So who was the second person on the booking? After what he had seen outside the flower shop, he had a fair idea.
Norman had never liked going to antique fairs or auctions. He found the idea of them boring. He preferred to stay and run the gallery. So, Peter was planning to go to the Evesham Art and Antiques Fair on his own.
Norman hoped he had got it all wrong and there was a perfectly good explanation for what he had seen but he needed to find out the truth for himself.
Meeting Peter had been the turning point in his life and for the first time, Norman had felt complete and at ease within himself.
As he made his way to bed, Norman decided he would book a room at the hotel under a false name and confront Peter in his room with his new young lover. But he was praying there had been some sort of mistake.
Up until now he thought life had given him a lucky break. Now he was wondering if the only thing to break would be his heart.
Chapter Fifteen
FRIDAY 18TH MAY 2018
Following the phone call just as he was about to go fishing, DI Eden Gold was the first detective to arrive on the scene at the Albion Hotel. He was in the process of being briefed by PC Mitchell when his boss and the man who would take charge of the investigation DCI Andy Stone, drove up to the front of the hotel.
At 6.26 am., a second marked police car arrived containing PC Frank Edwards and PC Ian Randall.
The next person at the scene was Dr Edward Phillips, the police doctor. Eden Gold explained the situation to him and together they went up to the Trinity suite.
At six forty-two, the doctor pronounced Peter Winston-Moore as deceased.
After the six thirty workers, the next shift was due to start work from seven and then more staff at various times throughout the morning. So Andy Stone instructed the hotel assistant manager to make a list of the staff members as they arrived.
The Scene of Crime team arrived at 6.41 am.
There was only one staircase leading up to all the guest rooms so PC Frank Edwards had been posted at the bottom to explain to the guests that due to an incident they could not leave the hotel. Instead they were asked to go through to the main dining room.
The time was 7 am., and the restaurant wouldn’t normally start serving breakfast for half an hour, so none of the guests were expected to leave their rooms, although Diane had mentioned on occasion one or two liked to take a walk or a jog before breakfast. So the staff probably had about ten minutes before any early birds would leave their rooms.
The Trinity Suite, where the murder had taken place, was the last room on the right, so apart from the room opposite, no one would have a need to go that far along the corridor.
The room opposite to the Trinity Suite was room 109 and had been occupied the previous night by a late arrival guest called Katie Tavistock.
One of the first things would be to obtain a list of the guests and then arrange a team to interview them. Diane, in her usual organised way, had already realised this and printed out a full list of all the guests staying in the hotel, together with the rooms they were occupying.
Having established the murder weapon appeared to be a large kitchen knife, DI Gold instructed two of the forensic team to check out the hotel kitchen to see if it had come from there. They could also check if the area held any evidence before they allowed staff members in to work.
When the area had been examined and photos taken, based on the fact nothing looked out of place and no matching knives had been found, Eden told the kitchen staff they could start making hot drinks. He felt many of the guests would be more inclined to talk if they at least had a cup of tea or coffee.
According to the list Diane had supplied, the previous night, twelve of the rooms had been occupied by a total of twenty-two guests: eighteen adults and four children.
Six rooms were single occupancy, a further four had double, and two rooms were occupied by families with two children in each.
Today he was lucky. With no other major incidents in the area so far, DCI Andy Stone had four team members at his disposal.
DS Tracy Archer, DS Will Redgrave and DS Carla Parsons had all been called in to assist, along with DI Eden Gold and each had the necessary training and qualifications to interview the guests and staff members.
DCI Stone gave a briefing to his team. “Doctor Phillips has pronounced the victim deceased. It looks like he was stabbed repeatedly with the knife still lodged in his back. The murderer made no attempt to take it with them and although he would like to do the Post Mortem first the doctor has estimated the time of death as between 11 pm. and 1 am.”
He went on. “According to business and credit cards found in his wallet the victim appears to be a gentleman called Peter Winston-Moore who is a London Art Dealer. The motive could be robbery as there is an empty display easel set up in the corner of the room but no painting on it.
“We'll deal with the guests first. Start with the families as it will avoid any problems with the children getting bored and besides, they are probably unlikely to be involved unless they say they knew the victim. Then the married couples. Leave the people booked in on their own
