“Maybe you wanted to know which junk shop or maybe you suddenly had a suspicion about the painting but from the search history on the reception desk computer for the afternoon of the second of May, the day he made the booking, you also did a search for the painting.
“It couldn't have taken long for you to find the photo of the painting and the note that was attached to the back and you recognised it instantly as being the one your father had shown you. The same painting your mum had sold to the so-called respectable London Art Dealer. The handwritten note on the back was probably the final confirmation. And you knew from his details this was the same man that you had just booked into the hotel.”
Diane sat with her hands covering her mouth. She looked like she was in total disbelief of what she was hearing.
“It must have been so painful for you to realise if he had paid even £50,000 your daughter might still be alive today. And if he had been a fair man your life and that of your family would be much better than working for minimum wage and having to work extra hours just to get by.
“So you decided to take revenge. You knew which room he would be in. And I’m guessing here, but to me it looks like you decided to stab him once for every year of your daughter’s life. Hence the ten wounds to his back.
“I imagine when you saw him book in with a young man you probably thought your chance had been taken away. However, then you witnessed the argument between Mr Winston-Moore and his partner and then a few minutes later, you saw the young man leave with his suitcase. So you decided to go ahead with it. I assume you knocked on his door and he recognised you as the housekeeper and under the pretence of a problem with his room, even though it was very late at night he trusted you and let you in.
“As his body was found lying in the doorway of the bathroom maybe you told him there was a flood from the toilet or the bath or a burst pipe. So he had his back to you and you took your chance and stabbed him. Once for each year of Kim’s life. Poetic justice for a man who let her die.
“During our interview you said you felt sorry for Diane discovering the body with an eight-inch knife in their back. How could you know the length unless you had seen it? The police held back on the details and that information wasn’t released to the press.
Diane reached across to Dawn, who was crying and put an arm around her shoulder.
“I’m also guessing that from being on reception until 8.30 on Thursday you thought the room opposite to the Trinity Suite would be empty. You had taken the master key to use it to change because either from your own knowledge or from listening to Diane and her obsession with TV shows like CSI you realised if you stab someone you would be covered in their blood. You didn’t want to risk any of the guests coming out of their room and seeing you. So you needed somewhere close by to change clothes.
“However, what you couldn’t possibly have known about was the late arrival of Katie Tavistock. You expected room 109 to be vacant so it must have been quite a shock when you went in there and turned on the light and saw Ms Tavistock in the bed. Luckily she was fast asleep and her eyes didn't adjust quickly enough to recognise it was a woman entering the room.
“Everyone in the hotel thought you had gone home at eight-thirty when your shift ended but instead I think you went out to your car and collected your little dog and hid him in your bag and went back into the hotel and to room 119 at the back of the hotel which was currently being re-decorated and therefore none of the house maids would check it, so you hid in there until after eleven when you knew the hotel would be quiet and then you went and knocked on the victim’s door with some story about a problem and he recognised you and let you in.
“I can only assume when your little dog, Alfie saw you come back covered in blood he made was worried and made noises. This was what the guest in room 118 reported hearing. He reported ‘a sort of moaning’ sound and told the receptionist he thought the hotel was haunted.
“When you left the room in the morning, you forgot to take Alfie’s water bowl. Later in the day the police did a search of every room and Zoe showed them in and noticed it and put it in to lost property. Nobody claimed it but I checked and it's not there anymore. I guess you retrieved it and took it home. Diane being so organised not only recorded it in the lost property book, she also took a photo of it and printed a copy off and stuck it alongside the description.
“You also took the painting. Not to sell it but to throw the police off the scent and make it look like a robbery. You overheard him boasting about the new painting and as the person who cleaned his room you had seen it and would have had the chance to measure it. You realised you couldn't simply walk out of the hotel holding a painting.
So you decided
