"You see," Jonathan started "Once you get a change in perspective, this entire ordeal looks a lot simpler than it did before,".

He was surrounded by Olivia, Collins, the maid, the manager and Hoskins, with other police officers crowded outside the room.

"You see, it was something Olivia said that triggered it; she was a magician's assistant. She was used to magic, and tricks, and all other sorts of sorcery. There's one thing about magic, and it's more important or vital to a good trick than anything else. Misdirection. That's what this whole trick was about – pure, and simply misdirection. Whilst the killer ran off, the one place no-one was looking…was Room 237,"

"Just as misdirection is important to magic, motive is important to crime. That's probably the one thing we'll never know,"

"What, why Paula was murdered?"

"No. Why she faked her death,"

A stunned quiet filled the room.

"All day, we've been stumped – not just how, but why. Why bother to take the knife with you, when you're wearing gloves? Why dump the clothes in a café when you've just smuggled them out of the hotel easily? And, mostly important, why bother to come back and move the body? We were all clueless, but, and I'm sorry to say, but the answer has been in my face the whole time. The magic trick she was performing, the Bloody Mary. The key to it, is the fake blood on the last knife, to make it look realistic. And that's exactly what happened here – a sachet of fake blood under her shirt, a fake knife that pulls in the blade when you stab with it, it'd look absolutely genuine to anyone. Of course, she needed a witness to prove it – she ordered room service just before. A pillow; something quick, because it didn't need to be prepared. And especially because the trolley was currently on her floor. That caught me as a bit odd; why order the extra pillow then? Why not afterwards, when she was going to bed, or the moment she got in?"

"So, the killer is seen by the maid, drawing all attention away from the body, leaving the very much alive Paula to put on her coat, cover up the blood and exit, locking herself out of the room. I mean, how many times have any of us done that? Now, the maid, the manager and Olivia run back, to find the room empty. So, the 'killer', must have been someone who works in the hotel, to know which room would be empty, and that the maid's trolley would have been on this floor at this exact moment. Only question is who?"

"The manager," said Olivia, turning to face him. "Because, when he inspected the room with us, he threw us off the scent of the killer being him,"

"And he planted the fake gear next door early yesterday, betting on the waiter being none-too-observant. The one thing he couldn't have controlled, is the rain. Hence why the stuff we found couldn't have been real,"

"I don't know why Paula wanted to fake her death, and we probably never will – I expect she's somewhere quiet now," Jonathan continued "But that's not important. Suddenly, out there in the street, I remembered who Alan Smithee is; he's a pseudonym,"

"Isn't that a face cream?"

"No, a pseudonym – a false name. It's used primarily by directors who disown a project when it gets too bad, so no-one knows they had a part in it. It was her accomplice, her confidante…and we'll never know who,"

"So she isn't really dead?"

"No. Knowing her, she'll outlive all of us,"