Page 49 of Hidden in Memories
Hanna has made notes. According to Espen, it is only the leadership team who have access to all areas; everyone else has different levels of eligibility depending on their individual duties. The security system makes it possible to see who has entered which room. In addition, each hotel guest is given a card when they check in—one for every family member in multiple-occupancy rooms.
Hanna glances over to the window where the sun is high in the sky above the mountain known as Renfjället. It is going to be a beautiful day, as it usually is during the Easter break. The temperature is only a few degrees below freezing, and she can see that the drag lift is running. A family with two small children is getting ready to hit the slopes. The youngest girl is so small that she can barely stand up in her ski suit, but she hurls herself enthusiastically toward her daddy, arms outstretched.
Hanna reads through her notes.
“If you’re staying alone in a suite, like Charlotte, do you just get one key?”
“Hmm.” Espen strokes his double chin. “You can request two.”
“So theoretically she could have left one key in the holder so that she wouldn’t have to keep getting her own out and putting it away again? Even when she wasn’t in the room?”
Espen nods. “Absolutely. A lot of people do that—it’s more practical.”
Hanna turns to Daniel to explain what she’s thinking. The cleaners have confirmed that the Silver Suite was empty when they were there on Sunday.
“We know that Charlotte was out when the room was cleaned. When I’ve stayed in hotels, the doors are sometimes left open as the cleaners go back and forth. I’m wondering if someone took the opportunity to steal the card then?”
That would also mean that if the murderer was a hotel employee, he wouldn’t need to use his own card, and it wouldn’t be possible to trace the crime back to him.
Daniel nods. “Espen, could you check if more than two cards were issued to the Silver Suite?”
Espen takes out his phone and calls an internal number. His nails are bitten to the quick, his fingertips are red and swollen.
He finishes the conversation.
“You’re right. Charlotte Wretlind came down to reception on Sunday and said that the card she’d left in the holder was missing. She asked for another, which was issued. No one gave the matter any thought.”
Hanna and Daniel are thinking along the same lines—they seem to have found out how the murderer got into the suite.
“In other words, the perpetrator could be absolutely anyone who was in the hotel over the weekend,” Daniel says.
The color drains from Espen’s face. Once again Hanna wonders about Paul Lehto. They really must get a hold of him.
“We need to speak to one of your colleagues who works at reception,” she says. “It’s urgent.”
38
Wednesday’s roster means that Aada is due to clean on the fourth floor. She is relieved that it’s not the sixth, where the Silver Suite is located. She doesn’t want to go up there again if she can avoid it. Quickly she changes into her work clothes and takes the staff elevator.
Each floor has a special room where all the equipment is stored—cleaning trollies, and boxes of soap, shampoo, and so on for guests’ bathrooms.
Aada glances around before she opens the door. She is on high alert; she feels as if she is being followed all the time, although she hasn’t actually seen anyone since she sensed that horrible shadow in the parking garage.
Her shift ends in three hours. She longs for the security of her own accommodation, a place where she can lock herself in.
She takes a few steps into the narrow space and reaches up to the shelf of clean towels.
Suddenly the door slams shut. The light goes out; it is pitch black.
Time stands still.
Aada wants to scream, but dare not.Hemust have found her, and now she is trapped in here. There is no way out, and no one will hear her cries for help.
She should never have come here.
The darkness is making her panic. When she takes a step forward, she bangs her forehead so hard that she sees stars. She wobbles, but grabs a hold of a shelf and manages to keep her balance.
It is impossible to orient herself, but she thinks she can hear another person breathing.
