"Your mama know you're out?" "What are you doing here?" "You check in with me, remember?" "Consider me checked in." "Oi." "What on earth do you think you're doing?" "We're the cleaners." "Yeah, I'm Charlie Buchanan." "This is my wife, Nicola." "Uh, there is a trade entrance at the rear of the hotel." "Yeah, we went round the back but it's blocked off by crates of lobsters." "We can't get our gear through." "We were told it's urgent." "Oh, it is." "It is." "Swipe card." "Room 2012." "We've closed off the entire floor." "We need you in and out as quickly as possible." "And through the back way, please." "I will deal with the lobsters." "Great." "I bet the police don't have to contend with lobsters." "I bet your friend, Detective Constable What's-His-Name gets to use the main entrance." "Oh, Peter's a full detective now." "And you know why, don't you?" "It's because you solved that man in the water tower case for him." "And the one where the lady got her face eaten off by bugs in the museum..." "You solved those cases too, sweetie." "And he gets the promotion." "We get to use the service entrance." "He's in a position to throw a lot of work our way now, so be nice to him." "He's a full detective, is he?" "Mm-hm." "Lounging around, telling us what to do." "It'd be hard to be nice to him." "I know Peter." "He's not gonna try to lord it over us." "Marty O'Connor was travelling with his business manager, Kate McVie." "She looked after his, uh, public speaking tours, books, positivity seminars..." "Business manager." "Snow falls." "I mean, he makes a career out of it." "It's amazing." "I found his stuff very life-affirming." "Have you read, 'Like Wow, Whiteout'?" "No, no." "I missed that one." "I have the audio book." "I'll lend it to you." "And how's the business manager taking it?" "Mm, she's been too distraught to talk to us as yet." "She's, um... she's staying next door." "Did she find the body?" "No." "No." "She was in the bar." "She has a tight alibi." "A hooker by the name of, um..." "Frederica found the body." "O'Connor used hookers?" "Could we not say 'hooker'?" "It's a very, very unpleasant word." "Sorry, sweetie." "No, no, it's not you, darling." "O'Connor and McVie had these adjoining rooms booked." "But when they checked in, someone else was in here." "The hotel had to swap them at the last minute." "Frederica claims that she was here for one of her regulars, who was usually in this room." "So who's the regular?" "One of those delegates for the think-tank thing." "'Escort'?" "That's much nicer." "Mistaken identity, perhaps?" "Well, sorry to rain on your parade but at this stage it's looking like a botched robbery." "Room service guy was, uh, sprung in the act and things turned nasty." "'Jezebel'?" "That's lovely." "That's lyrical." "You've made an arrest already?" "We're talking to him." "He's denying everything." "That only gets you so far when you're caught with a bloodied knife in your hand." "He reckons he was struck on the head." "Lawyer says he's confused." "Ms McVie." "Who are you?" "I'm Detective Peter Venetti." "Venetti." "You wanted to see me?" "Yes." "Yes." "Yes, I did." "Um..." "Shall we, uh, go next door?" "Uh, I'd prefer to go somewhere where there's some fresh air." "Excuse me." "Just..." "Don't." "'Paramour' and 'concubine' are more your mistresses, really." "Mmm." "I prefer 'courtesan'." "Or, if pressed, 'harlot'." "See, I think that's a little bit harsh." "Something lighter, like 'floozy'." "That's nice." "You can still be a nice person." "You can't fire me for something I didn't do." "I'm the best person in room service you have!" "I'm sorry." "I..." "I'm calling security." "Go on, then, go!" "Call security!" "Do it!" "What is that?" "No, you can't take that." "No, no, no..." "No, you can't take that!" "Hazardous material needs to be disposed of properly." "No, no, but it's got evidence on it." "It's got stuff that can clear me." "Please." "Please." "The police have all the forensic material." "We're just the cleaners." "Truly." "Oh!" "Are you alright?" "He sacked me." "I was employee of the month and he sacked me." "I didn't do it." "I mean, why would I come back here if I did?" "I didn't do it, alright?" "I didn't kill him." "Well, you're innocent until you're proven guilty." "Yeah, I wish." "You're doing that face." "What face?" "The supermodel one?" "No, no." "The 'Harriet the Spy' one." "Oh!" "He didn't do it, Charlie." "You saw him." "He was so shaken." "He was devastated." "And he turned up for his shift." "It was the wrong place, wrong time." "Wrong bloodied knife in his hand?" "Oh, I admit that looks bad." "Looks can be deceiving." "Do the supermodel face." "Oh, no..." "Go on." "Go on." "Who'd want to kill Marty O'Connor?" "The guy's a national hero." "Well, he's New Zealand's national hero." "All those kids he let out of the avalanche." "Do you remember that footage with the hand coming out of the snow?" "Such a survivor." "I know." "I read one of the books he wrote about it." "When you think about all the ways he could've died on that mountain, all the ways he ALMOST died on the mountain," "I bet he never thought he'd end up in a luxury hotel suite." "I bet whoever killed O'Connor had one of these." "Probably knew how to use it too." "These things are programmed not to work the first time." "Or the second time." "May I?" "You'd make a lousy murderer." "I resent that." "It's all a question of exact timing and interface pressure." "Who are you?" "Oh." "Um, we're the cleaners." "I'm Nicola and this is my husband, Charlie." "They're outsourcing this?" "Well, it's a crime scene so they need professionals." "Not that you're not a professional, I'm sure." "It's just this is..." "this is what we do." "Just don't forget the taps." "Guests always complain about the taps." "OK." "You know, I wasn't the only one on that mountain that day." "I wasn't the special one or the brave one." "I was simply the one who knew we would get down off that mountain alive." "I didn't make apologies for wanting to live." "And, you know, you shouldn't either." "After that experience, I decided to form Survive Your Life Enterprises and just help people get down off that mountain alive." "Getting self-help advice from somebody else always struck me as being a contradiction in terms." "I think we need to find out more about whoever was in this room before O'Connor." "Maybe they were the real target." "Yeah." "Do you want to go downstairs and sweet-talk the hotel manager?" "I'd rather scour the blood stain out of that carpet." "Hmm." "Alright." "I'm ready this time." "You see, 'cause, um, scissors cut up rock." "I didn't know that." "Yeah." "You're very good at this game." "Mmm." "Whoops." "Sorry." "That was fun." "We should..." "we should do the Madison." "No." "I just want to... go upstairs." "Yeah." "Yeah, good idea." "Oh, John." "We're almost done." "Oh, excellent." "About before, you can imagine what something like that could do to a business like this." "No, no, no." "No need to apologise." "Well, I appreciate what you're doing." "It can't be pleasant." "No, no, it's awful." "Someone like Marty O'Connor." "But he can't have too many enemies, can he?" "I..." "I wouldn't know." "Wasn't there a mix-up with the bookings?" "Wasn't there somebody else...?" "Anyway, thanks again for your help." "Just leave the swipe card and your invoice at the front desk when you leave." "Right." "Oh." "God." "Sorry." "I didn't..." "I didn't hear you." "I'll wear a bell next time." "You... you don't want to come in here..." "Well, of course I don't want to be in here but I have to pack up his things!" "Sorry." "No, that's... that's fine." "Were you working together for long?" "Since the avalanche." "Well, a few weeks after." "Marty had no idea how to handle the media." "We formed Survive Your Life Enterprises in the back of his old campervan." "Now we're floated on the stock exchange." "Bizarre world, isn't it?" "Did you hear anything last night?" "Did I hear Marty being murdered?" "I..." "I didn't, um..." "No." "I was in the bar the whole time." "He came up to do a phone interview about the new book." "I stayed on in the bar with Emil." "Like I said, I was there the whole time." "Did Marty have any enemies?" "I can't get my head around why anyone would want to murder someone like him." "The police said it was a botched robbery." "Right." "They didn't mention anything about enemies." "Did they actually say anything was missing?" "Oh, no." "Not... not that I know of." "Well, I'll come back when you're finished." "Well, he came into contact with this gentleman at your hotel." "I believe it was room 2012." "Ja, that's right." "Well, this is his personal physician Dr Schneider here." "I'm in possession of sensitive medical information that may be of interest to him." "Ja." "Ja." "Well, if he contacts you, would you mind, terribly, contacting me on this number?" "Ja, ja." "Alright, then." "Yes." "Thank you very much." "Goodbye to you, sir." "Look at this." "LSD." "I found it in the tread of Kate's tyre." "How do you know it's LSD?" "Oh, you didn't lick it, did you?" "Well, just, you know, enough to be sure." "And, look, there's a second one, sweetie." "I found that in the drip tray of the fridge." "That doesn't necessarily mean anything." "She's in and out all the time." "It doesn't place her at the murder." "Yeah, 'cause she was in the bar the whole time." "She kept on saying it like she was trying to convince herself." "Or you." "And you weren't convinced, were you?" "Kate McVie is involved somehow." "I know it." "Why were there drugs in Marty O'Connor's room?" "Maybe it had something to do with the botched robbery." "Did you know that Jane Goodall presented at one of these things last year?" "Oh, is that the gorilla lady?" "Yeah." "I like her." "Maybe the drugs were O'Connor's and that's why he was killed." "Maybe he was a drug dealer and the whole survivor motivational thing was just a front." "How much of that paper did you lick?" "Maybe he was framed and maybe he was framed by Miss I Was At the Bar the Whole Time." "Nic, what are you doing?" "It's for later." "Bar snacks contain urine." "That's never been proven." "We should get a room." "Why?" "As if I didn't know you're an insatiable minx." "So that we can investigate a little bit further." "Alright." "Well, I'll go talk to my friend downstairs at the desk." "Mmm." "Oh, Charlie." "Hello, Peter." "Where's Nic?" "She said she had something for me." "Oh, did she?" "Um, well, she's... she's just down there." "Just at the table." "Thanks." "OK." "Oh, Peter." "Try the bar snacks." "Hey." "Hi." "Wow." "You look..." "LSD." "Scram." "New hybrid party drug." "New hybrid party drug found in Marty O'Connor's room." "And in his tox report." "Lots of it." "Must have been off his nut when the room service guy turned up." "Why would a man who's about to do a phone interview take a hallucinogen that happened to be found in Kate McVie's wheel?" "No." "She has an alibi, remember?" "Yeah, yeah." ""I was in the bar the whole time."" "Yep." "She was, apart from a short bathroom break." "How short?" "She was gone for approximately six minutes." "Not enough time for someone in a wheelchair to go unseen, up to the 20th floor, stab someone to death and then get back in time for their round." "I don't think it was a botched robbery, though, and I don't think it was Room Service Dan." "Why would he open the door to a prostitute if he just murdered somebody?" "I don't know, but I'm sure you're gonna tell me." "I will." "Just as soon as I figure it out." " Have a safe trip." " Thank you." "Bye-bye." "Hi." "Hello." "Hello!" "Oh, I thought you'd gone." "Well, we were so impressed with the hotel, we thought," ""Why not treat ourselves to a couple of nights?"" "Why not indeed." "Now, we quite like the 20th floor." "I'm guessing you've got a few vacancies up there." "Actually, we do." "Industry discount coming up." "And to compensate for my appalling brusqueness earlier," "I'd like to throw in a complimentary day spa pass for your lovely wife." "Thank you." "Oh, it's my pleasure." "Your suite, sir." "You're not so bad yourself." "Thank you." "Ah." "Just one... just one more thing." "Um, I'm guessing you're a bit short-staffed at the moment, given you've had to let certain staff go." "Aren't you too busy running your own business?" "Well, no, no, not me." "Not me." "My niece." "Now, she's keen." "She's reliable." "And she's very cheap." "Ah." "According to Peter, Marty O'Connor's phone interview was due to start at 7:30pm and Frederica arrived at approximately 8:15." "Oh, fizzy, fizzy, no, no, no." "What?" "Pen chewing." "It's unsanitary at the best of times, but particularly in a hotel." "They replace these after each guest." "Do they?" "Don't they?" "I don't think so." "Housekeeping." "You go." "No, you go." "I'll go." "Jess?" "Hello!" "Good morning!" "Uh, please... put them anywhere." "Halfway through an MBA and you've got me working as a maid?" "It'll count towards the degree, won't it?" "Ralph Alonso, room 1902." "You made our niece work in a hotel so that you could get the name of the person who was in the room before Marty O'Connor?" "That's really good, sweetie." "So, what am I looking at and listening to?" "Anything on Kate McVie." "Got it." "Alright." "Well, I'll check out room 1902." "Oh, hello again." "Just out for a walk." "You too?" "Nothing like a nice constitutional." "So, Holly, what's the weirdest thing you've seen working in a hotel?" "Oh, I don't know." "A snake in a bathroom." "Some guy thought I'd be interested." "I wasn't." "What, do you mean an actual snake?" "Or is that a euphemism?" "No, an actual, literal snake." "A taipan." "I wasn't interested in his euphemism either." "So you usually work the same rooms?" "Usually." "Less talking." "Thank God." "Tea break." "Come on." "Welcome, everyone, to the fifth an..." "Peter." "What?" "When was this?" "Melding of Minds - or MOM - is about finding harmony through synergy in an increasing..." "We live in a space and in a place where people are more and more connected to technology than they are to one another." "But we're all searching for connections and meaningful..." "Have you been talking to Frank?" "No." "No." "Should I be talking to Frank?" "Just thought maybe we had a friend in common." "Frank." "Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank, Frank..." "No, no, I don't believe I know anybody called Frank." "Do you need to be introduced?" "To Frank?" "No, to..." "Hmm?" "Mmm..." "I don't understand what that noise means." "Look, it's my first Melding of the Minds conference." "I'm not up on all the protocol." "Forgive me." "Yeah." "Hey, if you see Frank, say hi from me." "In the creative faculties during adolescence." "And finally, Alice Murphy will provide food for thought as she discusses the precipitous rise of genetically modified food." "And is this a battle we can realistically win?" " Honey, I'm home." " Hi, sweetie." "Where are you?" "Here." "Ah." "Good Lord, woman." "Do you know how much those things cost?" "8.50." "Thank you." "What's the matter?" "Oh, the police found a stolen watch at Dan's place." "It's not a con." "They traced it back to a theft at the hotel." "Hmm." "How did you go?" "I don't know." "I really don't know." "It was all very cryptic." "Did he seem like somebody that someone would WANT to kill?" "Yes." "Hmm." "Minibar." "Jess, are you doing minibar?" "I could've saved 8.50." "8.50 is outrageous." "Mmm." "8.50's what I make a day." "Any news?" "No." "Holly's not much of a talker." "Anyway, Room Service Dan is down there kicking up such a stink that nobody can hear themselves anyway." "Room Service Dan is downstairs?" "Yeah." "Now?" "Yeah." "Sweetie, important stuff." "Come on." "Well, I'm not leaving until he sees me." "Just clean out your locker and go home, Dan." "They'll call the cops." "Dan, what's happening?" "Innocent until proven guilty, you told me." "Well, try telling anybody here that!" "Well, the police must have their doubts too or they would have charged you." "Well, they're circling." "I can feel it." "Think about how it looks." "I can't help how it looks!" "I only know how it was!" "How... how was it, Dan?" "What happened?" "I came to clear away." "I called out." "I went in and he was already lying there." "I checked to see if he was breathing and then something heavy hits me." "Something hard." "And I'm out to it." "I come to." "I'm lying on Mr O'Connor, groggy as." "There's blood all over me." "Is that when the strumpet came in?" "The... the lady of the night - is that when she came in the room?" "The hooker?" "Yeah, yeah, the hooker." "She said you had the knife in your hand." "Yeah..." "Yes." "Well, I got up, I saw the knife and I..." "I picked it up." "I..." "I don't know why I picked it up." "I wish I hadn't." "Ohhh..." "Ohhh..." "Does this look like the kind of thing that might have hit you?" "Where did you get that?" "Laundry chute." "You'd be surprised what guests throw down there." "I found a taipan in there once." "Where's the laundry chute on the 20th floor?" "At the end of the corridor, past the lifts." "Past the lifts." "End of the corridor." "Which is where I saw Kate headed when I was casing her room." "Laundry chute." "Yep." "Enough capacity to accommodate a candlestick holder, all the way down, with no chicane." "She was in O'Connor's room." "Hit him in the head." "Hasn't she got an alibi?" "Yeah, she was in the bar the whole time." "Toilet break." "Yes." "We need to prove that Kate McVie got to and from that pool bar and killed Marty O'Connor in under six minutes." "Sounds like a job for Alan." "Excuse me." "Hi." "For you." "Thanks." "Alan, um, we were wondering..." "I thought you might be." "Charlie and I... actually, I have been doing some research for my novel." "I've hit a bit of a wall." "There's a character in a wheelchair and she... he, um..." "Well, we need to know how fast you can go in your wheelchair." "How long it would take you to go from here to our room and back." "In my chair?" "And stab someone to death." "It's room 2016." "I need you to go as fast as you can." "Not too fast." "Don't raise any suspicions." "Just casual." "Yes, I'm striving for realism." "Although not, we hasten to add, actually stab anybody to death." "No, no, just go to the room long enough to stab someone to death." "Say, um..." "One minute, 15 seconds, yeah?" "Yeah." "And then can come back." "Alright." "Yeah?" "You'll do it?" "Great." "OK." "Ready?" "Yes." "Alright." " Ah." " Oh." "There you go." "Five minutes and 35 seconds." "So she could've made it." "Yes." "But you're forgetting one thing." "If they used an average-sized hotel steak knife, there would be quite a lot of blood." "They'd have to clean themselves." "Even if they wore protective gear, you'd have to factor in another minute and a half to fully clean up before you came back." "So there's no way Kate could've done it." "Well, maybe she was wearing a very red dress and nobody noticed the blood." "What are you doing?" "These will wind up on our pillows anyway, Charlie." "It's stealing." "If somebody sees you, I'm doing a runner." "That's it!" "Hmm?" "That's how Kate could've done it." "She's actually able-bodied." "We don't know how she ended up in that wheelchair." "For all we know, she can walk, if not run, really fast." "We just have to prove it." "Well, how do we do that?" "By tipping her out of her chair." "Charlie, there she is." "OK." "Now, we're not really gonna tip her out, are we?" "Of course not." "Good." "You are?" "Hmm?" "You're stronger." "No, no, I can't do that." "Oh!" "Oh, I'm so sorry." "Oh!" "Let me help you with your leg." "You two are still here." "Yes." "Oh, so do you always take this long cleaning up a room?" "No, we just thought it was such a lovely hotel that we'd stay a few nights." "While cleaning up a murder, you thought the hotel was lovely and you'd stay a few nights?" "Sounds weird when you say it out loud but, um... but the views, they're magnificent, aren't they?" "Oh, they're stunning." "Absolutely wonderful." "Oh, that's yours." "So sorry." "So, can you, um... move?" "Oh, yeah, yeah, sure." "Sorry." "Thank you." "Well, those legs were quite lifeless." "I'm feeling really bad." "No, no, no." "Don't feel too bad." "'Cause there's something else I noticed." "Mm-hm?" "Have a seat." "The Survive Your Life credit card in Kate's wallet is not hers." "It belongs to a guy." "Marty O'Connor?" "Maybe." "It's only the company name on the credit card." "How do you know?" "Well, the credit card has got a curve in it." "You see, when men have credit cards, they put them in their wallet, OK, then they put the wallet in their back pocket and then they sit on them all day, right?" "And that causes a bottom-induced curvature." "Charlie, you're brilliant." "Well..." "Remind me to kiss you later." "Deal." "What's Kate doing with Marty O'Connor's credit card?" "Curved." "Uncurved." "Curved." "Uncurved." "Curved..." "And this was the urgent call?" "Kate could have O'Connor's credit card." "You said the wallet was found next to his body." "There was nothing missing from it." "Yeah, but she could've swapped them." "And the blow to Dan's head was low from when he was checking to see if O'Connor was breathing." "That could be from wheelchair height." "Well, that's jumping to conclusions a little, Nic." "That's unlike you." "That's exactly like me." "Peter, just check the wallet, alright?" "Look at the credit card." "You'll be able to work out whether it's Kate's." "OK." "I'll keep you posted." "Great." "Thanks." "Thank you, Peter." "The niece." "Um, do I want to know why she's here and wearing a hotel uniform?" "No, not really." "No, I wouldn't bother." "No." "Thanks, Peter." "Thanks." "Bye." "Jess." "This hotel work is very political." "I think I need a lavender bath." "What happened?" "Holly and this other maid got into an argument about swapped shifts and who owes who." "'Whom'." "Whom." "And now I'm working a double shift." "When did they swap?" "Where are the rosters?" "In the staffroom." "Hi." "It's in here." "Just hurry." "Cover for me." "Alright." "You do realise this contravenes every one of the hotel's privacy policies?" "It's for the greater good, sweetie." "Well, can you tell the manager if we get caught, then?" "Hi, Chef!" "How are you?" "Hurry up." "Ha!" "Holly swapped working Thursday for Saturday." "Well, Saturday was the night of... the night of the murder." "Yes, it was." "For some reason, Holly deliberately swapped shifts so that she was working the night of the murder." "Don't you think that's interesting?" "Mmm." "That's interesting." "And apparently the company credit card in O'Connor's wallet was straight." "You were right - it was Kate's." "And there's some serious misuses on it." "Which reminds me..." "Hang on a minute." "If head office was on to her that she was trying to pin it on O'Connor, wouldn't he have twigged and tried to expose her?" "Unless he was already dead." "So you're saying Kate was in the room after O'Connor was murdered?" "Maybe, and maybe she saw a chance to swap the credit cards and frame O'Connor for the embezzlement." "But then Dan comes up," "Kate hides and then she panics about getting out of the room, hits Dan and then flees back to the bar." "What about the drugs, though?" "How does Holly fit into it?" "I haven't figured that out yet." "So, do you want go back up or...?" "I've, um, already booked the day spa." "Housekeeping." "Come in." "Oh, I can come back." "No, no, no." "It's fine." "Holly, isn't it?" "Come in." "I was just making myself a cup of tea." "Do you want a cup of tea?" "No, thanks." "You sure you don't want a cup of tea?" "It'll be fine." "Look, I've got a full kettle here." "It'd just go to waste." "OK." "Yeah?" "Great." "Fantastic." "What do you want?" "Irish Breakfast?" "English Breakfast?" "There's a Scottish thing..." "Actually, this is my brand." "Ah, Bell!" "Yes." "Bell." "See, I have an aunt in Dunedin who sends me a box of this every birthday." "Really?" "Well, thank you." "That's great." "That's for you, obviously." "Uh, would you like one?" "I would love some Bell tea." "Excellent." "Thank you very much indeed." "It's very kind of you." "It's funny - you don't have a New Zealand accent." "You know, usually I'm very good." "Usually I pick it." "But you don't have..." "Say 'egg' for me." "Egg." "Egg." "See, you have no short front vowels." "I hope I'm not insulting you by saying that." "Mmm." "Mmm, that's interesting, sweetie." "Yeah." "O'Connor's from New Zealand too." "He is." "What are the chances they know each other?" "One in 4.5 million." "Are those your reading cucumbers?" "Have a look at this." "'Cause, believe it or not, they DID know each other." "It seems O'Connor bullied Holly all the way through school." "Oh, God." "He held her head under water taps until she choked." "That's awful." "Motive, do you think?" "Yeah." "Well, bullying in school is not the sort of thing that people forget." "I mean, it festers and grows." ""I've hated you all these years," ""whilst you've become an international hero," ""everybody loved you, the motivational books."" "Peter needs to pull Holly in and ask her about her history with O'Connor and why she swapped shifts that night." "That's good." "Hmm?" "That's really nice." "Mmm." "Thank you." "That is nice." "Hello!" "Hello!" "How are you?" "Alright, Doc." "What is it?" "What do you want?" "Some, uh, scrambled eggs." "Scrambled?" "Yeah." "You on the level?" "What's that?" "Are you for real?" "Don't know what you mean." "If you don't know Frank, then you don't know me." "You understand?" "Mmm." "Looks lovely, darling." "Can I take those?" "Is this Frank?" "I'm gonna go and sit at the table." "Alrighty." "No, I'm not Frank." "I'm Frederica." "Oh." "Frederica." "It's a very, very, uh, interesting name." "It's very unique." "Do you have a reservation?" "I don't know, Johnny." "I'm not crazy about your tie." "Don't worry." "That wasn't meant for you." "I'm meant to check in with him first... when I'm working." "Ah." "Yes." "Yes, yes." "Oh, I see." "I see." "You're a... professional." "Actually, that's the second time" "I haven't checked in with him this week." "Naughty me." "Oh, well, ignore him." "He blows hot and cold." "So do I." "Yes." "Um, that's..." "You should keep that." "Oh, no, no." "You keep that." "Yeah." "You never know." "Sweetie, I was just on the phone to Peter." "Apparently Holly has an airtight alibi." "There was some sort of disaster in the laundry." "She was folding washing all night with the hotel manager." "Oh." "So disappointing." "Don't be too disappointed." "I just met a prostitute." "Oh!" "That's Frederica." "She's the one that found O'Connor." "Oh, right, right." "Good." "Well, you have to call her." "Me?" "Yeah." "No, no, I'm not calling." "It would be unseemly and I couldn't do that to you and..." "She has info." "We need info." "Book her for an hour." "Yeah, I think she's just through here." "Oh, hello, darling." "This is the, uh, prostitute I was telling you about." "Uh, Frederica, this is my wife, Nicola." "Nicola, Frederica." " Hello." " Oh, hello there." "I see." "Now..." "Oh, no, no, no, no..." "That's OK." "I do this all the time." "No, no, no." "We just wanted to talk." "Of course you just want to talk." "Yes." "What do you want to talk about?" "Has one of you been naughty?" "No, no." "Actually, um, we just want..." "OK." "Let's relax." "Whew." "Isn't this cosy?" "Yes, it's a lovely..." "lovely room." "Now, I can sense that you two love each other very much." "Oh, yeah." "We do." "Very much." "Yeah, for many years now..." "And there's nothing wrong with exploring your sexuality." "Great." "We're interested more in exploring the recent history..." "So let's start with a rule." "Oh." "This is a safe place to play." "No judgements." "What happens here stays here." "Oh, no, no, no, no..." "OK." "Oh?" "Good?" "Great?" "Yeah." "I can feel we're getting somewhere over here." "Let's start with you, Nicola." "Oh, don't you have a beautiful face!" "Oh, thank you." "It's the moisturiser." "Oh." "So why don't you start by telling Frederica what you want, what you need?" "Uh-huh." "OK." "Um..." "Oh!" "Just relax." "Just breathe." "Yeah?" "Yeah." "OK." "Um, I need for you..." "Yeah, yeah." "To tell us..." "Yeah." "What happened the other night when you found Marty O'Connor..." "Yes." "..if that's OK." "If you could do that, please." "Thank you." "Huh?" "I've told the cops everything I know." "Frederica, what we'd like, though, is to hear... is to hear it from you." "It matters to us that an innocent man is about to be charged for Marty O'Connor's murder." "Hmm." "How sweet." "Alright, well, uh, I arrived at the hotel about eight." "To see Marty O'Connor?" "No, Ralph." "You... didn't know Marty O'Connor?" "Of course I knew Marty O'Connor." "He was everywhere." "He was a hero." "Sure, sure." "But you didn't know him... in a nether-regional... area?" "I didn't know him intimately?" "If you like, yeah." "No, Ralph was my regular." "I saw him every time he came to town." "Always in that room." "Sometimes it was every couple of weeks, sometimes I wouldn't see him for a month or so." "And then, let's see." "Oh, I bumped into John at the lifts." "He was snippy about me not checking in." "John... manager John?" "Yeah." "And then I headed up." "What time was that?" "Just after eight." "God, he lied." "He said he was with Holly in the laundry at the time of the murder." "Why would you do that?" "Why would you alibi someone with a lie?" "Family, love, money." "We're on." "We should go." "We should follow." "Yeah." "So I was at the elevator, I was in the laundry." "I was everywhere - that's my job." "So you're omnipresent, are you?" "I have to be." "Oh." "Holly." "Hi." "Now I understand why you gave her an alibi." "I, uh..." "I don't know what you're talking about." "Really?" "Tell me, Holly, are you OK with your boyfriend being an accessory to murder?" "What?" "O'Connor went to Waihopai Primary School with you and he tormented you and you hated him." "And I don't blame you." "Those things he did to you, that stuff stays with you..." "That's enough." "What do you mean by "accessory to murder"?" "They're messing with you." "Don't listen to them." "The thing I can't understand is why you drugged O'Connor." "I didn't drug anyone." "That's it." "I'm calling the police." "Holly, if Dan takes the fall for this, he's going to jail for 20 years, at least." "You don't want that to happen, do you?" "He wasn't just a bully." "He was a sadist." "When we were at school, he used to... choke me." "He locked me in cupboards." "Even gave me a concussion once." "I wanted to just stay away and ignore it, but..." "I couldn't let that man go on with his life without realising what that had done to me." "I..." "I thought if I just spoke to him, then maybe I could let it go." "So I went to his room." "It was crazy." "He was off his face." "He... was shouting at me, he was crowding in on me." "He... he grabbed me, yelling, pushed me up against a wall." "It was just like being at school." "And then..." "I lost it." "I grabbed a knife and I stabbed him." "Well, the police know that he was drugged to the eyeballs, Holly." "It was self-defence, Holly." "They'll never believe me." "You need to tell them your story." "Well, if O'Connor wasn't on drugs, none of this would ever have happened." "What a mess." "How did he end up on scram?" "It had to have been an accident." "Nothing else makes sense." "But how do you ingest something like that accidentally?" "Sweetie?" "Charlie?" "Ah-ha-ha-ha!" "A pen?" "Mm-hm." "Peter, can I..." "can I knock on the door?" "Hello." "Mr Alonso." "These gentlemen would like to have a look around." "If you don't mind." "You know, using conferences to sell drugs is actually quite clever 'cause you'd network, you'd take orders and you'd pop up to the hotel room and fill them." "I wonder why he never offered any to me." "You've got a pure and decent face, sweetie." "Have I?" "Yeah." "Oh, thank you, darling." "Look what we found." "Ah!" "So we were right - he used the drip tray in the fridge to soak the blotting paper in." "He stirred the solution with the pen and O'Connor chewed the pen and..." "Oh, here he comes." "Just so you know, I knew you were a cop from the moment I saw you." "Oh?" "Well, give my regards to Frank, won't you?" "Actually, I'm the cop." "Well, that was fun." "Mmm." "We should do that every week." "Well, let's not get too excited." "We don't want What's-His-Name becoming a chief inspector." "You know, sweetie, hotels actually encourage you to take things." "I think they want us to have moisturiser, you know, all the toiletries - shampoo, conditioner, soap." "Did I say anything?" "No, but I could sense you wanted to through the walls." "No, no, no, no, no." "In fact, I've, uh, come around to your way of thinking." "What do you think of this?" "Sweetie!" "Yes." "Hello." "I never picked you as a thief." "Oh, yes, yes, yes." "Please, don't underestimate the old cunning fox that is your husband." "No, no, no." "Crime excites me." "It excites me." "I'm drawn to it as a moth to a flame." "I almost stole those coathangers from the cupboard." "Really?" "Yeah." "They were hanging there provocatively." "I heard their siren song, yet I resisted." "And, of course, also, ha, how could we forget the ironing board?" "Still, there are some things that... one doesn't have to steal." "Oh." "The phone system's interesting." "I thought of stealing that as well." "Sweetie?" "Mmm?" "You know that the hotel's gonna charge it to our credit card?"