"Ms Wu has checked herself into a motel, so I've taken the liberty of renting us the motel room next door."

"I'm surprised you didn't buy the entire motel," drawled Reese.

"It didn't prove necessary on this occasion. I need to pick up some equipment and then I will meet you there, Mr Reese. I'm sending you the location now."

The motel was a fading brick building, with exterior doors for all the rooms and no corridors to bother with. The receptionist handed over the keys with only a cursory glance at Harold's fake ID, no questions asked, although she did insist on a deposit for Bear.

Their room and their number's faced away from the main road, all the better for their purposes. When Harold unlocked the door, he found Reese seated on the singular double bed, cleaning his gun. Bear ran into the room ahead of him and performed a thorough check of the perimeter.

"Oh dear," said Harold, looking at the bed. He wasn't convinced both of them would fit, even supposing either of them would be able to sleep with another person so close.

"This is a stakeout, Finch," said Reese. "Not like we're both going to be using the bed at once."

Shaking his head, Harold snapped open his briefcase and pulled out the equipment he'd prepared. "Do you think you can get into Ms Wu's room and install this?"

Reese shrugged. "I got into this one, didn't I?"

Harold pinched at the bridge of his nose. "You could have.... All right. Just don't let anybody see you."

Reese gave him the same affronted look Bear did whenever Harold ordered him not to do anything stupid, and slunk out of the room.

Three hours and one mediocre pizza later, they still had no idea why Claire Wu had left her nice apartment in Queens and checked into a motel in New Jersey. They listened to her watch TV on the motel's basic cable, shower (Reese took up residence in front of the outer door for that one, pretending to smoke), read a book, and then get into bed.

After an hour of listening to Wu sleep, Harold felt his own energy levels start flagging. He scrambled in his bag for painkillers and took them dry. John glanced at him minutely, only the slight furrow of his brow giving away his concern. "You can sleep," he said. "I'll keep an eye on Ms Wu."

The bed did not actually help matters much, but being in a horizontal position was at least an improvement. He closed his eyes for a moment and felt something settle on the bed next to him. "John?"

Someone licked his ear, and he winced. "Mr Reese, why is your dog on the bed?"

"How come whenever he's doing something you don't like he's my dog?" said Reese. Harold could practically hear the smirk. "Let him have his fun."

"We'll lose our deposit," he warned, amused in spite of himself.

Bear huffed and curled up next to Harold, heavy against his side, but at least the licking stopped.