The Swiss Suitcase (LSD, #1)

3. Paint It Black

Paint It Black

My room, 1407, is the safest place for the moment. When you enter, you see the door to the bathroom on the right, then a little alcove with an electric kettle plus some cups and bags with tea and coffee above a safe and a small refrigerator, and two steps further you enter the room itself, with a double bed on the righthand side and a table with two chairs on the left. A small TV-set on the wall above the table and two double windows with lake-and-mountain view complete the picture. I tell Rostov to take the table to the bathroom and place it before the mirror, so he can sit on it and watch himself. I search my luggage for my Picasso-stuff.

"What are we going to do?", Rostov asks.

"First, we're going to make you invisible."

"Invisible?"

"Give me a description of every person you saw since we left suite 2503."

Rostov looks surprised, waits for the rest of the joke, which doesn't come, realises I'm trying to be serious, and starts to count: "When we went to the lift, I saw a girl in a white summer dress walk by... That old man with the dark suit and his wife, well, I think it was his wife, who got in on the 17th floor, and that younger man in the blue suit who got in on the 15th floor. That's it. Four people."

"Plus two invisible people. A man and a woman. Wash your face with warm water and soap, but don't make your hair wet."

"I haven't seen any invisible people..."

I hand Rostov a clean towel: "You haven't seen them because they were invisible to you, but I saw them. When we left suite 2503, there was a lady cleaning the room on the other side of the corridor. When we waited for the lift to arrive, a chamberboy passed by. They work here, like me. You didn't notice them. For you, and for almost every other guest in this hotel, someone who doesn't belong to 'our kind of people' is invisible. So that's how we're going to make you invisible: you will be Mesut Bellarabi, a bellboy from Pakistan. You'll walk around with brooms and toilet brushes or you push a little cart with room service. As long as you don't say anything, nobody will notice you."

I put a set of small hairpins and a little round iron tin with dark make-up on the table: "When you've cleaned your face, you dry it carefully with the towel. Use the pins to get your hair out of your face and neck. I see a pale skin and I want it painted black. I'll be right back."

"Where are you going to?"

"To the concierge. We'll need clothes for you. You're about 25 centimetres taller than I am, so we can't use anything of my stuff. I will only be a minute. The concierge has his office on this same floor."

The concierge gives me a suit and a shirt of a bellboy in Rostov's size. The hotel doesn't supply socks, shoes and underwear. Rostov can take socks and underwear out of my suitcase, but he can't walk around without shoes. Fortunately, we're in a five-star hotel, where solving problems is our everyday job.

Back in the room, I give Rostov his new outfit. When he has changed into the hotel uniform, I tell him to sit down in front of the mirror. With some putty from my make-up box, I give him a different nose and other cheekbones. I hand him the round iron tin: "This foundation will give you a dark skin. It's high quality and waterproof, so you can't take it off easily. Take your time to do it right; make sure the colour is smooth and equal everywhere. Don't forget to do the back of your hands and make sure there are no white spots left when you close the collar of your shirt. Work around your new nose until the putty is dry and be careful not to damage the form when you put on the colour. What's the size of your shoes?"

"44. Why?"

"You'll need a new pair of shoes. The CIA bugged your old shoes, and you can't walk around barefoot. Don't worry. I'll ask at the reception if they have any ideas."