‘Not sure Danny Evans wanted to be here either,’ DS Rose said, already reaching for her door. The traffic noise increased tenfold the moment the seal was broken. Joel caught her up just as the doors to the reception parted.

‘In a rush, are we?’

‘Sooner we get in, sooner we can go again. I hate hotels. This job will do that to you.’

‘What makes you hate hotels?’

They were into the foyer. ‘The only time I ever come to these places now is for death or rape,’ DS Rose explained, speaking far too loudly in the sudden silence where the doors had sealed behind them.

Joel made eye contact with a slim woman who instantly sat straighter behind the desk as she stared over at them.

‘We’re police officers!’ Joel blurted, ‘which might explain my colleague’s rather dramatic entrance there …’

‘I see,’ the woman said. ‘Can I help?’

‘Yes, let’s start again. My name is DI Norris, this is DS Rose. We’re investigating an incident involving a man called Danny Evans and we understand he has been staying here for a period of time?’ Joel held out his warrant card to back up his story.

‘Mr Evans is here, yes. I have not seen him today.’

‘That’s OK. We need to have a look in his room. Can you help us with that?

‘Can I ask what this is about? I’m supposed to call the number we have for Mr Evans and ask permission, unless this is a matter of life or death?’ The woman stood up, her hand now hovering over a desk phone, and eyed both officers like she was suddenly suspicious.

‘I can assure you he won’t be answering any calls. Mr Evans has been found deceased at another location. We need access to his room and maybe a chat with any members of staff that had contact with him.’

‘De … Oh my goodness! I mean, of course … I’ll show you.’ The woman scrabbled on her desk and in drawers. Her movements were rushed now, hasty. She knocked over a pen pot and dropped the key she was trying to push into a cabinet and tutted. When the cabinet did open she took a plastic card out and was instantly striding away from the desk. ‘It’s this way. Room eighteen.’ She gestured at a fire door to her left. A long, slim panel of glass showed only a darkened corridor behind. Both officers had to do a little jog to catch her up.

‘Eighteen,’ the woman repeated after marching the length of an aggressively patterned carpet.

‘Wonderful. Would you mind …?’ Joel said, leaving the question open for the woman to get the hint. It took a few moments; she clearly intended to come in for a look herself.

‘Oh! Of course! Tell me, can I get you a tea or coffee?’

‘No, thank you. Hopefully we won’t be here long. Much to the relief of my colleague – she has a bit of a phobia about these sorts of places.’ His grin widened at DS Rose’s obvious embarrassment.