DEATH ON PARADISE ISLAND: an intriguing Inspector Horseman tropical murder (Fiji Islands Mysteries Book 1) by B.M. Allsopp

Author:B.M. Allsopp [Allsopp, B.M.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: COCONUT PRESS
Published: 2016-10-14T00:00:00+00:00

25

SUVA

Singh had never visited the Fiji Institute of Marine Science campus, so was glad to find that Professor Burgermeister was working there today. Five years ago, the Carnegie and Rockefeller foundations had enabled the fledgling university research unit to buy a decaying fish cannery, consisting of a wharf, slipway, and rusting buildings best described as sheds. A controversial purchase, the bleak site was in stark contrast to the leafy enclave of the university.

‘The professor could be anywhere, Detective Sergeant,’ the guard volunteered when she showed her ID. ‘I’ll let his secretary know you’re on your way.’ He picked up a phone, waving cheerily to her as he did so. No time for a quick reconnoitre of the campus, then. Perhaps the professor would show her around later.

The largest building was a long two-storey industrial shed clad in pale grey corrugated metal. She failed to comprehend why so many building designers settled on grey these days. It had to be a conscious choice. Grey couldn’t be a sort of default setting, one that the painters used if the designer had forgotten to specify the colour, could it? White could be too glary in this climate, but why grey? Surely soft lemon, lilac or a pink tint would create a more pleasant environment.

She opened the door and entered an atrium where palms, gingers and fleshy forest plants flourished beneath skylights and spinning ventilators high above. The receptionist got up quickly and ushered her through a door marked ‘Staff Only’. She followed the receptionist along a wide polished concrete avenue running the length of the building and divided by a series of rectangular ponds two metres wide, where fish flashed crimson and gold among water plants. Doors, most of them shut, led off the avenue on either side. At intervals, open steel stairs climbed to a balcony that ringed the entire upper level.

She gazed up at the steel-trussed roof that hovered above the palm tops like a cloud pierced by shafts of light. It was a wonder, yet she could see that what had been done to the decrepit factory was really quite simple. If Police headquarters were like this, no one would want to leave the building. As it was. . .

‘Biology’s just a bit further along. They take up about half this side of the ground floor. Here’s the admin office.’ Inside a plump middle-aged woman wearing a name badge greeted her warmly.

‘Come, come in my dear. Well, well, you’re just a little slip of a girl, and a detective sergeant! I never knew the police force had such little lasses in its ranks!’ No way was she a little slip of a girl, but she responded to the older woman’s warmth with a smile.

‘Susie Singh, Mrs Koroi. It seems you’re expecting me.’

Mrs Koroi looked at her over the top of her silver-framed spectacles and smiled. ‘Yes, Petero on the gate does a good job, Detective Sergeant. Would that it were not necessary, eh?’ She shook her head in regret. ‘A

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