“Someone working here owe you a favour?”
“Let’s just say one of the kitchen staff likes a flutter and got in over their head.”
“Can I ask why you’re offering this information? After all, it’s no secret we’re hardly on the same side.”
“I’ve dealt with a lot of coppers over the years. Most are bastards and some are as crooked as me. But Mr Gold has always been fair and word is he’s as straight as an arrow. A man of his word. I respect that and besides, I might need a favour one day and if I help him out now he’ll remember it.”
“One thing. Why are you involved in this? As you say, you’re no longer a copper.”
“Because I own this hotel.”
O’Connor let out a long whistle. “You’re kidding me. You own this entire hotel? It’s worth millions. If you won so much why didn’t you just retire and buy an island or something. Why would you spend so much on a hotel?”
When I was homeless I stayed round the back. A few of the staff looked after me. When I won the Lotto I heard they were selling the place to convert into apartments so I bought the place to keep everyone in a job. But it makes money and I don’t have to get involved in the day to day running.”
“Crikey. I thought you had won a few hundred grand. How much did you win then?
“I won £168 million.”
“Fucking hell. If I had won that much I might even have been tempted to go straight.”
“No disrespect, Kevin, but I very much doubt that. You enjoy the game of cat and mouse too much.”
“Ha ha. You might be right James.”
“Anyway, Kevin. Thank you for the information. I’ll let Eden know how helpful you’ve been but I can’t promise he will acknowledge he owes you a favour for the future. It’s my round. What would you like to drink?”
“If you’re paying, I’ll take a double malt whiskey.”
Chapter Forty-Three
The following morning, James walked into the Albion Hotel and found Belinda who usually worked in the office sitting on reception.
“Hello, Belinda. How are you today?”
“Good, thank you, Mr Sheldon.”
“If you’re not in the middle of something I wonder if it would be possible to use the computer for about five minutes.”
“Er, yes. Of course Mr Sheldon. I've got some paperwork I can do in the back office but if any guests come to reception, could you give me a call?”
“Of course, not a problem.”
James sat down at the computer and clicked onto Google. Then he held down the control button and pressed the ‘H’ key. In the search box that appeared he typed ‘Peter Winston-Moore’ and watched as a list of seven searches appeared. He noted every one of them had been made on the same date. James went through the list one at a time, making notes. Then, in the search box he typed in the word 'Picasso' and this time it revealed a list of nine searches. Again, these had all been made on the same date. James clicked on each one in turn and made further notes. When he had finished, he deleted any trace of the search he had undertaken and returned the computer back to the previous screen.
He popped his head round the door of the back office. “Thanks, Belinda. I've finished.”
Chapter Forty-Four
James Sheldon had arranged to meet Eden Gold along with DS Carla Parsons at the Albion Hotel. When they arrived he took them through to the office of Jonathan Atkins, the hotel manager who was currently away on holiday.
It was a large office with a desk and filing cabinets and set over by the window a round meeting table with room for up to six people.
“Hello, Eden, Hi, Carla, nice to see you again. As I told you on the phone. I think I’ve worked out exactly what happened with Peter Winston-Moore. I’ll go through it with you point by point and then it’s up to you to decide.”
Over the next forty minutes, he shared all the information he had accumulated. “That’s everything. Now it’s up to you to decide on what course of action to take.”
“Based on the evidence you have presented I’m in no doubt. What about you, Carla?”
“It makes sense to me. I know the DCI thinks it was Norman Gentle but based on this I’d say we’ve found the real killer.”
“In that case, as we’re here I think we should get this over and done with.”
“James. I think we should have someone neutral and supportive around, don’t you?”
“I agree. Leave it with me for a minute and I’ll get it sorted.”
James had given instructions under no circumstances were they to be disturbed. He walked from the office and through to reception.
Two minutes later, he walked back with two members of the hotel staff.
As they entered the office and approached the table, Eden got to his feet and indicated where he wanted the pair to sit.
"Hello, and thank you both for coming. The reason for asking you here is to go over what we have discovered over the past few days as we've unravelled exactly what happened at the hotel regarding the murder of Peter Winston-Moore. As you are probably aware we arrested his partner, a gentleman called Norman Gentle. However, since then we have found a number of things that lead us to believe he was not the person responsible and the real culprit is a little closer to home. We believe it is someone associated with this hotel.”
The two staff members looked at each other and then back to DI Gold.
He continued. “The theory has been that Norman found his lover with a younger man
