More Tales From My Guests

[gattino]

Speaking of guests..
Two lads with a strong foreign accent just checked in. One was cheery, the other looked like his criminal henchman or bodyguard and sported an unfriendly stare . Just one suitcase, which weighed a ton as they struggled to get it upstairs between them. I contemplated - but resisted - joking about them having a dead body in there. Instead I asked where are you actually from? "Transylvania" he replied. ...

I may pop over to Tesco for some garlic. Sudden craving.

 

[SimonBurchell]

Speaking of guests..
Two lads with a strong foreign accent just checked in. One was cheery, the other looked like his criminal henchman or bodyguard and sported an unfriendly stare . Just one suitcase, which weighed a ton as they struggled to get it upstairs between them. I contemplated - but resisted - joking about them having a dead body in there. Instead I asked where are you actually from? "Transylvania" he replied. ...

I may pop over to Tesco for some garlic. Sudden craving.

That'll be the bagful of home soil they were lugging up the stairs.

 

[gattino]

The Strigoi...I mean .. Romanians went out mid evening...and never came back. Their room door was left ajar with the light on last night and was the same way when I got up this morning. But their Suitcase Of Mystery is still there.

I eventually went in the room to tidy it up and - to my relief but mysteriously - the front door key was still there. Implying they had never intended to come back last night. To add to the Agatha Christie vibe the only other oddity in the room is a pair of blue latex gloves on the window sill ...

I've just read a body was found last night drained of all blood.

I made that last bit up. I needed a cliched ending.

 

[SimonBurchell]

The Strigoi...I mean .. Romanians went out mid evening...and never came back. Their room door was left ajar with the light on last night and was the same way when I got up this morning. But their Suitcase Of Mystery is still there.

I eventually went in the room to tidy it up and - to my relief but mysteriously - the front door key was still there. Implying they had never intended to come back last night. To add to the Agatha Christie vibe the only other oddity in the room is a pair of blue latex gloves on the window sill ...

I've just read a body was found last night drained of all blood.

I made that last bit up. I needed a cliched ending.

Their bag is still there? Are you expecting them back?

 

[Mythopoeika]

The Strigoi...I mean .. Romanians went out mid evening...and never came back. Their room door was left ajar with the light on last night and was the same way when I got up this morning. But their Suitcase Of Mystery is still there.

I eventually went in the room to tidy it up and - to my relief but mysteriously - the front door key was still there. Implying they had never intended to come back last night. To add to the Agatha Christie vibe the only other oddity in the room is a pair of blue latex gloves on the window sill ...

I've just read a body was found last night drained of all blood.

I made that last bit up. I needed a cliched ending.

They left a suitcase and blew the gaff in the dead of night?
Highly suspicious.

 

[gattino]

To be fair it's not the first time someone has booked and then stayed out all night. Someone did the same two weeks ago. They did say they were here for a night out and then we're going to Leicester. And he has good reviews.

Inevitably though I've been looking up ( not for the first time) what one would actually do if a guest never returned. It's one of the two "it'll happen one day " queries that play on the mind ..the other being who to call if a guest dies in their room.

I'll give it til noon and text him.

 

[gattino]

WtF! I just went back to the suitcase...saw it was actually open a little. ..it was empty, apart from a shopping bag of rubbish!

They've obviously taken it's contents ( I know where your mind is going) and dumped the suitcase here.

He'd said ( perhaps exagerating) as he was hauling it upstairs that it weighed 60 kilos.

 

[SimonBurchell]

WtF! I just went back to the suitcase...saw it was actually open a little. ..it was empty, apart from a shopping bag of rubbish!

They've obviously taken it's contents ( I know where your mind is going) and dumped the suitcase here.

He'd said ( perhaps exagerating) as he was hauling it upstairs that it weighed 60 kilos.

Lets us know when you're interviewed for Crimewatch (if it still exists)...

 

[Mythopoeika]

WtF! I just went back to the suitcase...saw it was actually open a little. ..it was empty, apart from a shopping bag of rubbish!

They've obviously taken it's contents ( I know where your mind is going) and dumped the suitcase here.

He'd said ( perhaps exagerating) as he was hauling it upstairs that it weighed 60 kilos.

Why dump a perfectly good suitcase?
They could have found a bin on the street and dumped the rubbish.
Odd, ain't it?

 

[gattino]

It gets curioser and curioser. It's like clues to a mystery have genuinely been placed. There was one non rubbish item in the suitcase. A still valid private car hire licence in his name from the neighbouring council to my own. (notably the last of the three airbnb reviews he has was also local). The driver id has two points of interest...the photo looks it could be him, but could just as easily be someone else. There's certainly a different hairline to his Airbnb photo. Secondly his surname is spelled differently...a different last letter. The version he has on Airbnb doesn't seem to exist. But with the new correct spelling i was able to find his profile on Facebook. All the useful information that might paint a picture is private. Except "likes". Among a lot of things related to cars, football, and music there are at least two born again christian pages he's liked, hopefully undermining a little any suspicion he's the kingpin of crime.

 

[catseye]

It gets curioser and curioser. It's like clues to a mystery have genuinely been placed. There was one non rubbish item in the suitcase. A still valid private car hire licence in his name from the neighbouring council to my own. (notably the last of the three airbnb reviews he has was also local). The driver id has two points of interest...the photo looks it could be him, but could just as easily be someone else. There's certainly a different hairline to his Airbnb photo. Secondly his surname is spelled differently...a different last letter. The version he has on Airbnb doesn't seem to exist. But with the new correct spelling i was able to find his profile on Facebook. All the useful information that might paint a picture is private. Except "likes". Among a lot of things related to cars, football, and music there are at least two born again christian pages he's liked, hopefully undermining a little any suspicion he's the kingpin of crime.

I don't think (she said, cautiously) that Christianity is any bar to crime-committing.

 

[gattino]

Let's go through some options in my usual fashion and fail to come to a satisfactory conclusion.

1) They went out for the night as planned, got drunk, got lucky, got waylaid and stayed out all night.
Problem: they left the key and took the contents of the case. So surely had no intention of staying over.

2) They had plans overnight but, perhaps just arrived from the airport, they needed somewhere to stay for several hours and a place to store his luggage.
Problem: They took whatever was in the suitcase. Therefore they didn't seemingly need overnight storage. If it was just clothes etc, perhaps to change into, why so heavy?

3) Drug dealers. It was 60 kilos of something from miami vice. That would explain very little. If the suitcase was necessary to hide the contents, why and how did they take the contents out of the house without it? And if the suitcase was unnecessary for transportation, why have it in the first place? An no, its not really big enough for a body or the like. It wasn't growling like a tiger either. Essentially he just brought it over the doorstep, commented oh when he saw he'd have to carry it upstairs..i said well you can just leave it in the downstairs room if you like. He said no they need it to change their clothes etc. He commented as he got to the top of the stairs that god it was heavy..it weighs 61 kilos he said.."I'm strong but this is heavy for me!" he said cheerfully.
Problem..if it was just clothes, even boots, books and shoes for added weight..why and how did they transport it from the house without the case?

4) My favourite, after vampires, Russian sleeper agents. Perhaps there was weaponry in the bag. Problem: see above.

Final guess...some kind of gift, to be wrapped and and delivered to someone last night. Suitcase would be unsuitable and not needing it any more they said F it, just leave it here.

Maybe i should make this a poll.

Edit: final clue for aspiring detectives. One last look at the suitcase shows it has two airport luggage tags on the handle. One of them is old, from August. The other has no date, but is an orange label declaring it to be "heavy" and is filled in as "28kg". Whether that was an accurate weight from yesterday or from a past trip, who knows.. but in either case would suggest very heavy weight in it has been transported through Airport security at least once. A further strike against villainy.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Let's go through some options in my usual fashion and fail to come to a satisfactory conclusion.

1) They went out for the night as planned, got drunk, got lucky, got waylaid and stayed out all night.
Problem: they left the key and took the contents of the case. So surely had no intention of staying over.

2) They had plans overnight but, perhaps just arrived from the airport, they needed somewhere to stay for several hours and a place to store his luggage.
Problem: They took whatever was in the suitcase. Therefore they didn't seemingly need overnight storage. If it was just clothes etc, perhaps to change into, why so heavy?

3) Drug dealers. It was 60 kilos of something from miami vice. That would explain very little. If the suitcase was necessary to hide the contents, why and how did they take the contents out of the house without it? And if the suitcase was unnecessary for transportation, why have it in the first place? An no, its not really big enough for a body or the like. It wasn't growling like a tiger either. Essentially he just brought it over the doorstep, commented oh when he saw he'd have to carry it upstairs..i said well you can just leave it in the downstairs room if you like. He said no they need it to change their clothes etc. He commented as he got to the top of the stairs that god it was heavy..it weighs 61 kilos he said.."I'm strong but this is heavy for me!" he said cheerfully.
Problem..if it was just clothes, even boots, books and shoes for added weight..why and how did they transport it from the house without the case?

4) My favourite, after vampires, Russian sleeper agents. Perhaps there was weaponry in the bag. Problem: see above.

Final guess...some kind of gift, to be wrapped and and delivered to someone last night. Suitcase would be unsuitable and not needing it any more they said F it, just leave it here.

Maybe i should make this a poll.

Edit: final clue for aspiring detectives. One last look at the suitcase shows it has two airport luggage tags on the handle. One of them is old, from August. The other has no date, but is an orange label declaring it to be "heavy" and is filled in as "28kg". Whether that was an accurate weight from yesterday or from a past trip, who knows.. but in either case would suggest very heavy weight in it has been transported through Airport security at least once. A further strike against villainy.

I do hope you wore rubber gloves when sorting through this stuff!

 

[ChasFink]

Perhaps I state the obvious, but once it's long past checkout time, and if they haven't responded to your text, it's time to call in the police. I wouldn't be rummaging around in their stuff any more.

I wonder if the bag contained a somewhat smaller bag with the suspicious heavy contents, and a change of clothes, and a disguise. In other words, they were trying to get someone off their trail.

BTW, is the bag too small for a dismembered body?

 

[gattino]

There's nothing for me to be going through. It's literally just an empty suitcase and the clip on cabbie ID. The bag of rubbish I referred to was just the wrappings from their takeaway and a couple of empty cans of coke.

Other than filling the imagination by detailing and speculating on all these little odd details theres literally nothing to report to the police. "Someone left an empty suitcase in the house. Do something!"

As for bodies in bags ..one could fit actually now I look at it. A small one anyway. But it would have had to spring to life, get dressed and leave through the front door and out into the residential street in the middle of the evening. Which seems improbable.

 

[gattino]

A potential solution to the mystery.

My plumber came back to finish a job and I was telling him about it. He's a very blokish type. He said straight away there'll have been drugs or cash in the suitcase. Well we've all thought that. But it was his explanation that sounded in the know

He said that's what they do, when they bring anything illegal they discard the outer packaging as it has their fingerprints on it.

But the thing they took out would still have their prints on it to, I said.

"You said there were rubber gloves in the room"

Oh yeah....!

But why stay here? "They probably needed somewhere to unpack.

Of course it all still remains wild speculation . I dont think I've any basis for reporting it to anyone.

 

[Lb8535]

A potential solution to the mystery.

My plumber came back to finish a job and I was telling him about it. He's a very blokish type. He said straight away there'll have been drugs or cash in the suitcase. Well we've all thought that. But it was his explanation that sounded in the know

He said that's what they do, when they bring anything illegal they discard the outer packaging as it has their fingerprints on it.

But the thing they took out would still have their prints on it to, I said.

"You said there were rubber gloves in the room"

Oh yeah....!

But why stay here? "They probably needed somewhere to unpack.

Of course it all still remains wild speculation . I dont think I've any basis for reporting it to anyone.

If your plumber could figure out at least a plausible explanation, then I would take it to the police, just as a "letting you know just in case" and not as an emergency call. Walk into the local precinct if you have one . They may think you're just a bother, but you've done your civic duty. You don't know what other incident may have been associated with this mild craziness. They do have prior bnb bookings. They may have been careless with the gloves.

 

[Endlessly Amazed]

A potential solution to the mystery.

My plumber came back to finish a job and I was telling him about it. He's a very blokish type. He said straight away there'll have been drugs or cash in the suitcase. Well we've all thought that. But it was his explanation that sounded in the know

He said that's what they do, when they bring anything illegal they discard the outer packaging as it has their fingerprints on it.

But the thing they took out would still have their prints on it to, I said.

"You said there were rubber gloves in the room"

Oh yeah....!

But why stay here? "They probably needed somewhere to unpack.

Of course it all still remains wild speculation . I dont think I've any basis for reporting it to anyone.

First, Gattino, thank you for the fascinating posts. If I understand all this correctly, two guests left an empty, large suitcase in your home in the middle of the night, as well as some varied IDs, trash and latex gloves. They came from another country known for organized crime (oh God! I hear the PC hell-hounds baying). I would suggest that phoning the police department for drug enforcement is an option. Your local police may be very interested in all this; let them decide on the meaning.

You are making decisions about how important all this is, but with no basis of knowing the actual context of your guests' lives. Abandoned luggage, multiple IDs with slightly different names, including a driver's license, coming from another country: all this adds up for me to at least potential crime. Another consideration: you do not wish to be known as a convenient BNB host who does not ask questions. If these two are actual organized crime members, they may spread the word to their colleagues about how easy of a host you are. I have extended family members who actually were involved in organized crime, and so this may prejudice my outlook.

There is no good reason to just deliberately abandon a suitcase in your home in the middle of the night. If nothing else, it is rude.

Edit: @Lb8535 made the same points, only more succinctly

 

[gattino]

I should say even with the strong possibility of being up to no good, imagination is getting away with thee as well as me. There were no "multiple" IDs and and no "middle of the night".

They were heard to exit the house about 8pm. They'd said they were here for a night out so that wasn't unusual at all. The clues indicate they never came back and had no need of a key as they didn't take it.

It may be bizarre but booking and not staying isn't unique. People are strange. I had two such in the one night two weeks ago (a teenage south asian couple who clearly, in hindsight, had been using it for an afternoon romeo and juliet moment and a bloke who was going to a birthday party and ended up sleeping over at his mate's)

The ID issue is perplexing. His name on Airbnb (which includes his photo) is only a single letter different from that on the taxi licence and facebook. It's a very meagre disguise for a master criminal. It could just as easily be a typo. Is the taxi ID fake? It looks yellowed and has a start date of 2019. If they were wrong'uns the only serious question is was it left deliberately or were they insanely careless? If the former..for what purpose? It surely just identifies him as the owner of the bag. And his Airbnb booking itself does the same.

 

[catseye]

I should say even with the strong possibility of being up to no good, imagination is getting away with thee as well as me. There were no "multiple" IDs and and no "middle of the night".

They were heard to exit the house about 8pm. They'd said they were here for a night out so that wasn't unusual at all. The clues indicate they never came back and had no need of a key as they didn't take it.

It may be bizarre but booking and not staying isn't unique. People are strange. I had two such in the one night two weeks ago (a teenage south asian couple who clearly, in hindsight, had been using it for an afternoon romeo and juliet moment and a bloke who was going to a birthday party and ended up sleeping over at his mate's)

The ID issue is perplexing. His name on Airbnb (which includes his photo) is only a single letter different from that on the taxi licence and facebook. It's a very meagre disguise for a master criminal. It could just as easily be a typo. Is the taxi ID fake? It looks yellowed and has a start date of 2019. If they were wrong'uns the only serious question is was it left deliberately or were they insanely careless? If the former..for what purpose? It surely just identifies him as the owner of the bag. And his Airbnb booking itself does the same.

You heard them go at eight. If they'd been carrying anything out with them - drugs or cash, they would have had to have had it in another bag, possibly it had been double bagged in the suitcase. Otherwise they ran the risk of anyone seeing what they were up to. Is there any possibility that the suitcase wasn't heavy at all? That it was all acting? That the suitcase really did just have a change of clothes in?

 

[Endlessly Amazed]

I should say even with the strong possibility of being up to no good, imagination is getting away with thee as well as me. There were no "multiple" IDs and and no "middle of the night".

They were heard to exit the house about 8pm. They'd said they were here for a night out so that wasn't unusual at all. The clues indicate they never came back and had no need of a key as they didn't take it.

It may be bizarre but booking and not staying isn't unique. People are strange. I had two such in the one night two weeks ago (a teenage south asian couple who clearly, in hindsight, had been using it for an afternoon romeo and juliet moment and a bloke who was going to a birthday party and ended up sleeping over at his mate's)

The ID issue is perplexing. His name on Airbnb (which includes his photo) is only a single letter different from that on the taxi licence and facebook. It's a very meagre disguise for a master criminal. It could just as easily be a typo. Is the taxi ID fake? It looks yellowed and has a start date of 2019. If they were wrong'uns the only serious question is was it left deliberately or were they insanely careless? If the former..for what purpose? It surely just identifies him as the owner of the bag. And his Airbnb booking itself does the same.

Well, so much for reading and writing with insufficient coffee! Thanks for the corrections. I still think it a good idea to let the police decide if they are interested. Now leaving for more coffee.....

 

[gattino]

Well i never lifted it, so maybe, but its an odd act with no purpose.

I admit there are strong elements of performance about it, once suspicion of weirdness is in your mind....That he drew attention to the weight of the bag, even its alleged precise weight (that might have been a joke..or maybe i misheard 16 as 60), a couple of times. He emphasised and repeated his mate's name (I assume it was a standard male name in Romanian but is a female name in English), and above all leaving/dumping the ID. One could play with the idea it was all meant to misdirect someone...but as they did nothing to give me any concrete reason to report anything to anyone, i can't fathom who that would be.

Ordinary things about them. The one who booked was cheerful and friendly. My more negative description of the other one as lookign surly may be no more than quietness from a lack of English. They were in their room and watching telly for a bit. They had gone out earlier than their final disappearance and came back with food from the chippy as i was seeing other guests off. They left, presumed for their night out, about 8 as i say. And other than the jokes about vampires that started this there was really nothing more to say about them until the mystery of leaving the bag.

As I say the taxi licence if real shows he's been in the UK for a few years. His facebook says he joined in 2015 so if its an assumed identity its been around for a while rather than recently stolen (though of course one can change ones name on there). His existing reviews say what a nice friendly person he is, without any reference to leaving things behind.

I'm just providing balance before i go running to the police reporting my guests for making my nose for mystery twitch.

 

[Mythopoeika]

Rather than calling the police, I'd suggest messaging the man and telling him that he'd forgotten the case.
Probably won't get an answer, but hey-ho - at least you'll have pointed it out.

 

[gattino]

I did this morning. "I noticed you did't come back, but left your luggage. Everything ok?" No reply.

Of course now i know there is no luggage.. if he was simply using the place as a convenient skip he wouldn't reply. There are ways i could continue playing amateur sleuth (messaging the last local person he stayed with to find out if he left anything at hers) but i think the most sensible course would be to leave it as a tantalising mystery, post the id back to the local council address provided on the back and leave the suitcase out by the bins after a few days.

 

[ChasFink]

@gattino - With respect I think you're going out of your way NOT to call in the police about a suspicious situation. If you have a good reason not to, like your Airbnb not being 100% legal - and I'm not saying that's the case - then I understand. But otherwise, as others have pointed out, there's no harm and possibly some good that can come out of it.

If they went out and came back, that means they must have broken up the heavy contents into four, making a just barely plausible load to carry on their persons in two trips. The fact that they must have done that and apparently did no sleeping is suspicious enough.

Unless:
Is there any chance they DID come back late, took a nap, and left early?

Another thought:
Could they have WORN the contents of the suitcase - coats, boots, etc. - on their way out and retuned wearing less?

 

[gattino]

I'm not sure what an illegal Airbnb would be...but no l, I'm not one.

Again I think you're running away with the entertaining speculation by referring to "breaking up the heavy contents into four " . Theres nothing to suggest there was anything to break up. Only him lightly huffing and puffing about his bag being heavy.

The first outing was to the takeaway round the corner and in broad daylight. They returned with takeaway.

Is it possible they came back in the night and left? Well yes it is. My assumption They didn't is due to the bedroom door being slightly ajar with the light on when I went to bed and appearing the same way when I got up this morning. But I can't know for sure.

My reticence to report it is that all of the content of this conversation is shaped around fanciful speculation and just supposes. It started with dead bodies and Transylvanian soil. We've no more concrete reason to suggest drug deals. Hence setting the local bobbies after one of my guests just in case fantasy explanation 4b , that theyre a criminal, is correct despite no evidence of any crime, seems a little outlandish.

In the end all that's happened for sure is there ve discarded an unwanted suitcase by leaving it in the room. People have previously done so with various items of clothing, bottles of alcohol, a large number of empty boxes of men's briefs(!) and about 2 dozen bottles of shower gel and counting.

I DO suspect because of the ideas being floated, but not enough to set the police on the case.

 

[ChasFink]

@gattino
You, of course, are the best judge of what happened, and I will badger you no longer.

What would you do if the same guys come again and do the same thing?

 

[gattino]

Well they won't come again. If they're villains they're unlikely to return to the same place but if they're innocent the disappearing , dumping the bag and not responding would also make them unlikely to expect to stay here again. But I will take extra precautions just in case the drug theory is true, by extending the period in which one has to request to stay rather than just book it. In other words making more short notice bookings dependent on my pre approval. And by checking them out as much as possible before saying yes. I've always been totally flexible til now and accept anyone if the room is free, as Ive never once had a bad guest. But I'll be that little more discriminating about the last minute ones.

 

[ChasFink]

I'm not sure what an illegal Airbnb would be...but no l, I'm not one.

In case anyone is wondering, some municipalities limit short-term rentals in residential areas - New York City is one. Airbnb does not necessarily confirm that their hosts are in compliance.

 

[PeteS]

There's also the possibility that if they were up to no good, and you report them, they know where you live....