as lenny unlocks the door, all he hears is iris' "i'll call later." he picks up the phone as the connection breaks.
lenny doesn't stop to play back iris' message, or any of the twenty others on his machine. he just deadbolts the door and locks a steel bar across the door frame, then carries his haliburton.
squid pov: the killer enters the vacant hotel room, passing the mirror on the dresser.
2:20 p.m. dec 31
as lenny is hanging up he notices something. a manila envelope stuck between the steel bars and the glass of his front window, next to the door. "nero" is printed on the envelope.
a little later. as lenny tosses stuff into a folding bag: clothes, a playback deck, a box of .45 hollow points. he grabs his grimy old second chance body armor from the lapd and stuffs it into his haliburton. when mace sees him do that, she knows things are freaky.