Besides, Christmas was approaching and maybe now was a good time to come up with a new plan. Yes. If he could come up with a fresh idea then maybe 2014 would be the year he finally made his fortune.
All he needed was that one lucky break.
Chapter Two
FRIDAY 18TH MAY 2018
The car radio was blasting out Adele’s Set Fire to the Rain. Diane Dempsey was singing along at the top of her voice. It was 5.45 am., half an hour after sunrise, and she was on her way to work at the Albion Hotel.
As Diane’s seven-year-old silver Nissan Micra made its final turn into the hotel staff car park, she turned down the radio and parked neatly between the guidelines in her usual spot.
Diane checked her uniform, making sure to straighten the badge marked ‘Assistant Manager’. It was a job that most days she really enjoyed.
After letting herself into the front of the hotel, Diane walked to the office behind the reception desk and turned off the alarm system that covered the ground floor area of the hotel.
Normally the night porter George Leeman, whose shift finished at six am., was there to greet her with a cheery ‘hello’ and a big smile. But he had been off with flu for the past four days.
So the previous night, the doors of the hotel had been locked at eleven pm. after the bar shut. Any guests who wanted to stay out later could have requested a night key. None had been given out.
Diane lifted the kettle that sat on top of the grey three-drawer filing cabinet, poured in enough fresh water for one cup and hit the ‘on’ switch, checking the little red light under the handle had come on.
Everyone at work was always telling Diane she was the most methodical person they’d ever met. It was a skill she was proud of. So the very first thing she did was check her schedule and ‘to do’ list.
The first item was to look for local slimming classes. She didn’t mind being five feet three and still felt quite attractive for a forty-five-year-old. She would like to have been a little lighter.
There was a lot of sitting around at a desk with her job. It wasn't the fault of her love for Chocolate Hobnobs. At least that was what she told herself.
With the kettle switched on and the tea bag placed in her favourite mug, Diane picked up her clipboard and report sheet and started her daily inspection tour of the hotel.
She had perfected her schedule to the minute. By the time she returned, the boiling water in the kettle would be ready for her to pour into the mug for her first cup of green tea of the day. Then she would have time to sit down, enjoy a cuppa, check her emails, and have a few minutes to relax before unlocking the front entrance to let in the three kitchen staff due to start their shift at six-thirty.
That week she was in charge of the entire hotel. The manager Jonathan Atkins was five days into his two-week holiday and sunning himself on a beach in Cyprus according to his Facebook page.
The Albion Hotel had been a landmark in the heart of Trentbridge for as long as most people could remember. Located on Trinity Street meant it sat on a prime location in the centre of town. Built in the 1930s, the outside facade reeked of pre-war high society. It even had its own car park. But time had taken its toll, and without major investment, the building had begun to show its age. Following a falling out between the family owners the previous year, it had been put up for sale, and it looked like a developer would come in and turn it into luxury apartments, meaning all the staff would be laid off.
However, at the last minute, a new buyer had come to the rescue: James Sheldon.
James had been a police detective when his wife and two young children were killed in a hit and run. He turned to drink and almost drank himself into oblivion. After eight months, the building society repossessed his house. He found shelter behind the Albion and was looked after by a few members of staff. Then, by a stroke of luck, he became the biggest winner of the Lotto ever, scooping £168 million. To return the favour to the people who had helped him when he was homeless he bought the hotel to save them from losing their jobs. It cost him £21 million, but he could afford it.
He brought in a specialist hotel refurbishment company and invested a further £3 million to retain the character of the hotel while updating the décor and improving the outdated facilities. After the refurbishment and modernisation had been completed, the place had become the smartest hotel for miles and regained its stature as the best meeting place in Trentbridge.
It was now a luxury four-star hotel complete with twenty-nine bedrooms and one de-luxe room named the Trinity Suite spread across the first floor, after the road it overlooked, a large restaurant that regularly hosted weddings and functions, plus an Orangery, a coffee lounge and bar. With easy access to the motorway just two miles away, it attracted a wide range of visitors.
When Diane took over as assistant manager a little over two years earlier, the first thing she did was to introduce a daily report sheet. First job of the day, if you saw a problem, no matter how small, from stained table linen to missing soap in the toilets, it got written down on the form.
As she left the office, she turned her mobile to silent so as not to disturb any guests on her daily patrol of the
