She had chosen an array of tastes, scents, and colors which appeared very appetizing, just like a photo in a magazine.
"You must explain this, this, chow to me," Johan said as he took his seat.
"Well, to your left is Butter Chicken with Kaali Daal, or black lentils. It's chicken marinated with lime and chili powder, served in a spicy gravy. To your right is Chole, a chickpea curry with ginger. You will want to eat that with this fried Indian bread," Angela said, pointing to flat breads she had placed on a platter. "In front of you is Rogan Josh, lamb in a cream and chili sauce, and over here is Palak Paneer," she added, holding up a bowl filled with spinach. "This is a mild flavored cottage cheese and spinach dish, very healthy."
She paused to catch her breath.
"It all sounds and looks delicious," Angus said in a low tone.
She glanced his way and noticed how handsome Duncan's brother looked in a shirt and tie. Duncan wondered why his brother had not already dug into the food and why he sat at the table with such good posture.
"What are those other chows on that end?" Johan asked, interrupting the moment.
"Oh, these are some of the best Indian dishes," Angela explained. "Here is Chicken Tikka. Chunks of chicken are marinated in ginger, garlic, lime and lemon juice and cooked kabob style, served with a yogurt sauce." She tilted the bowl so Johan could view the kabobs and continued, "Then we have the very special dish of Malia Kofta, served with rice. These are vegetarian meatballs in a tomato sauce. Indians serve this on special occasions, like birthdays and weddings."
Angela took her seat after explaining all the dishes, and Duncan began passing the food.
"How did you come to know so much about Indian food, Angela?" Angus asked without looking at her.
"I worked at an Indian restaurant when I was in school. Our neighbors and good friends owned the place."
A collective "Ah" went up from the others at this revelation.
"I never cooked the food, just served tables, but I saw it prepared every day. I'm a huge fan of proper Indian food!" she stated.
"I never knew that," Duncan said.
Angela shot him a look that revealed there were many things he didn’t know about her, and it produced a twinge of guilt in Duncan. He began to think he had taken her for granted all these years.
"Did you know our mother ran a small catering business?" Angus asked softly.
"No, I did not." She shot another look at Duncan and continued, "I'd like to hear about her experiences sometime."
Johan dominated the rest of the dinner conversation while the brothers remained relatively silent. Duncan, lost in his thoughts, tried to make out why Angus was so quiet instead of his usual boisterous self. It wasn't like him to be embarrassed or allow humiliation to affect his behavior. Angus always rose above those things and continued on his merry way.
Dinner finished, Johan insisted on escorting Angela home. Angus offered to clean up and thanked her for choosing such delicious dishes before retreating to the kitchen. Duncan saw Angela and Johan to the door.
"Please don’t forget to take a look at that data I sent you today," Duncan said to Johan. "I'll see you on Monday, Angela," he added.
They all said goodnight and Johan promised he would contact him early in the week with his results. It was with relief and exhaustion that Duncan shut the door on his assistant and new friend and went to confront Angus. Duncan found him in the kitchen, his tie removed and shirt sleeves rolled to his elbows, washing dishes.
"Just what is going on with you tonight, Angus?"
Angus finished drying a serving bowl and placed it on the counter before responding, "What do you mean?"
"I mean, you hardly said a peep during dinner and you are usually the life of the party. And don't try and tell me that you were embarrassed from earlier. I've seen you recover from worse situations with aplomb to spare," Duncan said.
Angus shrugged and continued washing a plate.
"I guess I just wanted to stay out of trouble. You were angry enough with me already," he said.
Duncan began returning the dishes to the cupboard as his brother finished drying. The kitchen was small, so it took some maneuvering to work around Angus.
As he placed a platter on a shelf, Duncan said, "Stop your havering. Is something wrong? Is the business all right?"
Angus looked his brother in the eye for a moment before asking, "What's going on between you and Angela?"
"What?" Duncan asked, sure he hadn't heard his brother correctly.
"What is going on between you and your assistant?" Angus repeated, then added, "I can tell by the way she looks at you that there's something there."
Now Duncan was sure there was something wrong with his brother.
"There's nothing going on between Angela and me, you know I'm interested in…" Duncan stopped abruptly. "Oh, no," he continued, "I didn't ring Caroline today!"
He rushed from the kitchen to find his cell phone, leaving Angus shaking his head. His younger brother opened the fridge and searched for something stiff to drink. He found a lone bottle of Titus Bengal Ale, popped the top, and strode to the living room to get comfortable. He would wait for Duncan to finish his call with Caroline before continuing their conversation. After about twenty minutes, Duncan emerged from the bedroom. Angus met him with raised eyebrows, as if to ask how the call went. He noticed that he looked happy and calm.
"Everything's fine," Duncan said in a low voice. "I didn't get to speak with her yesterday, and I was worried something might have happened because she never returned my call. We had a wonderful conversation tonight, though."
"Why would you be worried?" Angus asked.
"It's this case. I don't believe Stuart's death was an accident and his niece and nephew are prime suspects as far as I'm concerned. I'm worried there's a possibility they might try to harm Caroline to inherit the insurance proceeds. They are likely to lay low and hope it all blows over, but they know I'm investigating and haven't approved a payout yet. I've asked the local police to look in on her regularly and I have friends watching out for her as well. I just wish she would have left town for a while."
"Hmm. When do you think you'll have the claim wrapped up?"
"Soon, I hope. I think I can head back to Scotland next week. Once I've got everything in order, I can turn our findings over to the police and settle the claim," Duncan said with a contented sigh.
He looked forward to this all being over. That happy thought passed and he remembered his earlier conversation with Angus. His eyebrows knit close together.
"What was that nonsense you mentioned earlier about Angela?"
"I just think she has feelings for you and I want to know if you've ever returned them or been involved with her," Angus said, his face serious.
Duncan laughed out loud.
"I've never been involved with Angela and I can tell you she has no personal feelings for me! You're way off base there, Brother. We've always had a perfectly cordial, professional relationship. At least until she straightened her hair."
Duncan paused.
"Angus, do you know anything about how straightening a woman's hair affects her behavior?"
The expression on Angus' face reflected pure bafflement. He suspected his brother was trying to shift the conversation away from his relationship with his assistant. That's what he would do in this situation. He decided to lay everything on the line.
"Look, Duncan, I like Angela. If I decide to pursue her, I'm not going to step aside for you, the way I did with Cassandra Baines."
"Oh," Duncan replied.
Silence fell between the two brothers. He was not quite comfortable with the idea of Angus pursuing his assistant. He did not know why.
"I have to warn you, Angus. She straightened her hair recently and it made her much more demanding, difficult at times even."
Angus shook his head in disbelief at his brother and said, "I'm going to bed. Who gets the sofa?"
Chapter 9 - Strong Women
Duncan arrived at work early on Monday. He wanted to see the results of the programs he ran over the weekend. Exiting the elevator, he waited for motion detectors to trigger the lights and then walked to his office. It was still dark outside and he was the first one to turn up. He had an enjoyable, relaxing Sunday with Angus. They took a run through Regents' Park and Duncan tried to forget about the case. The brothers talked about the garage on the outskirts of London Angus was thinking of buying. Owning a business here would require finding staff and a manager that he could trust to run things, and frequent trips from Edinburgh. He had to run the numbers and determine if expanding was profitable. The brothers had Sunday lunch with their sister, Sophie, and her family. Angus was a favorite with the young nieces and entertained them all afternoon while Duncan chatted with Sophie and her husband.
He also had a long conversation with Caroline. A company in Killin had reserved the castle for a Christmas party. She was busy working to ensure everything was perfect for this important new client. The chef from the Blue Bell agreed to cook for the occasion and Skye would provide staff to serve at the event. Caroline was excited with how the collaboration was proceeding and Duncan was glad she had something positive to occupy her time. They discussed some of the local gossip. Abigail Neward had been spotted at the Blue Bell several times since Saint Andrew's Day, chatting with Donald. The local police stopped by to check on Caroline regularly. Skye had spent Friday and Saturday night with her, watching old movies on the telly.
Once Duncan's computer came to life, his thoughts turned to the case. He checked on his results and was disappointed. The fault tree wasn't producing answers regarding the cause of Stuart's death. He had been fine tuning his input all week and rerunning the program after each change. He had checked the interface for error messages, but found nothing major. He moved some data around to different gates and ran the program again. Whenever he became absorbed with his work, he lost track of time. Angela's voice startled him from his concentration.
"Herbert Smith says he can pop by around ten to go over his findings. The meeting room is available then, if that works for you?" she asked.
"That would be fine," Duncan answered, glancing at the clock.
It was close to nine. He had been at it for almost three hours. Angela stood in his doorway as if she wanted to have a conversation. Duncan decided it would be wise if he spoke first.
"Would you like to join us when we go over the photos? It would be good experience for you."
He was sure she wanted to be more involved in the investigative end of things. Angela smiled.
"I'd like that very much," she said, turning to leave. She paused and looked back at Duncan before adding, "It was nice meeting your brother Saturday. I hope he wasn't too bruised by Johan."
"Ha! He was a little sore, but he's all right," he said.
After Angela returned to her cubicle, he wondered if he should have mentioned that Angus hoped to stop by the office today and have lunch. He didn't want to encourage this whim of his brother's to pursue Angela. That could lead to trouble. He would wait and see how it played out.
He checked his email and found Johan had contacted him. Professor Stark had begun his analysis of the information forwarded to him. Johan said he was making progress applying game theory to the circumstances surrounding Stuart's death and that he hoped to meet with Duncan and Angela later in the week. It sounded promising. By the time Duncan answered his remaining emails, it was close to ten a.m.
Duncan spotted Angela escorting Herbert to the conference room. He joined them there a moment later. Angela had already provided their forensic expert a cup of tea and ample room for his presentation materials.
"Hallo, I'm Duncan Dewar," he said, reaching for Herbert's outstretched hand. "Please, don't get up."
Herbert introduced himself and smiled broadly. He was an older man with thinning hair, almost bald in fact. He wore a three piece navy pinstripe suit, white shirt and red tie. Duncan could tell he was short and rather portly. Herbert looked to be in his early sixties. Lawful and General had employed him on an ad hoc basis for some time, but he had never met him before. There was something intensely pleasant about Herbert.
After Duncan seated himself next to Angela and across from Herbert, he said, "Thank you for meeting us here. How did you find the digital photographs?"
"Very revealing indeed," Herbert said. "Let me show you a few things."
Herbert turned a printed photo 180 degrees so that Duncan viewed it right side up.
"This is an enlarged view of Stuart's fingers. See the redness on each finger tip?" Herbert asked, pointing a long metal stylus toward the red patches.
Both Duncan and Angela nodded. He placed a similar photograph on top of the first.
"This is the victim's left hand, notice the same redness as that revealed on his right in the last image?" he asked, again employing his stylus.
The two nodded. Herbert brushed the original photographs aside and placed two more images side by side in front of Duncan and Angela.
"These are blow up shots of Stuart's fingertips and the fingertips of another corpse with similar measurements to Stuart. Do you notice any difference between the two images?"
He moved his stylus from one photo to the next and back, pointing at Stuart's fingers and those of the anonymous corpse.
"Stuart's fingertips are puffier than the other person's," Angela said.
"Exactly!" Herbert exclaimed.
He then brushed those photos aside and replaced them with similar views of the fingertips of Stuart's other hand and similar images from the unknown corpse. He moved his stylus from picture to picture, hovering over the photos.
"Stuart's are puffier on that hand too," Angela observed.
"You are right again, Young Lady! Now, redness of the skin and moderate inflammation are signs of exposure to a mild acid or hydrogen chloride gas. In lieu of what the electron microscope revealed, I'd say the victim was handling a mild hydrochloric acid shortly before he died."
"Could it have been a fertilizer?" Angela asked.
Duncan was astonished at her powers of observation and quickness. She handled the forensic discussion like an old pro.
"Yes, if he didn't use gardening gloves. However, I don't think the victim was gardening before he met his demise."
Angela made a mental note that any experienced gardener wore gloves when working with fertilizer.
The expert continued, "Photos taken at the scene reveal that Stuart Menzies was not crushed by a merlon while standing on the ground. The stone would have hit him closer to the house. There would have been far more bruising, perhaps even, and you'll excuse me having to say this, a severing of his body had that stone fallen on him."
Angela's hand flew to her mouth in horror when Herbert revealed this last bit of information. Duncan placed his hand on her forearm and gave a slight squeeze to comfort and steady his assistant. She obviously had not viewed graphic photos of the crime scene and this might all be a shock to her.
"Are you sure you're up for this?" Duncan asked in a whisper.
Angela nodded and Herbert continued after a slight pause and sympathetic glance her way.
He showed Duncan and his assistant another set of photos. These were pictures of Stuart's body from different angles and related enlarged images.
"It is probable that Stuart died from a fall, perhaps from the battlement of the castle, his body then moved to this location. Notice the particles in his hair?"
Herbert again employed his stylus upon an extreme close-up Duncan guessed was Stuart's hair. He continued, adding another photo to the mix.
"This is an even more enlarged view. There are pieces of organic matter in his hair, here, here and here. In fact, I counted fourteen particles of matter in all the different photos of his head. He was likely dragged by his feet a short way to this spot, his hair raking these particles from the ground. This is a small particle of dirt, and here is a blade of grass, and this is a tiny fragment of a
leaf."
Herbert grew more animated as he continued. He wielded his pointer with a flourish.
"The victim would not have landed in this exact spot, had he fallen from above. So the body must have been placed here."
He pushed more photos aside, drawing their attention to a new set of images. The forensic expert had a method of revealing information. He started with an ordinary photo and then progressed through enlarged versions until reaching a picture where hard evidence was noticeable. Angela stared at the pictures and took notes on an iPad without looking down. She kept her gaze either on the photos or Herbert.
"Now, you will notice some bruising visible here at the back of the victim's head. Also something out of the ordinary exists here, in this photo of his neck. I believe Stuart Menzies landed on soft ground, but broke his neck in the fall. He landed on his back, producing the visible bruising here on his head. Whoever situated him, tried to straighten his neck, but I believe the telltale sign of vertebrae out of place is visible in this close up."
Duncan took a deep breath and absorbed all that the expert disclosed while Angela typed furiously on her electronic device. Herbert smiled and gave her a chance to catch up before producing more photos.
"Clothing covers most of the gentleman's body, so the neck, head, hair, and hands are the main areas we can observe. Also, his shoes reveal quite a bit," he stated.
Duncan was already familiar with the clean soles of Stuart's boots.
"He wasn't wearing those while working outside!" Angela exclaimed.
"No, he wasn't. The soles are clean and the weather had been damp. Mud would have been present on his shoes had he been out and about the grounds that day," he concluded, then added, "everything is spelled out in my report."
Duncan received a thick stack of papers from Herbert which constituted his thorough report. He thumbed through the information and asked Herbert to stick around while he reviewed the materials, in case any further questions arose. He then asked Angela to attend to anything the forensic expert might need and returned to his office to study the report.
Mystery: The Merlon Murders II: A Duncan Dewar Mystery of Murder and Romantic Suspense (Duncan Dewar Mysteries Book 2) Page 10