

I could clarify this to Edvik, however, the doorman had

jerked open the door of the cab and snatched up my bag.

“You’d better follow your bag and keep an eye on it,”

the driver advised. “I’ll be by in the morning to pick you

up. Oh, and be sure to tip the baggage handler. Otherwise

it may not be recognizable by the time you get it back.”