Lifting the Lid(15)

The buggers must have nicked it. But why would they? What possible use could it be to them?

Sandra immediately realised the futility of asking herself these questions when the culprits themselves were probably still just along the corridor.

She swept out of the room and almost ran along the hallway to where the linen cage was parked outside an open door. Without even thinking of knocking, she marched into the bedroom and saw two women in white housecoats, one of them talking on the telephone and the other sitting on the edge of the bed, her head in her hands.

‘Excuse me.’ Sandra’s voice was firm to the point of authoritarian.

The woman on the phone barely acknowledged her presence and continued her conversation, anxiously fiddling with a loose strand of heavily bleached hair. ‘… That’s right. A bloody dog… ‘

The girl on the bed slowly lifted her head and stared myopically in Sandra’s direction, her eyes red from crying.

‘Have you just been in to clean my room?’

‘Dunno,’ sniffed the chambermaid.

‘What do you mean, you don’t know?’ Sandra’s patience was already strained to the limit.

‘We clean loads. What number?’

‘Twenty-five.’

‘’Appen we musta done.’

‘Well, in that case…’ Sandra peered at the card pinned to the girl’s housecoat. ‘…Denise. Perhaps you could explain to me how you came to break the lid of the toilet cistern and what you’ve done with the…’ She tailed off, not wanting to give out too much information in case the chambermaids might actually be innocent. ‘There’s also something missing from my room.’

‘Eh?’

‘Do I have to call the manager?’

‘Sorry, I just dunno what you’re on about.’ She turned towards her colleague. ‘Maureen?’

Maureen was still in mid conversation and gestured to her to be quiet. ‘… Well, it were one of you lot let him in in the first place…’ She was clearly involved in a heated argument with whoever was on the other end of the line.

‘I think you’d better come with me.’ The fact that Sandra’s tone and choice of words made her sound like a police officer at the end of her tether was not entirely unintentional.

‘Eh?’ said Denise, blowing her nose on a tissue she’d taken from the box beside her on the bed.

‘If you’re going to play dumb, I’m obviously going to have to show you what I’m talking about. Come on. Up.’

‘Oh chuffin’ ‘eck. As if I ‘adn’t ‘ad enough to cope with already for one day.’

‘Tell me about it. Now shift your arse.’

As the chambermaid forced herself to her feet, Maureen slammed the phone down. She looked from Denise to Sandra and back again. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Dunno,’ said Denise. ‘Broken toilet or summat.’

Maureen eyed Sandra with undisguised contempt. ‘Sorry, madam, but you’ll ‘ave to contact reception and ‘ave ‘em send up a plumber. Not our job, see.’

‘Now listen to me, Maureen.’ Sandra spoke the name with heavy disdain. ‘I don’t give a shit about the bloody toilet. What I do give a shit about – a very big shit in fact – is what you’ve done with the envelope that was inside it.’ Instantly, she regretted that her anger had got the better of her resolve for discretion.

The two chambermaids exchanged sideways glances.

‘Which room?’ said Maureen.

‘Twen-tee-five,’ said Sandra, clearly enunciating each syllable.

Maureen turned back to Denise. ‘’Ang on a bit. That’s the room where the bloke came in.’

‘Oh yeah. It were.’

‘Bloke? What bloke?’ Sandra could feel her blood pressure mounting.

‘Summat bloody odd goin’ on ‘ere if you ask me,’ said Maureen. ‘Broken toilet, you say?’

‘Yes, but—’

Maureen brushed past her and was out of the door before Sandra could get any further. A moment later, the younger chambermaid trotted after her.

‘Oh Jesus,’ said Sandra, rolling her eyes heavenwards and setting off in pursuit.



* * *



Immediately after his brief encounter with the woman on the stairs, Trevor found himself in the hotel foyer and advanced towards the reception desk.

The woman on duty was the same one that had checked him in the evening before. She was staring intently at the computer screen in front of her and occasionally tapping on the keyboard.

Trevor dropped his holdall to the floor and reached for the wallet in his back pocket. ‘Can I have my bill, please?’