Don't Blame It on That Girl (Dead Reckoning series - Part 43)

Continued from Episode 42 (Nowhere Man)

The story so far:  Josiah's 'on the rebound' romance with the woman he thought was his old flame, Jeanette DeVille, proved to be with her twin sister, Nenette, and led to him and Archibald being left for dead in the rapidly rising waters of the cellar of Evanley Hall.  Since then, there has been much to occupy the Merkin-under-Heathwood police force, not least the apparent suicide of a young man in the local reservoir (last seen in the company of Precious DeVille - Nenette's supposed daughter) and then the further apparent suicides of Nenette and her 'driver' Hames.  The common denominator in all of these deaths appears to be Precious, who has made a surprise reappearance, fetchingly dressed in lingerie, in Archibald's hotel room, a room he thought he had been given as a Secret Santa gift from Josiah.  Now Archibald is missing, along with two operatiives from the rival firm of Cadwallader and Carruthers but, never fear, Detectives Stone and Wood are on the case!:

“We’ve got the CCTV footage, sir” D.S. Stone said as his superior ambled into the open-plan office.
“Good!  We need to go through that with a fine-tooth comb, Stoney.  I reckon it could be quite revealing, particularly after the chat I’ve just had with Sunny Jim off Reception”
“What did he have to say, sir?”
“Well, for a kick-off, it seems that he’s been supplementing his income by taking backhanders from…what are we supposed to call them these days?”
“Call what, sir?”  D.S. Stone frowned.
“Tarts”
“Ah, you mean ‘sex workers’, sir”
“Yeah, them.  Well, anyway, the way it works is they bung him a few quid and he coughs up a spare key.  That’s what happened in the case of our Archibald, he reckons.  Money changed hands and this mysterious girl went up to the room to give Archie-boy a big surprise”
“I’ve got the CCTV from his floor here.  I’ll just fast-forward and see if I can spot her” D.S. Stone peered at the screen and tapped a few times on the keyboard.  “Oh, hang on.  Is that her, do you think?”
“That’s definitely his room” D.I. Wood confirmed, consulting the piece of paper he was holding.
“She’s wearing a cloak with a hood, so we can’t see much of her” D.S. Stone pointed out, “Hang on, isn’t that the same outfit that the woman who abducted our vagrant, Jimmy, was wearing?”
“It could be” D.I. Wood nodded, peering at the screen, “It’s bloody annoying, I know that much.  Perhaps Lurch has got a thing about Red Riding Hood?”
The ‘phone rang on D.S. Stone’s desk and he answered.
“You won’t like this, sir” He said, turning to his boss.
“Now what?”
“Ms. Knight’s in Reception”
“Oh, flaming hell!  I told her to wait and see if either Oakshott or Thurble got in touch.  What’s she doing here?”
“Perhaps she has some news, sir?”
“Bring her up but she’s going to get short shrift from me if she’s here to waste our time”
A few minutes later, Samantha walked into the office.
“I’m really sorry, Inspector, but I couldn’t just sit there waiting for the telephone to ring” She saw the screen with the frozen CCTV image, “Oh, is that the girl who was supposed to be meeting Archibald?”
“As a matter of fact, it is” D.I. Wood said, with a degree of hostility, “I don’t suppose you might recognise her?”
“No, but there’s not much to go on, is there?” Samantha peered at the screen.
“Well, I’m sorry about that, Mrs. Knight!  We’ll obviously have to try harder” D.I. Wood snarled.
“Let me run the footage on.  We should see Mr. Thurble, eventually” D.S. Stone suggested.
The images flickered across the screen.  Mostly, the floor corridor was empty, with occasional intervals where a resident headed to and from the lifts.
“Hang on!  That’s him” Samantha yelled as the familiar bulk of Archibald Thurble stumbled out of the lift and consulted his key card.  “How was the room booked, Sergeant?”
“Online, apparently.  Nothing on record as to who made the booking, yet, but we’re working on it.  Likewise the credit card used” D.S. Stone supplied.
“Alright, Stoney!  It’s me you report to, remember?”  D.I. Wood seethed.
“Yes sir, sorry sir” D.S. Stone moved the footage on, frame by frame.  They saw Archibald fumble with his key card and eventually shoulder the room door open. “Well, that’s confirmed that they’re both, now, in the same room”
“Why didn’t he notice her straight away?” Samantha wondered.
“Perhaps he did.  Perhaps he was expecting her to be there”  D.I. Wood suggested.
“I wish we knew what was going on in there” Samantha looked worried.
“I think I’m happier not knowing” D.I. Wood said.
“I’ll fast forward a bit more” D.S. Stone tapped a few keys.  The corridor remained remarkably free of both Archibald and his mystery woman, for some time.
“What hour are we up to now, Stoney?” D.I. Wood asked.
“Gone midnight, sir”
“Well, you can’t blame him for making a night of it, can you?” D.I. Wood leered.
“I’ve told you, Inspector, I don’t think there is anyone in Archibald’s life, at the moment” Samantha snapped.
“Ah well, if what the Reception bloke has told me is true, then this one’s affection is somewhat negotiable.  In other words, she’s a t…”
“Sex worker, sir” D.S. Stone interrupted.
“Whatever” D.I. Wood shrugged.
“Hang on, someone’s coming out of the room” D.S. Stone slowed down the recording, “It’s a woman, but this one seems to be wearing some sort of uniform”
“I would say, from the tabard she’s got on, that she’s supposed to be part of the Housekeeping staff” Samantha got closer to the screen, “You know, I’d swear that’s Precious”
“She seems to know where the CCTV camera is, sir” D.S. Stone pointed out, “She’s looking directly at it”
“Cheeky beggar!” D.I. Wood fumed, “She’s rubbing our nose in it!  Where’s she off to?”
“She’s not heading for the customer lifts.  She must be going to the stairs or the Goods Lift, but we can’t see from here” D.S. Stone said.
“How about the Goods Entrance, can you get us to that?” D.I. Wood asked.
“Hang on, I should be able to” D.S. Stone hammered away at the keyboard, until, finally, “Yes, here it is.  Now, it was just after midnight, wasn’t it?  Let’s see…”
The loading dock remained obstinately empty for ages but then, a dark van could be seen backing up to it.  D.S. Stone slowed the recording.
“This’ll be the lads from Cadwallader and Carruthers” D.I. Wood rubbed his hands together, “Do you know them, Mrs. Knight?”
“No, I’m sorry, I don’t”
Two besuited men climbed out of the van and were met, on the loading dock, by the uniformed woman they had just seen exit Archibald’s room.  The group conversed, briefly.  The two men opened rear of the van and removed a trolley, which they wheeled after the woman and off screen.
“Ok, so if what we suspect is the case, they should reappear on the Fourth Floor, in a few minutes” D.S. Stone tapped a key and the screen view switched back to the hotel floor.
“There they are!” Samantha pointed at the screen, “Oh my god!  They’re going to Archibald’s room” She stifled a sob.
They watched the trio enter the room and close the door.  A few minutes elapsed and then the door opened, again.  The uniformed woman poked her head out of the doorway, looked left and right, then said something over her shoulder.  She went back into the room and then the trolley appeared, but this time, bearing a body bag.
“Oh no!  She’s killed him!” Samantha shrieked.
D.I. Wood and D.S. Stone exchanged a worried glance.
“Let’s just see what happens, eh?” D.I. Wood said, in a sympathetic tone.
The trolley, wheeled by the two men, disappeared from view, closely followed by the woman in the uniform who closed the hotel room door, placing a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the handle, then looked directly at the CCTV camera, giving a broad grin, before also disappearing from view.
“Right, back to the Goods Entrance, Stoney”
The view on the screen flicked to the empty loading dock but then the trolley, with the two men, appeared.  The trolley was loaded onto the van, the back doors closed and the two men went to board but were stopped by the woman in uniform.
“Now what’s she doing?” D.S. Stone frowned and tried to get a close-up of the scene.  The men and woman seemed to be in animated conversation.  Then all three climbed on board the van and it pulled away.
“Stoney, check the ANPR and see if we can track that van” D.I. Wood ordered, “What the hell was she doing going with them?”
“I suppose she might have asked them for a lift home?  Told them she was at the end of her shift, something like that?”  D.S. Stone guessed.
“Yeah, that’s as likely as anything” D.I. Wood nodded.
“She’s killed him!  She’s killed Archibald!” Samantha sniffled.
“I don’t know” D.I. Wood shook his head, “It just doesn’t make sense!”
“What do you mean?” Samantha asked.
“Well, why go to all of this trouble? Eh?” D.I. Wood looked questioningly at them both, “If she has offed him, she could just have left the body in the room and cleared off.  It wouldn’t be found ‘til morning at the earliest, probably a lot later given that ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign.  By which time, she’d be long gone”
“Yes, I see what you mean, sir” D.S. Stone nodded.  “Why involve another two people?  It’s got to complicate matters”
“That’s right, Stoney!  She’s making it ten times more difficult and much more likely she’ll get her collar felt.  I don’t buy it” D.I. Wood shook his head, “Stoney, I want forensics all over that room”
“We’ll have to hope they haven’t serviced it yet, sir” D.S. Stone frowned, “and, you know what it’s like with hotel rooms.  Every man and his dog have been in there”
“Well, we’ll just have to hope we’ll get lucky” D.I. Wood shrugged.
“How close can you get to those images” Samantha asked.
“Well, pretty close” D.S. Stone demonstrated, “but you start to lose quite a bit of definition unless it’s a very high-quality CCTV system, which this one isn’t”
“Why, what do you want to look at?”  D.I. Wood asked her.
“Well, I think the woman had a name tag on her unform” Samantha speculated, “Do you think we could get a closer look at it?”
“Hang on, I’ll try” D.S. Stone rewound the file until he had the image of the woman staring straight at the CCTV camera.  “There, that should do it”
“What does it say, Stoney?  I can’t make it out from here” D.I. Wood almost had his nose to the screen.
“Erm, I think it says, ‘Lorna’, no, hold on, it’s ‘Lana…something’” D.S. Stone tapped a key a couple of times and peered at the result, “Heyvell…it’s Lana Heyvell” He said, triumphantly.
“Brilliant, Stoney!” D.I. Wood patted him on the back, “Get on to the hotel and check if they’ve got anyone of that name on their books.  Well done for spotting that, Mrs. Kn…” D.I. Wood looked behind him and realised she wasn’t there anymore.  “Now where the heck’s she gone?”

You can find a lot more from Josiah and Archibald, including the prequel novel to this series, in The Undertakers collection.

Now read Part 44