Murder in Morningside Heights (A Gaslight Mystery) by Victoria Thompson

Author:Victoria Thompson [Thompson, Victoria]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2016-05-03T06:00:00+00:00

* * *

F rank waited until the afternoon to visit Abigail’s former office. He’d noticed that the classes were mostly in the morning and the building was much quieter in the afternoon. The fewer students he saw, the less panic he would cause, he reasoned.

He did encounter a handful of young ladies who were startled at first and then quickly scurried away, whispering urgently to each other. At last he came to the office and was pleased to see Pelletier was there.

“Malloy, I am glad to see you,” he said, rising to his feet and shaking Frank’s hand like they were old friends. “The strangest thing happened.”

“What’s that?”

“Well, I come back to my office a few minutes ago, and the door, it was not locked.”

“Maybe you forgot to lock it when you left the last time.”

“Mais non , I am sure I lock it. I have been très prudent after . . . Well, after poor Miss Northrup . . . I remember I lock it this morning, because I drop the key and almost drop the books I carry when I try to pick it up. Then when I return . . .” He gave one of his Frenchy shrugs.

He did look a little distressed.

Frank remembered Tobias telling him that first day that he didn’t have a key to this room, but he decided to test Pelletier. “Maybe the janitor cleaned while you were gone and forgot to lock it.”

“Au contraire , only two keys exist, one to me and one to Miss Northrup. I insist to open the door for the janitor myself. I do not like anyone to access my things. The person who opened the door must have her key. Do you know who that could be?”

A little frisson of excitement shivered down Frank’s spine. “Her keys haven’t been found, at least not that I know of. We think the killer took them.”

Now he really did look distressed. “Mon Dieu , that is a horrible thought. He has been with the keys all this time. He might have . . .” He gestured helplessly.

“Yes, he might’ve,” Frank agreed, thinking there was a key to Miss Wilson’s house among them, too. “Is anything missing?”

“I do not think so. My desk, he is locked always, of course. Nothing else was disturbed, I do not think. I did not look in the desk of Miss Northrup. I did not want to presume, and I would not know if anything was missing, non ?”

Frank well remembered how Pelletier had insisted he didn’t normally lock his desk, but he didn’t mention it. “I came today to pack up her things for her parents,” Frank said, indicating the wooden crate he carried under one arm, “so I’ll be glad to check to see if anything is missing.”

“But how would you . . . ? Ah, mais oui , I remember. You look in her desk when you are here before.”

“And I didn’t see anything of value or even of interest then. Nothing worth stealing, at least, but I’ll notice if anything is gone.

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