Beck took a draught from her lager, setting the bottle on the bedside table.  It was nice that the hotel had turned down the bed and turned up the heat.  She adjusted the temperature to a mild 58 degrees, stripped out of her clothes and took a brief shower.  Wrapped only in the robe supplied by the hotel, she made her way back to the bed, sat on it and took another drink.<br/><br/>Still on her late-night schedule, she turned her eyes to the window and the vast darkness beyond.  It was impossible to see anything, even with only low light in the room.  She laid out clean clothes for the morning, gathered up the stuff she'd worn tonight, grabbed the latest Koontz from her bag and returned to the bed.<br/><br/>Anticipating a solid four hours of reading, Beck surprised herself by falling asleep almost as soon as she started reading.