"S. P. C. A. animals" - 9 February 1962

"Robert Hudson feeds Cebus Monkey."

George D. McDowell Philadelphia Evening Bulletin Photographs

CID are undercover, centred around the Hilton National Hotel on the case of an arms dealer. Alistair is on reception, Ted and Jim are drivers for a fashion wholesaler with a convenient office across the road. Tosh is a general lookout hiding in an upstairs room at the wholesalers. Alistair alerts Tosh to the movement of their target. "Buttons and Bows..." Tosh drawls into the radio to alert Jim and Ted in an effort to give himself something more interesting than staring out of a window and eating. "Alright, we don't need a comedian!" Ted scowls, following the man in the van. He drops Jim off behind him to follow him on foot.

Jim follows him onto the local High St whilst Ted returns to the hotel to update Alistair. Ted is concerned that the receptionist is giving him funny looks and answers Alistair's insistence that everything is OK with "It's got to be better than OK!"As they get into the lift, a man exits with a woman who's clearly not his wife. Ted, of course, has a good look! Alistair reassures him he'll talk to the receptionist.

Yorkie finds CID empty. Bob similarly finds the front desk unmanned and presses the door to let a waiting couple in. They don't move, so he goes to ask if he can help. "We're being seen, thanks."

Ted and Alistair search Rouse's room with great care to return everything exactly as it was. Jim has to duck into a shop doorway to avoid being seen when Rouse turns round after checking his watch. Ted finds the mini bar and gets Alistair to come and unlock it. "I hate the smell of too much money," Ted says, purposely shaking the bottle of champagne. "Especially if it's bent and especially if it belongs to someone else." For what's meant to be an expensive room... It's really not. Even the view isn't that great! They find absolutely nothing.

Yorkie comes back down and sees Bob in the front office. He tells Bob that the couple waiting at the door are odd. They have been in half a dozen times that week already and he doesn't want to deal with them anymore. He wants CID to take over, but no one is in! Bob tells him that CID are all on a job. Yorkie explains that the couple's car was stolen 10 days ago and they won't rest until it's found. They'd left the keys in the ignition and didn't realise until it was too late. It all adds up to an unsolvable crime, and Yorkie is at his wits' end. (Interesting fact: this couple were married IRL, which probably helps them bounce off each other so well).

Alistair returns the suspect's door key to him when he arrives back at the hotel. He's very polite and asks the receptionist, who clearly hates him, to tell him if he's overdoing it. "I will. You're overdoing it."

The car theft victims are surprised to hear there's no news on their car. They tell Yorkie that they've been doing their own surveillance to try and locate the car. Yorkie smiles politely as they speak at the same time, and are generally a bit eccentric. "No other car will do for us, just that one. We just want our own car back. Please."

Ted can't believe that their suspect didn't do anything of note whilst out - he didn't talk to anyone, buy anything, or meet anyone. Ted doesn't let the job stop him being Ted, however....

Rouse is not making any calls out of the hotel and no one is ringing in to speak to him either. Jim says he is playing £100 a night (now £260) to walk around the block and look in a few shop windows.

The boys aren't happy. They've got most of CID sat tied up on someone else's case whilst their own cases are getting left behind. Rouse hasn't had a conviction for arms dealing for 8 years, but Ted, who has had experience with him in the past, is adamant that he's up to something. Ted points out that the lack of conviction doesn't mean he's turned over a new leaf - he just hasn't been caught. Ted reminds Jim that their suspect is the subject of special reports from almost every major crime unit in the country. "If they couldn't get a case against him in 8 years, what chance have we got?" Jim sighs. "Our brief is to watch and wait, night and day. Ok?" Ted snaps. Jim scowls, claiming it only needs two of them and not the entire CID team. "You know why? I'll tell you why. Burnside." he spits. "He wants the arrest to take place here and nowhere else. He's got two fingers up to all the crime squad and all the surveillance teams across the country!" Tosh isn't happy to hear that he's got to remain at the wholesalers, keeping watch for a second night. "I've got an oversexed wife waiting for me at home!" "What you need is domestic backup - an oversexed lodger!"

Alistair watches as a courier drops off a parcel with only 'to be collected' written on it. "Can't you read?" the receptionist snaps. She admits it's an unusual experience but is too busy to consider it further. Alistair opens it with a view to replacing the envelope. It's what looks like a car key. Rouse is still in his room, and the cars in the car park are all accounted for as owned by guests. Ted suggests it could belong to any vehicle and so could not be involved in their operation, so keep an eye, but don't let it draw focus. Alistair returns to the receptionist. "Keep smiling."

The doorman clarifies that Rouse arrived via taxi and says he recognises Ted. "Are you the er..." "Department of Trade and Industry."

Tosh asks if they're bugging Rouse's phone. Jim says that wasn't possible, but the switchboard is logging calls to and from his room. The only problem is that there aren't any! Tosh reckons he has to be waiting for something or someone, given the £100 a night luxury.

Bob tells Yorkie that the odd couple have rung back and want to speak to him. Bob took pity on poor Yorkie and told them that he was busy. The couple want to ask for Yorkie's permission to advertise their lost car. "They didn't want to cut across your process of investigation." He warns him that they're going to ring back.

At the hotel, Alistair keeps watch over the parcel as Rouse approaches. "You seem to work long hours." Alistair simply smiles and explains that they're short-staffed at the moment. Rouse asks for matches and doesn't touch or mention the envelope despite it being right in front of them.

The next morning, Jim is quick to wake Tosh from the sleeping bag on the floor so they can swap over.

The receptionist asks Alistair when they're going to be gone, as she wants everything to return to normal. She asks what Mr Rouse has done. Alistair gestures for her to be more discreet and tells her that - so far - Rouse has done nothing. The doorman tells them that a guest booked in last night with a car and he gives him the registration. Alistair questions that because he was on shift and no guest arrived with a car mentioned. The doorman points at a shabbily parked car and complains about it. Alistair tells Ted - it could be bent or it could be someone simply using the hotel car park to park for the night. With that and the key being left for Rouse it's concerning. It's even more concerning when Tosh tells them that there are no such number plates registered.

Ted passes on a message from Frank for everyone to stay in place. Alistair suggests they're going to need a changeover before long as Rouse spoke to him and questioned him about working such long hours. Ted reassures him that whatever is going on can't take much longer. Known associates of Rouse have turned up at a hotel in Southampton situated near the dock. It looks like they're about to ship out - literally. The local police did the same searching of the room - carefully - as Sun Hill did and found not only the name of the hotel they're staking out but also Rouse's room number on a scrap of paper.

Yorkie's favourite couple return and ask for him. They think they've found their car but it's got a different number plate on it. They do have a spare set of keys with them but haven't approached it or tried them yet as they didn't want to destroy finger print evidence. You can see where this is going, right...? They tell Yorkie that the car is parked in a hotel carpark. He agrees to have it looked into - in the hope he'll get rid of them.

Alistair returns to the reception desk to find the package gone. The receptionist tells him Rouse collected it when he paid his bill. He's currently packing in his room. Alistair updates Tosh, Ted and Jim and they all prepare 'for lift off'. The car reported is still in place, for now. All parties drive to the hotel, ready to pick Rouse up. Unfortunately for them, Yorkie arrives in a marked police car with the couple so they can show him the car. Yep, it's the target car. He goes inside to speak at the desk as Rouse approaches. The look on the receptionist's face gives them away as Rouse looks at her. He notices Yorkie arriving and approaches the desk, calmly telling them he collected the key package by mistake. "It's not mine after all." Rouse leaves and Yorkie approaches the desk, asking Alistair what he's doing there. Thankfully Rouse is far enough to have not heard, but the damage was already done. Alistair radios the others and tells them the operation has been blown. "You bloody fool!" he chides Yorkie, jumping over the desk [captured in gif for... reasons]. "What's going on?" Yorkie blinks, following him outside.

Rouse walks away as the doorman approaches the irritating couple and asks them to move their car. The husband gets in the car. Alistair looks at Rouse's retreating back as the car is about to be started...

People start screaming after the explosion and the officers run towards the scene. It's obvious it's too late - even with the almost instantaneous fire engine sirens.

Ted can only watch the horror as Rouse walks away into the distance.

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