Read Online (2012) Cross-Border Murder by David Waters - Free Book Online

led to a quadrangle. I pointed out the four-story building where Monaghan’s office had been and where his body had been discovered by her father, although the fact that he had fled the scene without calling security had helped to make him a prime suspect with the police.
    “Was my father’s office there too?”
    I took out the campus map and the location sheet Gibbs had given me.
    “No.” I gestured behind me. “It was in the main building. On the fourth floor near where the faculty club is now.”
    She turned and stared at the building. “But the rest of the fourth floor is now administrative offices. It’s almost as if his presence here has been erased.”
    “Nothing lasts very long anymore,” I said, thinking of the changes which had happened recently to my profession.
    We headed for the engineering building. In the foyer a security guard sitting at a desk behind a glass window glanced up at us. Then he returned to a book he was reading. We found a stairwell which led to the upper floors. We went up two flights. The structural design of the building was simple. Against the outside walls were offices. Outside the office doors was a corridor which circled the building with stairwells at each corner. The inner rectangle contained a maze of classrooms and laboratories. There was one service elevator at the back of the building. Monaghan’s office had been almost at the center of the western corridor. It was now occupied by a Professor Gaudieri. I knocked at the door, waited, knocked again, but there was no answer. I looked at Gina and shrugged. At that moment a door two offices down the corridor opened and Professor Hendricks stepped out into the corridor.
    “Well, well,” he said, “what brings the two of you over here?”
    “Visiting the scene of the crime. We wanted to take a look at Monaghan’s old office.”
    “What in heavens for?”
    “Nothing in particular.”
    He laughed. “A waste of time I’m afraid. Monaghan’s office has had at least four occupants since then, and at least as many redecorations.”
    “Was your office always where it is now? I thought you said you had the office next to his.”
    “Used to, but down the other way.” He pointed down the corridor. “But the whole floor has been redesigned, in part to give the dean a much larger space.” I glanced down the corridor and recognized Gooden’s corner office.
    “Symansky had his office in this building as well, didn’t he?”
    He frowned. “Can’t remember for certain. But now that you mention it, yes, it was in this building somewhere.”
    I nodded.
    “Well, I’m on my way to the faculty club. Care to join me?” But there was no enthusiasm in his offer and he seemed relieved when we turned it down.
    “No. We’d better be on our way.”
    Hendricks headed towards the stairwell. We followed. As we went down the stairs to the main floor, he said, “I telephoned Naomi.”
    “Oh, yes?” I said. I tried to stare him into silence. He didn’t get the message. “She told me that you had dropped by for a visit.” I could feel Gina tense behind me.
    “Did you know she was a lesbian?” I asked him.
    “Lesbian?”
    “Yes.” I could sense that Gina was hanging on to every word.
    The information had startled him. “You’re kidding!”
    “I don’t think so.”
    “I find that hard to believe.”
    “She has a flat in the gay village. Shares it with a tough young woman who is very protective of her.”
    “Well, well,” he said. His shoulders seemed to sag. He gave Gina a sad smile. “Who would have thought it.”
    We parted at the main door. He picked up his pace as he headed towards the faculty club. Back in the quadrangle, Gina stared at me tight lipped.
    “Men!” She said with both anger and distrust. I remained silent. I don’t know whether she was chastising me for singling out Naomi Bronson as a lesbian, or for not letting her know I had gone to see her.
    “So what did she have to say.”
    I spoke in a flat