Lost Books and Old Bones

by Paige Shelton

  “I don’t care.”

  Elias grumbled.

  “Think about it,” Conn said. “Would you care what ye had tae do if it meant justice for a loved one?”

  “I wouldnae disrupt a bunch of innocent people, but I would find a way tae talk tae the wee man on my own,” Elias said.

  There would be more than talking during that conversation.

  “Well. That’s you, and it sounds more violent than what I did. I just scared people, got them all talking maybe. That was the plan.”

  It wasn’t the worst plan—though I got where Elias was coming from—but it had been poorly executed.

  “Look, she had to have told someone what was going on,” I jumped in. “Did you or her father spend any time talking to the women who live in the same building she did?”

  Conn shook his head. “You have tae understand that Boris can’t do that sort of thing. He has a position here. And, frankly, think about it, we’re older men, and though I didn’t mind scaring a classroom full of people, it would be worse to scare a building full of lasses.”

  I wasn’t sure I would have reacted the way Conn had, but grief does unexpected things to people.

  “You don’t think Mallory talked to the police?”

  “Not about this. I’m sure she didn’t.”

  “I’ll talk to her friends,” I said. “Maybe they know, and maybe they’ll be honest with me.”

  In fact, I’d given them plenty of opportunities to tell me anything they wanted. I hoped I could figure out a way to get some real answers from them.

  “You will?” Conn said. “Why?”

  “I know them.” I looked back and forth between the men. “I know the women in the building. I can say I heard about what happened today in Dr. Eban’s classroom, and see what they tell me. It will be fine.”

  “That might be helpful. Thank you, lass,” Conn said.

  Elias grumbled again.

  I wasn’t sure I’d learn anything helpful or fine, but I tried to hide my sigh and my uncertain eyes before Elias and I made our escape.

  TWENTY-THREE

  Leaving the roof and the building proved to be an easy, if guilt-ridden, adventure. Elias and I left before Conn—I didn’t want to abandon him, but Elias was fine with it. We ventured back down the stairs and then the hallway that led to Dr. Eban’s room. We strolled by a man dressed as a security officer, but he didn’t give us a second look. I peered into the display case as we passed and was disappointed we didn’t have time to take another look at all the items inside, but by then I just wanted to get out of the building without further incident.

  “Well,” I said when we were safely ensconced in the cab. “I didn’t think any of that would happen.”

  “I’m sorry I took off in a chase. I couldnae help myself,” Elias said.

  “I’m glad we caught up with him. He’s handling his grief poorly, but I’m sure he’s very upset.”

  “A strange way for a man tae handle something.”

  “The whole family is distraught, I’m sure.” I was silently pleased that Elias didn’t agree with Conn’s coping methods, and I didn’t point out how much alike they truly were. However, from what I knew, Conn had crossed over the line separating legal from illegal a time or two; Elias might have done the same, or have done the same more often if he didn’t have Aggie. “You know, if Mallory only hinted about things that Dr. Eban did, someone needs to get the specifics. Sophie and Rena might be too scared to tell the police, but maybe they’ll tell me. I don’t know. I might have overstayed my welcome with them, but at least I hope to make them understand how important it is that the police know the facts if Mallory was truly pushed to do something she didn’t want to do.”

  “Ye sound doubtful.”

  I shook my head. “I shouldn’t, because no one should. These sorts of accusations should always be taken seriously, and explored completely. It’s just that … I’m not seeing it. However, my intuition could be off.” I listened for the bookish voices, and heard only the noise of crickets chirping, or maybe I imagined it.

  Elias grumbled. He was thinking. I could read some of his thoughts, but not all of them.

  “Want to drive me over to their apartment building again?” I said.

  “We’re already on the way.”

  *

  The curtain over her window was open and Lola let me inside again, but this time I saw her differently. I’d thought her behavior of always opening the door was friendly, if quirky, but now I wondered if it wasn’t some sort of obsessive way to spy and garner information. She seemed happier than the last time, or maybe only less sad.

  “Hey, Lola,” I said to her as we stood in the entryway.

  “Is the cab waiting for you?” she said as she peered out the narrow window next to the door.

  “The driver’s a friend.”

  “Okay.”

  Elias leaned against the cab with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

  “Do you know if Sophie and Rena are up there?” I asked.

  “I saw them come in earlier and haven’t seen them leave again.”

  “Great. Thanks.” I stepped toward the hallway as she went to her door.

  I happened to catch sight of her flat as she opened the door wide to go inside. The messy space reminded me of college and Sophie and Rena’s place. Coffee cups and a few empty takeaway containers littered the space around books and one laptop. Nothing strange about her flat, except maybe one thing.

  “Lola,” I said, turning to face her. “Do you think Mallory would have confided in Sophie and Rena?”

  “Sure,” she said as if she hadn’t thought about it much.

  “Did she ever have a roommate?” I asked.

  Lola sent me an impatient look. “Delaney, you obviously know.”

  “No, I don’t,” I said.

  “Mallory was my roommate. She moved out last semester and into her own room.”

  “Lola, I promise you that I didn’t know. I didn’t even guess. I’m just trying to understand who she might have been closest to. You were so upset. You were closer than I thought?”

  She studied me suspiciously. “No, we weren’t close. She lived here,” she nodded to her own flat, “but her study hours were too strenuous and mine just weren’t. She said I was too much of a distraction, what with the way I look out the window all the time. It’s just … it’s just what I like to do.”

  I nodded. “Makes sense to me. Did she make you mad when she moved?”

  Lola laughed this time. “You mean, did I kill her just because she wanted her own space? No, Delaney, I didn’t take it that personally.”

  “Must be hard to live in a building with mostly med students. Why did you do that to yourself?”

  She shrugged. “I thought I wanted to be a doctor too. I thought this would motivate me to work harder. In answer to your next question, no, it didn’t motivate me, but then who wants to move? Look at this mess. Just folding the clothes I’d need to pack would take too long. I like it here. Mallory was not only more studious, she was neater, too. Her move was easy.”

  “I understand.”

  I did understand not wanting to move, but I didn’t completely get Lola. I wanted to ask if the police knew they were once roommates, but there was no nonaccusatory way to form the question. I’d ask the police myself.

  “Shoot, Lola, Mallory’s death has to be extra hard on you. I’m sorry.”

  Her eyes flashed briefly with teary gratitude. Had she just been waiting for someone to extend some sympathy her way?

  “Thank you.” She sniffed. “Well, I wish my semester living with Mallory had given me some insight as to why someone might want her dead, but I’ve got nothing. She was a sweet, hardworking person who didn’t share much of herself, her inner self, you know. She was studious and quiet. Never talked about family or friends. I was shocked when I saw her dad coming over for a visit one day. I had no idea her father was such a big deal at the university. The rumors about her and Dr. Eban h
ave been swirling for a while. I just don’t know. Dr. Eban and Dr. Clacher work together. The day I saw her father, I wondered if he knew about the rumors and how he felt, and I guess that Dr. Eban would be fired if Dr. Clacher found any truth to them.”

  I couldn’t have told you one member of the administration of the university I attended, but maybe medical school and Scotland were different. Well, I remembered the president’s name, but that was it.

  “How long ago did you see Mallory’s father come by?” I asked.

  “A few months, I think. Look, I have some work to do.” She smiled stiffly again.

  “Sure. Thanks, and thanks for getting the door all the time.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  She was distracted as she told me goodbye and then shut her door.

  I walked down the hallway, past Mallory’s door, now devoid of tributes, up the stairs, and knocked on Sophie and Rena’s door, but just with a few gentle raps. Somehow, in my mind that seemed less intrusive.

  “Delaney, come in,” Rena said as she opened the door. She didn’t smile, but her tone wasn’t unwelcoming.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  Sophie was right inside, sitting on the end of the couch.

  “Delaney,” she said.

  “Hi,” I said. “I’m sorry to intrude, and I know we just saw each other, but…”

  “Have a seat. Believe it or not, we were kind of expecting you,” Rena said.

  “Rena told me more about the article,” Sophie interjected.

  “Oh, good, that’s why I came over,” I lied easily. “I wanted to explain that to you both. The church didn’t feel like the right place, and … I didn’t know Mallory before Friday night, and I certainly didn’t kill her.”

  They looked at me with calm, expectant eyes. I didn’t know how to interpret their nonreactions. Did I need to explain more or were they not actually waiting to hear an explanation?

  I went through the sequence of events of my explorations down the close, but as I told the story this time a new light was shed. Now, I could see myself through Bridget’s eyes, not as Tom’s girlfriend but as someone a bit too curious about the view through a window at the place she worked, the place near which someone had just been killed. I didn’t want to ponder the revelation in front of my friends, but I knew I would later. Though it seemed natural to be curious, I might be willing to feel a little less angry, resentful, and maybe even violent toward Bridget.

  “But still,” I said, “there’s a killer on the loose, and I’m having a hard time thinking it was a random murder. She was at the bookshop, a place we’d talked about with Dr. Eban only a short time earlier. I can’t believe that either of you two were the killer either.” I still wasn’t sure, but I hoped I sounded like I was. “Do you two think Dr. Eban could have killed her?”

  They shared a look.

  Rena was the first to move her attention back to me. “Look, Delaney, we don’t think we owe you an explanation, but we’d like tae tell you something nevertheless. We haven’t told the police, but we are going tae, planned on calling them right before you knocked.”

  “Okay.”

  “We saw something,” Sophie began.

  She paused for so long I thought she was going to change her mind and not tell me. I kept as steady and patient as I could and hoped she’d keep talking.

  She resumed, “I saw a man sneaking out of Mallory’s flat a few months ago. Late.”

  “Dr. Eban?” I asked.

  “No, at first I thought so, but…”

  “Sophie?”

  “I think it was Dr. Jack Glenn.”

  I looked at the women. “I’m … Did you recognize him? Hasn’t he been missing for ten years or so?”

  “I didn’t recognize him at first. Mallory told us later who he was,” Sophie said.

  “And you didn’t call the police?” I said, holding back firmly on a general sense of aghast.

  Sophie looked at Rena. “We wanted to, but Mallory asked us not to.”

  “Oh boy, you two, I don’t understand that one bit.”

  “Delaney,” Rena said, “Dr. Glenn has been in Edinburgh for a few years. He befriended Mallory about six months ago. She didn’t know who he was, but kept their relationship hidden because he was so much older. It wasn’t until recently that she put the pieces together herself, after looking at pictures of him with her father from ten years ago.”

  “That had to be a terrible discovery. Didn’t know who he was? He and her father were friends ten years ago. She didn’t recognize him?”

  Rena shrugged. “She mentioned that she didn’t recognize him and then she fell in love with him. He with her, too. She said he wasn’t the same man he used tae be.” Rena shrugged again, but more stiffly this time. “We should have called the police a long time ago, but Mallory asked us not tae. We need tae tell them now. Surely, that’s who killed her.”

  What they were saying both made sense and didn’t make sense. Words ran through my mind, but I didn’t think they were from a bookish voice. I think it was just something I’d heard in many different places, in one form or another.

  Two half-truths don’t make a truth.

  In fact, even three don’t.

  “Why did he kill her outside the bookshop?” I asked.

  “We don’t know, of course,” Sophie said. “Maybe she was just curious about the scalpels that Dr. Eban mentioned, and Dr. Glenn followed her.”

  Dr. Glenn had come back to murder—to seduce first, this time around—family members from his previous circle of friends. Sadly, I could imagine something like that happening. However, it was still far-fetched.

  “You need to call the police right away,” I said.

  “We were just about to,” Sophie said.

  “You didn’t call them because you told Mallory you’d keep the secret?” I said, my aghast beginning to show.

  “Not really,” Sophie said. “We were scared. Plain and simple scared.”

  “Oh,” I said. “Of course you were. Should we get you some protection?” I reached for my phone. I didn’t know what else to do, but I didn’t know who to call.

  “No,” Rena said as she put her hand up. “No, Delaney. We’ll be fine, but we were scared.”

  “Makes sense,” I said, though it didn’t make complete sense.

  There was something wrong with the way they were acting—for one thing, they seemed so calm now. And why hadn’t they contacted the police? I could only chalk that up to their fear, and perhaps their grief. So much had happened that I couldn’t possibly understand.

  Sophie stood. “If you don’t mind, we’d like tae call the police now.”

  “I can stay,” I said.

  “We’d rather not put you in that position,” Rena said.

  I didn’t mind, but I didn’t say so. They wanted me to leave. I stood and Sophie saw me to the door. As she opened it, I looked back into their flat.

  “Does he look the same?” I asked. “Dr. Glenn?”

  “Aye,” Sophie said.

  “Gray hair,” Rena said. She looked at Sophie. “You said he had gray hair.”

  “Right. Yes, gray hair,” she said.

  I nodded.

  “See you later, Delaney,” Sophie said.

  “Yes, later,” I said, as the door closed.

  I’d originally wanted to ask if Mallory had told them anything about Dr. Eban. I’d wanted to find out what Rena was up to Friday night after she’d gone back out, or maybe hadn’t come home at all.

  But other things were now more important. I didn’t believe them about Mallory and Dr. Glenn, I didn’t know why exactly. But he certainly made for a convenient place to point an accusatory finger. I decided the police should hear from me too—about the alleged relationship between Mallory and the elusive killer from ten years ago, about Mallory’s former roommate, and also about my weird feelings regarding the gray-haired man I’d seen at the pub.

  I pulled out my phone and hurried back out to Elias.

&nb
sp; TWENTY-FOUR

  The Royal Mile was busy today. It was busy almost every day, with tourists from all over the world walking up the hill to the castle, and all the way down to the sea. Maybe it was the comfortable temperature and the clear blue sky, but today it seemed busier than normal as Elias steered the cab slowly and we searched for a parking spot. Inspector Winters’ office was at the bottom, by the sea, but Inspector Pierce’s satellite office was closer to the castle at the top.

  “There it is,” I said as I pointed to the narrow space with a sign above it: POLICE. “The window is painted blue.”

  “Aye. I guess they dinnae want people looking in at their business.”

  “Let me out here. I’m close to the bookshop. Go ahead and get back to Aggie. I’ll get home later.”

  “Lass.”

  “I promise I won’t go talking to people, asking questions without you or someone else with me. Seriously, I just want to talk to Inspector Pierce.”

  “Without your attorney?”

  “Yes, but it will be okay.”

  “I dinnae like any of this,” he said.

  “It’s okay. I really just want to make sure the police have all the information I think they should have.”

  He wasn’t happy about it, but part of our relationship’s growing pains was him letting me be the adult I was. He finally conceded and stopped the cab.

  I watched him turn right at the next intersection down the hill. I dodged some pockets of pedestrians as I hurried across the sidewalk to the blue door. I noticed a narrow gap in it, and wondered if they could see out through the blue or if the view was blocked from both directions.

  I pulled on the door handle, but it was locked tight. I had the urge to move closer and peer in, but I still wouldn’t have been able to see inside. I knocked, but no one answered immediately.

  I stepped back and searched for a business hours sign, but didn’t see anything. I had Inspector Pierce’s number programmed into my phone, but he hadn’t answered the three times I’d tried to reach him on the way over.

  I’d have to hope he called me back soon. But as I turned to head down the hill the door to the police station opened.

  “Delaney?” Inspector Pierce said as he leaned out. “What’s up?”