The Russian Hill Murders by Shirley Tallman

Author:Shirley Tallman [Tallman, Shirley]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2011-04-18T05:00:00+00:00

I stopped at the tea closet before going to my office. As usual, considerable disorder greeted me: cups, saucers, plates, cookie and cake crumbs, even a soggy pile of tea leaves tossed onto the table, when the trash receptacle stood only a few inches away. It hardly mattered how often I tidied up, the closet was invariably a mess. Of late, I’d begun to suspect this continual disorder was yet one more attempt to drive me out of the firm: one, I thought in frustration, that just might work!

When I finished, I went directly to my office. There, I found a sealed envelope on my desk, my name printed in a bold masculine hand. It turned out to be an invitation from Pierce, requesting me to dine with him the following evening. Despite my vow to keep our relationship professional, I was tempted to accept. Since my talk with Octavius Sloan, I’d been consumed with curiosity about Pierce’s alleged affair with Caroline. Granted, it was a long shot, but I had to know if it related in any way to her death. Finally, I took out pen and paper and accepted the invitation, then placed it in an envelope and dropped it into the box set aside for outgoing mail. That taken care of, I returned to my office and settled down to work.

As usual these days, the afternoon seemed to pass at a snail’s pace. I had difficulty paying proper attention to my work, when only hours before I’d witnessed such a dreadful death. Did Lucius Arlen suffer the same horrible fate as the kitchen maid? I wondered. If so, his death dragged on a good deal longer—over twenty-four hours, according to his landlady. It must have seemed an eternity to the poor man. If only a doctor had been summoned sooner, perhaps he’d still be alive—and able to explain why he’d been so insistent on speaking to Mrs. Barlow that Monday afternoon.

I was increasingly convinced that this episode was key to understanding his murder. Had he discovered discrepancies in the hospital books and been killed to insure he told no one?

I sighed as I went back to my typewriting. There was no way around it, I told myself. I must at least try to find answers to these questions. As far as I could see, only one person could help me. I would speak to Mrs. Barlow as soon as possible.

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