The Murder Suite: Book One - The Audrey Murders by Leonie Mateer Page B

She let out a sign of relief.  They had already been.  The pen looked almost empty. The pigs had left a mess in and around the pen.   Audrey went around the back of her Rav4 and removed a plastic bag of meat and threw it into the pen.  She needed to keep them happy and coming back for more.   She would need to come back tomorrow night and clean away any tell tale signs.  Another day and the pigs should have eaten any evidence.  But she couldn’t leave anything to chance.
    Heading towards the main road she saw the constable’s car turning into entranceway of The Three Suites. She wondered why he was back again.   She turned and followed him up the driveway.  They both parked outside Suite C.   Audrey got out of her car and waited for the constable to make conversation.
    “Just have a few more questions for you,” he said.
    “Do you have a minute?” 
    “Of course,” said Audrey smiling. “I have all the time in the world”. 
    The constable looked at Suite C and asked if the new guest had checked in yet.  Audrey said she had made a mistake and, in fact, the honeymoon couple was not checking in until tomorrow. 
    “Good” said Driver.  “Mind if I have another look in there?” 
    “No, go ahead,” said Audrey.  “ Let me turn on the lights for you.”  He followed her once again into the suite.   Audrey had already replaced the flowers and there was a welcome note on the table.  
    Driver read the note. “That’s a nice touch,” he said approvingly. “My wife would like this place. You have done a nice job here.”  
    “Thanks” said Audrey.  “It has been a lot of hard work but I love it.” She paused, “Are you looking for anything in particular?  Maybe I can help you.” 
    “Nope just wondering when was the last time he was in the room.  Did he pack up everything in his truck before he went to dinner or did he come back and pack everything up later? It is a bit of a mystery.”
    “The room was empty of his stuff when I cleaned it early this morning” said Audrey.” He had just left the complimentary robe on the bed; a few wet towels in the bathroom and a couple of dishes in the sink.  He had drunk the complimentary wine from the fridge but nothing out of the ordinary comes to mind.”
    “When did he make the reservation?” asked Driver. 
    “Oh, just a couple of days ago” said Audrey.  “He booked online and paid by credit card in advance.  Do you want to see the booking? She asked. 
    “Not now” said Driver looking perplexed.   “Are you sure you didn’t hear the truck return last night and leave again early this morning?” he asked.
    “I am so sorry but I sleep with earplugs in and I take a sleeping pill at night to help me sleep” said Audrey. “I have trouble sleeping and have taken sleeping pills for years.  Just the PM aspirin type, she explained - not prescription.  You can buy them over the counter.  Last night I took a couple of PMs and I had a wine with dinner so I slept like a baby.   I am so sorry.  If I knew something like this was going to happen I would have been more aware of things.”  
    Driver looked at her distress.  “You weren’t to know,” he said “This has taken us all by surprise. Hopefully he has just run off somewhere and is feeling embarrassed his truck ended up in the bay.” 
    “I hope that is what happened,” said Audrey.  “I feel sort of responsible I didn’t insist on driving him back last night.  But, I am a single woman, living alone and I have to be careful of strange men especially when they have been drinking so heavily.  I was quite relieved when he said he wanted to walk – I just presumed he was headed over to the pub for more beer and didn’t want me to know.”    
    Driver nodded.  He seemed content Audrey couldn’t offer any further leads and maybe she was right. He may have wandered over to the pub when he left Audrey and that was why Driver had not seen him when he walked