The Blissfully Dead Read Free Page B

lobby, Gareth came over and said, ‘I’ve asked about CCTV. They have it down here, in the lobby, but nowhere else in the hotel. I’ve told them we’ll need the tapes.’
    ‘OK.’
    ‘That’s the security guard who was on duty till midnight last night. Derek Childs. After that, a colleague’ – he consulted his notes – ‘Stavros Demetriou took over. Mr Childs says he didn’t see anything suspicious last night. No-one lurking around, nothing. I don’t have a picture of the deceased, but as soon as we get one I’ll check if he or Mr Demetriou saw her.’
    Patrick nodded for him to continue.
    ‘What else? I’ve spoken to the station. They’re checking reports of missing persons, seeing if we can get an ID on the girl.’
    ‘Good.’
    Heidi Shillingham, the manager, was waiting behind the reception desk. He walked over to her, trying not to think about Carmella’s observation from earlier. Heidi had just put the phone down and was wringing her hands, her face creased with anxiety.
    A smile flickered on her lips as he approached.
    ‘Detective.’
    ‘Mrs Shillingham . . .’
    ‘Miss. No-one’s managed to catch me yet.’
    Well, don’t expect me to chase you , thought Patrick. ‘I need that list of guests. Also, a full list of staff – everybody who works here, whether they were on shift yesterday or not.’
    ‘Yes, no problem.’ She hesitated.
    ‘What is it?’
    ‘Oh . . . I’ve just been on the phone to head office. We – they were wondering how long it would be before the body is removed and we can have the room back?’ She squirmed. ‘The hotel is fully booked tonight.’
    Patrick sympathised. Heidi was no doubt getting shit from someone higher up. But it irritated him too, like the hotel wanted to check somebody into the dead girl’s grave.
    ‘I’m afraid it’s going to be a day or two before we can let anyone access the room.’
    ‘Oh dear. What about the floor? We can’t afford to have the whole floor cordoned off . . .’
    He shrugged. ‘Get me that list and hopefully we can get this resolved today. Then you can go back to business as usual.’
    He walked past Derek, the security guard, and pushed out through the front doors into the bright but chilly morning. He took his e-cigarette out of his pocket and took a deep drag. The light flashed, indicating that it was out of charge, and he cursed it, wishing he could have a real cigarette. There was a newsagent over the road and the temptation to go and buy a pack of Marlboro Lights was dangerously strong. Go on , a devilish voice whispered. You could get hit by a bus tomorrow.
    You could be murdered by a maniac tomorrow .
    He resisted, checking his phone to distract himself. There was a text from Gill: I need to talk to you x . He sighed and put the phone back in his pocket. He would reply later, when he got a moment. He knew exactly what she would want to talk about. Them. Bonnie. Th eir situation. And at the heart of it were the red-hot questions: did he forgive her? Did they have a future? Or had any possible future died the night Gill had tried to kill their daughter?
    The thing was, he would happily talk about it – if he knew the answers. If he knew what he wanted, if his heart and mind didn’t vacillate so much. And to make things worse, he knew he was under pressure, that there was a time limit. Gill, quite understandably, wanted to know where she stood. He was going to have to make a decision very soon. Make a decision and stick with it.
    And every time he thought about that, he sought a new distraction, because he didn’t want to make that decision.
    As soon as he got back inside, Gareth hurried over, phone in hand. Carmella was upstairs, talking to the SOCOs. It crossed Patrick’s mind that Gareth saw Carmella as a rival, that he wanted to win brownie points with his superior officer. He wanted to be the one to make the breakthroughs, deliver the news. Patrick looked Gareth up and down as he approached, thinking how