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'Thank you madam' chirped the receptionist 'the porter will just show you to your suite. If you have any troubles then don't hesitate to ring down to the front desk.'

She watched as the stunning woman meekly accepted the key and then followed the porter away down the hallway. She certainly looked like she needed a weekend of relaxation and pampering; her smile hadn't reached those unusual green eyes and her posture was slumped and weary. They had so many women like her checking in all the time, business women exhausted after a long week of board meetings or suburban housewives needing a break from their homes and families.

She smiled to herself as she thought how lucky she was not to have such a stressful life as they did, and anyway she had a 30% staff discount to use whenever the urge for a massage or facial arose.

Once her suitcase was on the floor and the door closed on the world, Charlotte Thompson sat down on the luxurious bed and kicked off her stilettos. She hated the way they pinched her toes but they made her look the part of ever-fabulous trophy wife straight away. Turning off her mobile phone and disconnecting the landline, she lay back on the copious amounts of pillows and closed her eyes.

Now I have the whole weekend to myself she thought maybe I'll meet some new friends like the last times? Those women had been so friendly and eager to chat all the time; it had been all too easy to gain their trust and friendship.

Charlotte smiled to herself as she pondered her acting skills, the way she could so effortlessly pretend to be all these other Charlottes when her real self was as far away from this image as it could possibly be. She felt her mind start to wander and allowed herself to drift into a blissful reverie, glad to be free of David and his political talk.

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Stella walked back to the car and climbed into the passenger seat. Spence looked up expectantly.

'Nope there's definitely no-one in and the neighbour seems to think they've gone on holiday for the next fortnight'.

Spence groaned 'Just what we need, I thought we were finally getting somewhere'.

'But…' continued Stella 'I did ask if they knew Sophie well, and they mentioned that she was always happy to chat but was away quite a lot with her job – reviewing health and spa treatments for women's magazines.'

'Interesting'

Spence turned the ignition and nudged the dark car into the steady flow of traffic streaming down Malden Road.

'Back to HQ then, or do you think we'll get away with a quick pub lunch first?'

Spence laughed at the childlike hope in the voice of his colleague.

'We'd better get back or else Boyd will do his usual ranting act, Grace will give us that look and Eve…well she'll just never forgive us for leaving her out of our escapades.'

'Back to work it is then' Stella sighed over dramatically 'but at least stop at the sandwich place round the corner or else I'll be starved by the time we get there.'

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A couple of hours, bacon sandwiches and extra-strong coffees later and the team were all assembled in the bullpen. Boyd and Grace were leaning against a desk towards the back of the room and Eve had just appeared from her laboratory. Stella had grabbed the board marker first so Spence sat back in his chair, ready to let her do all the talking.

'Spence and I went to visit the families of Sophie Rawlings, Hannah Clements and Rachel Hall today and think we've come up with something new.'

'Finally' muttered Boyd, but Grace's glare stopped him from continuing further.

'Hannah and Rachel's families were there to talk to but Sophie's wasn't so we may need to go back when they've returned from their holidays just to make sure the neighbour's information is right'

'Its alright for some' murmured Eve 'I can't remember the last time I had a holiday'

The rest of the team nodded in agreement and began reminiscing about past holidays and just how long it had been since the last time.

'Sorry Stella, I cut you off again' added Eve hastily as the DC's face fell at the team's lack of interest in what she had to say.

'Well, both Hannah and Rachel were regular visitors to spa retreats, health farms and those sorts of places, and both favoured a certain place in Hertfordshire – a Champneys luxury spa.'

Boyd frowned 'I thought you'd been through their bank statements and couldn't find any matches apart from the political donations?'

'We had' replied Spence eager to defend their week's work 'they'd both had gift vouchers as Christmas and birthday presents so there wouldn't be any record except at the spa and on the bank statement of whoever bought the vouchers.'

'What about the third girl – Sophie Rawlings?' said Grace

'That's why we need to check with her parents' replied Stella 'the neighbours seemed to think she was a frequent visitor but they couldn't be sure where to. But, if Champneys was her haunt then I think we could get something out of this – the killer could have befriended them or worked there.'

Eve joined in the rising noise in the bullpen'

'The hair products used could have come from a spa but they weren't the same brand. We could check the favoured brands for that particular spa and maybe see if they have receipts for purchases going back to the times our ladies were staying there' Eve paused before delivering her final piece de resistance 'also there would have been plenty of Diazepam floating around the place for almost anyone to get a hold of.'

'Hey hey we're onto something now!'

Spence grinned as he leant back in his chair, a look of smug satisfaction plastered across his face. He leant across and high-fived Stella who looked fit to burst now that she'd delivered the goods.

'This would also fit very nicely with the psychological profile I'm starting to build up' remarked Grace 'the victims needed a break, the killer had any number of easy targets and the next step would be to forge something resembling a friendship and let it all go from there. Once you've established some common ground and a certain element of trust its amazing how people can let perfect strangers into their lives.'

Boyd was frowning intently at the board thingee, obviously trying to puzzle something out and oblivious to the stares of his assembled team.

'Boyd?' called Grace gently 'Are you not going to congratulate the team and tell them to get started on the next step of this investigation?'

'What? Oh yeah well done' Boyd nodded at Spence and Stella 'start checking out the Champneys' records and see if anyone crops up. It's been too long since I've got to interrogate someone.'

Spence laughed 'I think we use the term question rather than interrogate now Boss'

'Same thing, its all semantics anyhow' Boyd caught the incredulous look of the profiler standing beside him 'Grace you know what I mean, please don't lecture me on the significance of word choice now!'

Grace raised one eyebrow and smirked playfully at her boss,

'I could draw some pretty interesting conclusions from a number of things you say Boyd, I'm sure I'd be traumatised by now if I tried to delve any deeper into the machinations of your mind'

Boyd threw up his arms in mock-exasperation and strode into his office, but not without muttering a few choice words about women, saying what you mean and impossible.

The team laughed at Grace's glib remark, glad for a moment of light-hearted humour before the daily grind began anew.

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