CRIME IN OXFORD a fiercely addictive mystery (Detective Markham Mystery and Suspense Book 15) by CATHERINE MOLONEY

Author:CATHERINE MOLONEY [MOLONEY, CATHERINE]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Joffe Books crime thriller and mystery
Published: 2022-01-19T16:00:00+00:00

9. Turning the Screw

Kate Burton was waiting for them in Sherwin’s long narrow Third Quad by the entrance to the Hatton Library. A gaggle of onlookers clustered at the bottom of an adjoining staircase, watching with frightened faces.

‘Who found him?’ Markham asked.

‘The assistant librarian when she went up to the first floor to check a reference for one of the fellows.’ Burton moistened dry lips and ran a hand through her damp fringe, clearly shaken by this latest discovery. ‘There are these little carrels on each floor, and he was in one of them, so at first she thought it was a postgrad catching up on some research but something about the way he was sitting, slumped over, caught her attention. Then she noticed the bloodstains.’

Markham had always loved the Hatton — a cosy affair dating from the 1860s which was dominated by the reassuring presence of glowing hardwood, with leather chairs, brass lamps, wrought iron spiral staircases and wraparound rectangular balconies over four floors. Named after an Elizabethan courtier, it had more the feel of a gentlemen’s club than a centre for study. That its quiet precincts should have been polluted by murder struck him as a desecration.

Her colleagues ducked under the police tape and followed Burton up to the second floor, the filigree of the little staircase shaking as though to protest against such an invasion.

‘You can access each level from Staircase Thirteen next door,’ Burton explained. ‘And there are lifts too. But the librarian came up this way.’

Dr Merrick was already at the carrel, with Alex Mason’s slight form tilted backwards as he gently probed with gloved hands.

At the detectives’ approach, he signalled to a paper-suited SOCO to help him turn the chair around so that they could see the body.

‘No point worrying about contaminating the crime scene,’ he said quietly. ‘When the librarian began screaming, half a dozen people came running. Your lot got rid of them, but not before everyone and their mother came trooping through.’

Markham wasn’t surprised to learn of the librarian’s reaction, since the young porter presented a ghastly sight, eyes wide open and staring and his throat laid open by a savage gash so that the upper airway was clearly visible, glistening like red corral.

Noakes leaned against a bookcase for support, the exposed trachea reminding him horribly of tinned salmon with the white curd-like bits that looked like bone fragments. Observing the wound, he felt the sandwiches from his afternoon tea repeating on him and gulped convulsively.

‘Jesus, Mary and Joseph,’ he breathed. ‘What did the poor lad do to deserve this?’

‘There would have been a moment of intense pain,’ the pathologist told them, ‘but mercifully brief and no time for him to even realise what was happening.’

‘Presumably the killer arranged to meet him up here,’ Doyle said faintly.

‘Nice an’ quiet an’ tucked out of the way,’ Noakes speculated. ‘No one around to hear anything.’

Dr Merrick nodded. ‘I’d put time of death somewhere close to midnight last night. Apparently there’s very little traffic in here this time of year and there was no sign of anyone around when they set the alarm.

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