Chapters (156)
- A DATE WITH DEATH
- Also by Mark Roberts
- A Date With Death
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- The Past
- 1977
- Day OneWednesday, 1st December 2021CatoptrophobiaFear of mirrors
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 21
- 22
- 23
- 24
- 25
- 26
- The Past
- 1979
- Day TwoThursday, 2nd December 2021OneirophobiaFear of dreams
- 27
- 28
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- 34
- 35
- 36
- 37
- 38
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- 44
- 45
- 46
- 47
- 48
- 49
- 50
- 51
- 52
- The Past
- 1980
- Day ThreeFriday, 3rd December 2021MonophobiaFear of being alone
- 53
- 54
- 55
- 56
- 57
- 58
- 59
- 60
- 61
- 62
- 63
- 64
- 65
- 66
- 67
- 68
- 69
- 70
- 71
- 72
- 73
- 74
- 75
- 76
- 77
- 78
- 79
- 80
- 81
- 82
- 83
- 84
- 85
- 86
- 87
- 88
- 89
- 90
- 91
- 92
- 93
- 94
- 95
- 96
- 97
- 98
- The Past
- 1982
- Day FourSaturday, 4th December 2021ThanatophobiaFear of Death
- 99
- 100
- 101
- 102
- 103
- 104
- 105
- 106
- 107
- 108
- 109
- 110
- 111
- 112
- 113
- 114
- 115
- 116
- 117
- 118
- 119
- 120
- 121
- 122
- 123
- 124
- 125
- 126
- 127
- 128
- 129
- 130
- 131
- 132
- 133
- 134
- 135
- 136
- 137
- About the Author
- An Invitation from the Publisher
Winters pulled up the picture he had taken of Susan Hurst on his iPhone and showed it to Tommy.
‘Her working name’s Marlene Black. I took this picture of her in her kitchen a few hours ago. She most probably looks entirely different when she’s working, make-up, clothing and hair, but this is the woman we’re looking for on CCTV.’
Tommy broke off from what he was doing and looked at the picture.
‘OK. I know her. By sight. I’ve seen her round and about in the hotel. I knew what she was up to but she’s a discreet operator. Most of the working girls are. We don’t like our hotel being used as a knocking shop and we certainly don’t encourage it, but what happens behind the closed door of a hotel room is private to the people in it. Unless someone’s behaving in a screamingly obvious way, what can we do? Challenge a guest who’ll come back with, how dare you refer to my husband or wife as a hooker? There’s nothing we can say.’
‘It’s a tightrope you’re walking on.’
Winters pulled up Edgar McKee’s mugshot, looking directly into the eye of the camera.
‘This one was taken tonight when he was booked in at Trinity Road. Do you recognise him?’
‘I’ve seen a lot of him. Edgar McKee. Didn’t know his name but it’s on last night’s reservation. Most of the guys up to his tricks come in using pseudonyms and pay with cash. At least he’s not hiding behind a false ID. We’ll go from 7.29 pm and take it from there.’
Five minutes passed on fast forward and there was no one on the top floor where Room 1002 was situated. As 7.34 pm rolled into 7.35 pm, someone stepped out of a lift. Tommy Hart paused and slowed down the footage. It was a man talking on an iPhone and walking towards the camera but it wasn’t Edgar McKee.
Fast forwarded from 7.35 pm to 7.40 pm.
Edgar McKee seemed to step out of the wall on to the corridor.
‘He’s actually used the stairs rather than the lift,’ said Tommy. ‘That’s a lot of flights of stairs to climb.’
In slow motion, Edgar McKee walked towards the camera. He stopped at the door of a room.
‘Can you pause it for me, Tommy?’
‘No problem.’
‘And can you print that image off for me, please.’
Tommy sent the frozen on-screen image to a printer in the corner of the room which instantly came to life and spat out the picture of Edgar McKee.
‘This is going to go down so badly at Trinity Road. We really thought we had our man. OK, can we roll, please?’