‘Yes, well, they’re not for everyone,’ the woman said before making her way back towards reception.

‘Oh, could I just ask …’ Joel called out, waiting for the woman to stop and turn. ‘I mentioned staff members. Is there anyone that had more contact than others with Danny Evans? Anyone that might have an insight?’

‘The bar,’ the woman replied without hesitation. ‘I think he spent a lot of his time over there.’

‘Thank you,’ Joel said, but she had already spun away.

‘She definitely thinks I’m weird now,’ DS Rose said.

‘We’re here to look round a dead man’s room,’ Joel said. ‘We do a weird job.’ He lifted the card to rest against the sensor. He had to push a Do Not Disturb hanger out of the way to get to it. The sensor flashed red and hissed at him twice to deny him access, but the third time was a charm.

Joel’s immediate action was not to step in. Instead, he turned to lock eyes with DS Rose. Opening the door had stoked up an odour that he knew all too well: death. Usually it was an overwhelming smell that could roll out of an open door like an assault, but here it was a little more subtle. He trapped the door open to survey the room. The window was directly opposite. A blackout blind was doing its job with just the merest hint of daylight at the bottom. He reached in to flick a light switch. Nothing happened.

‘The card,’ DS Rose said, pointing at a slot on the wall. He pushed the card in and the light was instant. Joel moved in. The bed was at the far end, just far enough away from the window that one could walk around it. It was made. The bedside cabinets were empty of any clutter, and a dresser against the wall that faced the foot of the bed was tidy too. The only thing to suggest the room was even in use was a packed suitcase standing on its end by the far wall.

‘And he’s been in this room for two weeks, has he?’

‘A little over,’ DS Rose said.

‘Keeps it tidy, doesn’t he?’

‘Shame about the smell.’ DS Rose turned to the bathroom as she spoke – the only place left to search. Joel led the way. The door was next to where they had come into the room and was closed. He pushed it open to reveal more darkness. The light switch was on the outside. He pushed it and the noise of a fan squeaking to life was instant.

‘Shit!’ Joel hastily reached for the isolator switch that would turn the fan off. He’d learned that from experience. His CSI colleagues would not thank him for starting up something that was designed to suck traces out of a room.

‘Boss …’ DS Rose had stepped in ahead of him. Joel joined her. She had been blocking the view of the shower tray. She stepped aside. ‘What the hell is that?’