Murder at the Mayfair Hotel (Cleopatra Fox Mysteries #1)- C.J. Archer Page 0,73

the records of the room deliveries for the night of Mrs. Warrick’s murder. I want to see if one of my suspects ordered enough food for two people at dinner time.”

“You think she dined with her killer?”

“I’m not sure. It might amount to nothing, but I want to check before I pass on what I know to the inspector.”

“I know where you can find a key to Mr. Hobart’s office,” Peter said.

He ducked behind the counter. Goliath leaned over to see what he was doing, but Peter stood again, a set of keys on his palm.

“One of them is for Mr. Hobart’s office. Another is for Mr. Armitage’s office and his private chamber, and I’m not sure what the fourth one unlocks. They both handed in their keys to me when they left. I gave Mr. Hobart’s set to Mr. Chapman, who gave them back to Mr. Hobart when he returned. He told me to hold onto Mr. Armitage’s.” He held them up by the ring.

“Why didn’t he want you to give them to Mr. Chapman or Mrs. Kettering?” Goliath asked. “They’re more senior than you.”

“If we hold onto them here, then anyone can ask for them if they need something from Mr. Armitage’s office. This desk is always manned.”

I took the keys and promised to return them.

“I’d better come and keep watch for you,” Goliath said, following me into the senior staff corridor. “I’ll whistle if someone comes.”

I lowered my voice to a whisper. “If I close the door, it will be as it was before. Nobody will know I’m inside.”

“You have to turn the light on. Or can you see in the dark?”

“Very amusing. But you do have a point. Very well, whistle if someone approaches, and I’ll quickly switch off the light.”

Goliath positioned himself where he could see the foyer as well as along the corridor in both directions. Mr. Chapman should be in the dining room all evening, and as far as I was aware, Mrs. Kettering was in her private chambers or her office. If she happened to come out while I was inside Mr. Hobart’s office, I hoped I’d have enough time to turn off the light upon Goliath’s whistle before she noticed it.

As quietly as possible, I tried the keys until I found which of the three opened Mr. Hobart’s door and I slipped inside and turned on the light. His desk was neat; all the day’s paperwork had been safely stowed away. I searched the bookshelf of ledgers but found nothing relating to the kitchen except for some old renovation plans. I expected to see ledgers listing the supplies, but there were none. Perhaps they were in Mr. Armitage’s office or the head chef kept that information himself.

Nor could I find a ledger listing the room service orders taken through the speaking tubes. I checked the books again, pulling them off the shelf and checking inside, in case their spines had been mislabeled. They hadn’t. Perhaps it was kept in the kitchen.

But surely Mr. Hobart would need that information so he could add it to the guests’ expenses. He would also require it each day, to account for guests checking out. Either he took down notes for the guests, then handed the ledger back to the kitchen, or they simply used loose paper, starting afresh the next day.

I searched the stack of papers in Mr. Hobart’s tray then turned to the filing cabinet. I clicked my tongue in frustration as I tried to open some of the drawers only to find them locked. Thankfully, the bottom two weren’t. I pulled out the leather document wallets and rifled through the contents.

Success! One of them contained loose sheets of paper with neat columns ruled in ink. Each entry was written in pencil, and included the date, time, room number, guest name and their order. A tick had been placed in ink beside each entry, probably by Mr. Hobart after he’d transcribed the details over to the guest’s account.

There was one piece of paper for each day. The name of the staff member who’d taken the order was written beside it. Victor had been responsible for taking the room service orders on several occasions.

I flicked back through the papers until I found the one dated Christmas Eve and traced my finger down the entries. There it was, one of the names I’d been hoping to find. Now that I’d found it, I couldn’t quite believe it. I felt a little giddy as I read through