by Alana Ling
Harper rolled her eyes as if I’d suggested the stupidest thing ever heard on this side of the universe, but I ignored her.
‘Thank you, Miss Obvious. The problem is the detective wants us to stay in this hotel,’ Stephen said.
I looked back at his wife and the other woman I knew as their PA.
‘And your assistant can’t help with this…issue?’ I said.
The assistant tutted and looked at Harper.
‘Monique has a job to do and she’s already busy with that,’ Harper said.
‘So what’s she doing here?’ Sam asked quite innocently looking, although knowing my friend’s skills in acting she was being sarcastic.
‘That’s another one of the problems. She needs a working space and without a room she doesn’t have anywhere to work from,’ Harper said with another eye-roll.
I looked around the empty lobby with its baroque-style, comfy seats and marble coffee tables and then back at Monique.
‘She can’t work from here?’
Monique touched her head with a big sigh.
‘I have to contact clients and speak about confidential information. I can’t work in public.’
‘Rosalind, are any of the meeting rooms available for the foreseeable future?’ I asked the receptionist.
Rosalind turned to the computer underneath the counter and clicked her mouse before answering.
‘I’ve got one room blocked for Detective Anderson. And then one other room that’s free for the next couple of days.’
‘Perfect. Could you please give access to Miss Monique while we make arrangements about their accommodation,’ I asked and within moments Rosalind had a key for her.
One of her colleagues showed Monique to the meeting room and as she walked away I managed to steal a glance at Sam. How could a PA be so bad at her job that she didn’t think to ask the question before we arrived?
As if she’d read my mind, Sam laughed. Stephen and Harper gave her dirty looks. Sam apologised, pretending to cough.
‘Would you like to grab a drink at the bar while I sort this out? I know for a fact that they make a mean martini. On me of course,’ I said. I had to find out if I could bill the police station directly or if I would have to ask Daniel for compensation for making me put up with that group of people any longer.
‘Fine,’ Harper said and walked off to the bar without waiting for her husband.
Stephen watched her walk away and put his hands in his pockets. A few awkward moments later he followed his wife’s lead.
‘Weird,’ I said dialling Daniel’s number.
‘You only realised that now?’ Sam asked.
‘Hello,’ came the cheery response from the other end of my mobile.
‘Well, well, well, if it isn’t the infamous Detective Anderson,’ I said.
‘Oh crap. What have I done?’
‘Did you tell the Browns I could help them with their arrangements while the investigation is taking place?’
Daniel’s voice echoed and I turned to see him standing in the lobby.
‘I’m so sorry,’ he said.
I gave him a mean look. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t catch that. My signal just dropped. Can you repeat?’
‘I’m sorry. I panicked. They’re so annoying. I’m too busy to deal with their non-issues,’ he said, his voice still sounding double as we both held our phones to our ears.
I put my free hand on my hips and tapped my foot. ‘And you thought “oh, I know what Joanna needs. Let’s make her work for those people. For free.”’
‘I’ll make—’ he started, and then he looked at his phone and then at me, as if he’d just realised there was no need for them. ‘Why are we still talking on the phone?’ He chuckled but I didn’t laugh. Daniel pressed the reject button on his phone and I dropped mine to my side. ‘I’ll make sure the department compensates you for your time. I’m sorry I didn’t ask in advance. Like I said, I panicked.’
‘What an excellent feature for the town detective,’ Sam mocked.
Daniel glanced at her and bit his lip.
‘Can you please help out? They’re all being absolute divas,’ he said.
‘Oh, you don’t say. We hadn’t realised,’ Sam said.
Daniel stared at me and his green eyes persisted, begging for my help. That hadn’t happened before. What an interesting turn of events.
‘Fine. But your non-issue is an actual issue,’ I told him.
He smiled, a deep breath escaping his chest. His brownie taste only became stronger and I asked Rosalind to bin my coffee since it was as good as gone with the swarm of sweet flavours of the people around me.
‘What non-issue?’
‘The fact that you’ve asked them to stay in this hotel, but they don’t have any rooms left.’
Daniel looked puzzled.
‘I never said that. I told them to check if there was any space here, and ideally I’d like them to stay in one place, but if it was not possible to let me know where they would be.’
‘Oh,’ was all I managed to say.
It wouldn’t be the first time a client misunderstood what was said or agreed, but I had got upset with Daniel for nothing. Well, except for the fact that he had put me in the limelight without asking me if I could help first. I was still upset with him about that.
‘I’m not surprised with these people. Perfect then. Sam, can you check if we can put the Browns and their useless PA in the nearest hotel?’
Sam nodded and took up a corner of the lobby, booting up her laptop and getting to work.
She was a PA you could rely on. Even without prior experience, she had known how to be effective and efficient from her first day at work. She could also use her brain, which was a plus in a town where the middle class paid people to think for them while they lavished themselves in their riches.
‘How is the investigation going? Do you have any news?’
He shook his head.
‘My team are going through the evidence, but I won’t have anything solid for another day or two. I’ve asked them to push wherever possible, but some tests are impossible to get in a rush.’ The coroner seems pretty confident it was poisoning though.’
If the letter had been interesting before, now it was mysterious for certain. I wondered if the killer was hiding behind it. In the back of my mind, I was tempted to give the letter to Daniel, but something kept me from doing so. And something else told me I was going to regret this later.
‘Are you here to talk to someone?’ I asked him.
‘Yes, actually, I’m here to talk to all of them. Get a feel of their relationships with the deceased. You might be able to help, as a matter of fact.’
I nodded and he continued.
‘Do you know if anyone had any grudges against Colton?’
I shrugged. ‘I don’t imagine, no. They were all here to celebrate joining his portfolio, so I would have thought everyone would be obliged to him. Not hate him. I do know some hated each other, but it was all superficial competition and pettiness. Or at least that’s what I got from talking to them.’
‘Interesting. Did you notice any funny business while you’ve been dealing with them?’
I shook my head.
‘Other than the fact that they’re…’ I said and looked in the general direction of the Browns, ‘well, special kinds of people, nothing really. They all seem to have a professional relationship.’
‘Thank you. It was worth asking anyway,’ he said, looking away. ‘Do you think you can ask Mrs. Brown to meet me at The Louis Suite, please?’ he said, referring to one of the meeting rooms.
I gave him a side-eye and a smirk. I didn’t want him to get too comfortable with bossing me around.
‘Sure,’ I replied.
Four
After leading Mrs. Brown to the meeting room and Sam had found and booked a hotel for the trio, I went to get Stephen Brown and led him to reception.
‘Hi, Rosalind,’ I started. ‘Can you please arrange for a large taxi t
o pick up Mr. and Mrs. Brown’s luggage, as well as that of their assistant, Monique?’
Stephen played piano on the marble top with his fingers and stared vacantly at something.
Rosalind licked her lips and looked down at her desk.
‘Actually, we’ve just had a few last-minute cancellations,’ she said.
Of course they did. Only to make further waste of our time, it had to be the case, didn’t it.
‘Perfect then. Can we make sure their luggage is all sorted into their new rooms, ASAP, please?’ I said and waited for the go ahead.
Rosalind took a moment and then passed a key to Stephen who snatched it out of her hand.
‘Rooms 105 and 106. They’re right on the first floor,’ she said.
I saw Stephen twitch and I knew from my previous encounters with him what he was going to say. So I said it before he did.
‘The Browns were staying in an executive room on a higher floor, Rosalind. We need to match that if possible.’ Stephen opened his mouth and once again I cut in before he could get a word in edgeways. ‘Preferably a free upgrade to a suite for the inconvenience alone.’
Rosalind grimaced and nodded.
‘Well, if I’m honest, we’ve had so many cancellations it’s unprecedented. So, that won’t be a problem.’
‘Really?’ I asked.
‘I guess word got out about the murder,’ she said.
Stephen scoffed and sighed. I ignored him and continued my conversation with Rosalind.
‘We don’t know it’s a murder yet,’ I said to Rosalind. ‘Let’s not jump to conclusions. Can we get a suite then?’
Rosalind nodded and said, ‘I’ve got three available. All on the sixth floor and with access to our executive lounge.’
‘They’d better not be as shabby as the ones we’ve been staying in,’ Stephen said.
Rosalind looked at Stephen with fiery eyes and I knew she was not too far off exploding. I couldn’t blame her.
‘Why don’t I show Mr. Brown the three rooms available and let you know which one he would like to take?’ I smiled.
She turned to me and looked willing to hug me and show her appreciation. Instead, she graced me with a big smile and passed me a key card.
‘Here you go. This should give you access to all three. Thank you so much.’
I took it from her and guided Stephen to the lift. While he waited for it, I went and quickly updated Sam.
‘Can you cancel the reservation you just made? Apparently they’ve got rooms now,’ I told her and Sam gave me an irritated look.
‘Sure thing,’ she said.
I left her to get back to her work before she snapped at someone innocent, like me, and I got back to Stephen. She was a real trooper. We had been dealing with these crazy demands that even the biggest divas didn’t have for the past month, if not longer, and we had literally looked forward to the night of the dinner because our job would be over. We didn’t think someone would have other plans.
I let Stephen get in the lift first and followed behind him. I looked into my bag for my phone and saw the pen letter I’d found in Colton’s jacket the day before. Particularly, it was the B signature that caught my eye as the door shut.
Could it be Stephen Brown who had sent the letter?
‘So, Mr. Brown, how are you feeling after last night?’ I asked.
He gave a petty look and then turned his attention back to the silver lift doors.
‘How should I be feeling?’ he asked.
‘I-I don’t know. Upset. Sad. Distressed. Pick one,’ I bit back.
‘Well, I’m okay.’
‘Were you not close to Colton?’ I asked.
The doors opened on the sixth floor and we stepped out of the lift.
Stephen narrowed his eyes and twitched. ‘Of course not. We were business partners and that’s as far as it went.’
‘I see,’ I said. ‘So you wouldn’t know any of his secrets, I guess.’
Stephen stopped in his path. ‘Secrets? What secrets?’ he asked.
We found the first room Rosalind had noted down for me, 604, and we entered.
‘I don’t know. He must have had some, though, if someone decided to kill him?’ I offered as Stephen walked into the room and took a detailed look of everything.
He walked into the bathroom and inspected its contents, and then went to the bedroom and bounced on the bed with the joyful precision of a robot.
‘Maybe. But I wasn’t privy to any of those. Maybe Mr. Baker Moore will know,’ he said and walked into the kitchenette and twisted around the stool at the bar.
‘Baker? Why would he know?’ I asked.
Stephen grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl sitting on the bar and crunched into it.
‘Well they were dining together the other day,’ he said.
I couldn’t see how that made Baker privy to Colton’s secrets, but I rolled with it.
‘Plus that horrid fall out they had,’ he added.
‘Fall out? What fall out?’
We exited the room and walked down the other side to 615.
‘At reception, the day before yesterday. Baker was shouting at him and Colton was not holding back either,’ Stephen said.
‘What were they arguing about?’ I asked.
Stephen shrugged. ‘God knows. I didn’t really hear or understand. We were waiting for the lift at reception. As soon as Colton saw us they both stopped talking and gave us a fake smile and then they both went their separate ways.’
‘Interesting. I wonder what they had to fight about,’ I said and let Stephen into the room.
It was a smaller room than the previous one, still a suite, but much less impressive—if there was such a thing at Hotel Margot—and without a second look Stephen stood at the door, holding it open.
‘This will do,’ he said.
‘Don’t you want to see the last one?’
‘No. I’m tired. And it’s been a long day. This will do,’ he repeated. ‘Let reception know to bring our luggage and give Monique the first room, will you?’
‘Sure thing, Stephen,’ I said and marched away from him as he shut the door.
I took deep breaths waiting for the lift to come back up again and when it did, I looked in my bag for my phone.
The pen letter was still there and it got my attention. Again! The lift doors closed but it didn’t move.
I went to press the button to the ground floor and paused. I was holding the key card in my hand. A master key card, perhaps. Maybe Colton’s room had secrets yet to be discovered. And maybe Daniel’s team had missed those secrets.
Before I thought too much about it, I pressed the button for level three and sent a quick text to Sam.
She met me outside Colton’s room only five minutes later.
‘Now we’re talking,’ she said as soon as she came into view. ‘I was wondering, you know, when we’d be back in the game.’
I ignored her comments and went to touch the key card on the door handle.
‘Before you do that,’ Sam interrupted and put her hand in front of me, passing me a pair of latex gloves.
‘Where on earth did you find those?’ I asked.
She squished her lips from left to right and then gave me a sly smirk.
‘Well, we seem to be finding ourselves in these situations more and more often, so I thought, I’d better always come prepared.’
I grabbed the gloves from her and tapped the card on the handle. It beeped green, letting us in.
The room was in a bit of disarray, although considering the housekeepers hadn’t had the chance to clean it the day of Colton’s dinner (and subsequent murder) it wasn’t a surprise.
The bed was unmade and there was a pair of socks on the floor next to it. A large suitcase was open on the double bed and all the clothes were piled up in the middle. The lamp on the nightstand came on as soon as we tapped the electrics on with the key card and so did the TV.
Sam, who was standing in front of the telly, jumped
when it came on loud on a music channel.
‘Ouch,’ Sam whined and I cursed.
‘We need to find the remote control,’ I said and started looking on all the surfaces.
Sam reached out and switched the TV off from the side, flashing me an enthusiastic smile.
She laughed and patted my shoulder as she got down on all fours and looked under the bed.
‘Dear Lord, when was the last time they cleaned under here.’ She exhaled.
I bent down to have a look and found an immaculate carpet underneath.
‘Just kidding,’ she said, ‘it’s spotless like the rest of this hotel.’
I dusted my hands when I stood back up. ‘You’re feeling very cheerful today.’
She lifted her eyebrows and pouted, and then looked away.
‘I take it things with Oliver are going well,’ I said.
‘No comment.’
‘You always ask me about Kit and now you don’t want to share about Ollie?’ I shook my head and sighed.
‘Well,’ she started, ‘yes, because you and Kit are playing best friends and won’t admit you fancy each other. Ollie and I are actually dating.’
I put my hands on my hips and stared at her. ‘So you’ll stop asking me about him if I start dating him?’
‘Only one way to find out,’ she replied and winked at me.
I rolled my eyes and lifted the pillows on the bed. Nothing under there.
‘This is pointless. The police would have found all the clues and removed them by now,’ I said. ‘Let’s go.’
Sam had a look around the room and nodded. As she attempted to join me at the other end of the bed she stopped mid-step, staring intently at something on the floor.
‘What is it?’
She didn’t reply.
‘I wonder…’ she murmured, ignoring me and making a dash for the bathroom.
I followed her and found her kneeling in front of the toilet.
‘Are you going to be sick?’
Instead of answering me she replied by emptying the bin next to the toilet.
The floor became littered with tissue and cotton buds.
‘There’s this thing I read,’ she said while picking through the tissue with two fingertips, ‘about clues hiding in rubbish bins.’
‘The police go through them though, so you won’t find anything.’