Call It Murder: A Group Novel

Day 4

Alan woke up the next morning, feeling refreshed. For a moment, he forgot where he was and what had happened. Then life came crashing back, and he grimaced. He went out into the hallway and took in the surroundings. Everything seemed peaceful. All the lights were on in the rooms, and he could hear--

Wait a minute. One room didn't have any lights coming on. The pounding rain outside and the overcast sky meant it would've been difficult to see without any light. Alan went to the door without the lights on and knocked. "Hullo?" he said. There was no answer. Sick with dread yet unwilling to leave it for somebody else to discover. He hesitated--what if it was violent?--and turned the knob. It opened; someone had forgotten to lock the door.

Alan went into the room, clicking on the light. For a moment, nothing seemed to be wrong. He could see the long body of someone sleeping in the bed, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. "Hullo?" he repeated, louder this time. The person in the bed didn't even move.

Feeling ill, Alan went to the bed. "Richard," he said, "wake up!" Not a sound. Alan put his hand in front of Dick's mouth. Nothing. He rested his ear on his chest, trying to find some trace of a heartbeat. Alan squeezed his eyes shut, overwhelmed. Nothing. Dick was dead. He appeared to have died in his sleep, undisturbed.

"Dick?" Alan heard Jinni from the door. "Alan?" She sounded confused.

Alan came to a decision. He turned away from the door, taking a hold of Jinni and closing the door behind him. He took Jinni's shoulders and looked her in the eye. "Don't go in there," he warned her. "You'll only torture yourself. Remember him as he was. Missy!" he added, seeing the girl standing open-mouthed in front of her door. "Get Denzil. Tell him Dick is dead."

David heard Alan's words, yet somehow he couldn't comprehend. Up until that point, it had been people that made sense. Red, because she was nosy. Greg, since he had thought he knew everything. But Dick? He'd been clueless!

David sat on his bed, finding himself struggling against the sudden emotion that hit him. He'd barely known Dick, but he'd liked him. Given more time, they probably would have been friends. But they hadn't been given more time. And poor Jinni! It had been obvious she was in love with him; what would she do?

David put his head in his hands. That was about all he could do.

"Tell him Dick is dead . . ." Jinni heard these word in a daze. She instinctively put her hand on the doorknob, but Alan held her back.

"It's no use. He's gone, like the others."

Jinni stepped back calmly, but her eyes were wide and unseeing. Like the others? No, not like the others - the others were strangers, people you smiled at as you passed on the street, then never saw again. Dick was always there; the brother she never had, a friend she always knew, her first sweetheart.
Was.

Jinni felt her knees grow weak, and she sank to the floor, holding a hand over her mouth and rocking back and forth. She ignored the buzz around her, as Missy ran off for Denzil, and others appeared with a host of questions. Then Alan tried to get her to move to the lobby, but she pushed him away.

"No. Just leave me alone - leave me alone."

Denzil had not been able to sleep, knowing the unpleasant task which awaited him and Mrs Jackson in the morning. He had only managed to fall asleep for about half an hour, when he was awoken by the sound of someone's fist pounding on the door of his room. Groaning, he pushed the bedding aside, stumbled out of bed, grabbed a robe and staggered to the door, still tying the sash on his robe.

The moment he opened the door, Missy began babbling in a loud and very panicky tone. All he could make out was that he had to come quickly.

"Slow down" he requested, rubbing his eyes and trying to make sense of her hurried words. "Tell me again".

Missy sighed and glared at him. "Stupid man, listen properly this time!" She then launched into her tale of tragedy again, at a slightly slower pace than before.

"How did you know which room was mine?" he asked. "No-one was supposed to know. That was the whole point of moving rooms".

"Never mind that!" Missy snapped. "Just ... just get your clothes on and come with me!"

Denzil nodded. "Alright, close the door and give me a moment".

While he grabbed his shirt and trousers, he could hear her tapping her foot impatiently in the corridor outside.

"I suppose it's a waste of time asking if you saw anything" Denzil commented once they were walking along the corridor. "Seems no-one around here is prepared to give a straight answer. If I were a suspicious man, I might get around to thinking that it's deliberate, to keep me from finding out what everyone else knows".

"You are a suspicious man" Missy replied. "How do we know you didn't kill poor Dick and the others?"

"You don't" Denzil stated. "Unless you do, of course".

Missy sighed and rolled her eyes. "You're not making any sense!"

When they reached Dick's room, Alan was waiting for them in the corridor. He nodded to Denzil and opened the door.

"You didn't touch anything, did you?" Denzil enquired, hesitating before entering the room.

Alan shook his head. "I checked to see if he was breathing, but I didn't move him".

Denzil spent the next ten or so minutes inspecting the lifeless form of Dick in the bed. He could hear Missy babbling outside and her loud tones intruded on his thoughts, distracting him. He went to the door and closed it but he could still hear her.

When he had finished with the body, he took a good look around the room. He noticed that all the furniture was bolted to the floor, which seemed odd to him. Were the hotel owners worried that thieves would steal such large items? It was usually towels and bathrobes which were stolen from hotels. He recalled doing exactly that on his honeymoon, over thirty years ago, but he would never have dreamed of trying to take a bed or a vanity unit. He made a mental note to check the furniture in the other rooms.

Fatigue and worry weighed him down. He sank to his knees in the middle of the room and murmured a prayer. He stayed on his knees for a few more minutes before mentally chastising himself and getting up. There was work to do and wallowing in self-pity would not catch the murderer.

He emerged from the room. Thankfully Alan had managed to calm Missy down. Her face was red from crying and she held a handkerchief, occasionally using it to dab at her watery eyes.

"No wounds, no signs of poisoning, nothing" he reported. "I'd prefer to have a proper medical examiner here, but we'll have to make do. I need to find Miz J and get her opinion on this".

He took a deep breath and turned to face Missy. "Since you knew where to find me, do you happen to know where Miz J is?"

Missy gave a helpless shrug and held out her hands.

"I take it that's a no" Denzil ventured. "Alan, stay with her and make sure no-one else goes inside this room. I'll be back soon".

He hurried off along the corridor, checking the rooms as he went. He soon found where the others had been staying, but there was no sign of Mrs Jackson. He went down to the staff quarters to see if she had returned to her apartment, but it was locked. He tried banging on the door, but there was no reply. He then looked in the kitchen, laundry and storage rooms, but she was not in any of those either. All the other staff apartments were locked but he banged on the door of each, hoping that she would answer. Again, no reply.

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he tried sending her a text. He had seen the messages going back and forth between Jinni and Dick on Dick's phone so he knew that it was possible for limited communications within the hotel. He roamed around, continuing his search and hoping that she would answer him. It was not a particularly large hotel in comparison with some that he had stayed at in the past, so surely she must be around somewhere.

The only place he had not looked was the lobby. Sure enough, there she was, sitting by herself, a mournful expression on her face. Her laptop was open on her knees but she was staring into space, preoccupied.

She looked up on noticing him. "Call me a coward if you like, but I just couldn't do it. Not to him. I think I was wrong. I don't think he's the murderer after all".

"Let's leave that aside for now" he told her, sitting down beside her and putting his arm around her shoulders. "I've got some more bad news".

She listened in stunned silence while he related the latest murder. He told her about the state of the body, the bolted down furniture, even the text messages on Dick's phone.

"So we're actively investigating again, eh?" she enquired, already knowing the answer.

He waited while she switched off her laptop and packed it away. Then they both went back to Dick's room and inspected it thoroughly.