She pocketed her phone. “I don’t know what bullshit you two tried to pull, but your mother was alive a few hours ago. She had a drink with a guy in the lounge downstairs, where she mentioned that she was your mother. She seemed very proud of you, God only knows why. She gave the guest her room key. When he followed her up a half hour later, he found this.”

“And?” Gabriel said.

“And what?”

“I’m sure you have more than a woman in a bar trying to impress a man by claiming kinship with a known local figure. I’m guessing she also registered as Seanna Walsh?”

“Another guy paid for her room. He managed to convince the clerk to let him pay cash for a two-night stay, despite that being very clearly against the hotel’s policies. The guy was in his mid-twenties. Dark-haired. Handsome. Charming and manipulative.” Fahy shot Gabriel a look. “Sound familiar?”

“Dark-haired, yes. Manipulative? I’ll accept that. While I’m more often mistaken for being older than my age, I suppose someone could mistake me for younger. But I’m hardly attractive enough to persuade a woman to risk her job. Nor has anyone ever accused me of being charming. However, I’m quite happy to speak to this employee and see whether she recognizes me. I’m certain you’ll agree that if any adjective might be aptly applied to me, it is memorable.”

“Is that really all you’ve got, Detective?” I asked. “The word of some dude in a hotel bar? I doubt you’ll even get a proper statement from him. By now he’s deeply regretting taking that woman’s keycard and has already formulated a bizarre and implausible story for his wife.”

She scowled at me. Good guess, apparently.

“A blood test will clear this up,” Fahy said. “And we have plenty to use. Walsh? You can provide a sample.”

“Yes, I will. When I am court-ordered to do so.”

“About the blood on the walls,” I said. “I’m sure you’ve already asked your crime techs to do a wide sampling, to ensure it all comes from a single and fresh source.”

One of the techs looked over, his expression saying he’d been told to do no such thing.

“Fresh?” Fahy said.

“The scene could be faked, right?” I said. “Multiple sources or stored blood used to provide enough to make you suspect a fatal incident. You’ve got a woman who was checked in with no ID, and told some random dude in the hotel bar that she was Gabriel Walsh’s mother. Then she invites this guy up, presumably telling him to wait a half hour before following her. And he just happens to walk into an apparent crime scene? It screams setup.”

“To what purpose?”