The Hanging Wood by Martin Edwards

Author:Martin Edwards [Edwards, Martin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, Mystery
ISBN: 9780749040352
Publisher: Allison & Busby
Published: 2011-05-18T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TEN

So Orla believed Callum Hinds had metamorphosed into Aslan Sheikh? Daniel would have been less startled if the principal had proposed a bonfire of every rare book in St Herbert’s. He gulped down half a cup of coffee, heedless that it scalded his tongue.

‘You’re joking.’

The principal squinted in disapproval. ‘This is no laughing matter.’

Daniel swallowed more coffee. The revelation was all the more bizarre because it came in such august surroundings from the lips of a mild-mannered exponent of civilised understatement.

‘Let me explain,’ Micah Bridge said, in tutorial mode. ‘Starting with the hiring of Aslan, a task I undertook against my better judgement.’

Daniel nodded. The principal was wont to complain that he possessed no experience in human resource management, yet the trustees expected him to mastermind recruitment, performance and discipline of the entire workforce at St Herbert’s.

‘I have to tell you that his CV did not suit him ideally for the role I had in mind. Orla was struggling with her work, and she was keen to have support. In truth, she was ill-matched with her job, but she was the stepchild of a director of Madsen’s – what could I do?’

‘Did they pressure you into appointing her?’

‘Goodness me, no, that isn’t the way the world works, is it? You spent years in academe, Daniel, you are familiar with nods and winks, the currency of power in every senior common room in Oxford and Cambridge. St Herbert’s is an institution with a modest endowment, and running costs that we can barely meet. We rely on the goodwill of our principal donors; in other words, the Madsen family. Their gifts over the years have been munificent.’

‘I glanced over the accounts,’ Daniel said. ‘The donations column looks healthy.’

‘Several generous individuals support us, but contributions from the Madsen family dwarf the rest. At one level, they are eminently fair and reasonable. They do not insist on disfiguring the library with sponsorship banners, or that their name is writ large on our occasional learned publications. It suits Bryan Madsen – I do not wish to sound churlish – to point to this little oasis of “cultural calm”, as he describes it, on the fringe of his holiday park.’

‘You felt you had to offer Orla the job?’

A grim-faced nod. ‘Just as I recruited the daughter of Gareth and Sally Madsen when she wearied of working at a suntan salon in Keswick. Fleur mentioned her brother- and sister-in-law were keeping their fingers crossed that Sham’s interview would go well, and I took the hint. I had little confidence that Orla could transform our promotional efforts, but I knew enough of her personal history to feel sorry for her. She was genuinely enthusiastic about our archive of fairy tales and historical materials. Not as a scholar – I’m afraid she had a distinctly second-class mind – but as someone who loved reading. I found that rather touching.’

‘Don’t reproach yourself,’ Daniel said. ‘She cared for St Herbert’s, and you did a good deed.’

‘She can’t have enjoyed it so much, or she wouldn’t have ended it all.

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