Page 25 of The Locked Room

Turning the corner into Long Acre, Oliver looked very much as though he were about to argue, but the words appeared to die in his throat as they were confronted by a newspaper stand. ‘Read all about it – murder in Mayfair! Body found in Berkeley Square. Read all about it!’

Harry stopped dead, her hands flying to her mouth in dismay. Oliver strode forward, thrusting some money at the seller and snatching the evening edition from the stand. He brought it back to Harry and they both stared at the headline.

THEFT TAKES A DEADLY TURN

BODY FOUND IN MAYFAIR MANSION

‘It’s number 50,’ Harry said numbly, scanning the tiny newsprint beneath the awful heading and absorbing what little detail there was. ‘My God, Oliver, what does it mean?’

‘I don’t know,’ he replied, his tone grim. ‘It could just be a terrible coincidence.’

Harry searched his face, her stomach swooping with anxiety. ‘You don’t believe that.’

‘I don’t know what to believe,’ Oliver said, and folded the newspaper under his arm. ‘Come on. I need to talk to Inspector Wells.’

9

It was almost eight o’clock in the evening when Harry’s telephone finally rang. She had been trying to finish the Dorothy L. Sayers novel she was reading but the words would not stay still on the page and she found it impossible to keep track of the plot. In the silence, the phone was shrill enough to make her jump. She scrambled to answer it. ‘Hello?’ she said breathlessly into the receiver. ‘Oliver, is that you?’

‘Yes, it’s me.’ His voice thrummed with tension. ‘Are you alone?’

It was not a question she’d been expecting. ‘Um – yes. Beth and I have agreed that she’ll start her official duties on Monday, although we’ve arranged to meet near Middlesex Street tomorrow morning. Why?’

‘I’ve spoken to Inspector Wells,’ he said, the words flat. ‘I – well, it’s not good, Harry. Not good at all. There’s no doubt that the death is linked to the diamond.’

She let out a gasp. ‘But how?’

‘I don’t have all the details yet but it appears Inspector Wells found a chimney sweep’s boy willing to follow the tunnel beneath the fireplace,’ Oliver said. ‘It led under the foundations of the house and into a small sealed chamber with no other way in or out.’

Harry blinked. She had expected the tunnel to link up with that of the coiners, perhaps leading out into a neighbouring street. ‘But that makes no sense. How did the thief escape?’

‘First impressions suggested they did not,’ Oliver replied. ‘The room contained the body of a young woman. It appears she has been there for several days.’

The revelation caused Harry’s stomach to swoop in horror. Various terrible scenarios played out in her mind and all were the stuff of nightmares. ‘The poor sweep’s boy.’

‘I gather he was quite fascinated,’ Oliver said, his tone droll. ‘He claimed it was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to him.’

Having grown up with three brothers, Harry could easily believe that but it did nothing to lessen the awfulness of the discovery. ‘Have they been able to identify the body?’

‘Not yet. There are a number of other troubling aspects,’ he went on. ‘As I mentioned, the room was sealed when the body was discovered and it is not clear how the young woman came to be there.’

Harry frowned. ‘Obviously, she hid there to steal the diamond and then for some reason was unable to make her escape.’

‘There are two problems with that,’ Oliver said. ‘Firstly, the diamond was not in the room with her and there is some doubt she could have navigated the tunnel in order to steal it. And secondly—’ He broke off, giving Harry the distinct impression he was gathering himself to say something he feared would upset her. ‘Preliminary examinations indicate she did not die there.’

Harry felt a shudder run through her as she forced herself to consider the possibilities. ‘Whatever do you mean? Surely the poor girl suffocated? Or – or starved to death.’

‘Her neck was broken,’ he said, with flat practicality.

‘Then she must have fallen,’ Harry reasoned, her imagination flooded with yet another unbearable scenario. ‘Probably in an effort to get out. Was there anything in the room she might have climbed upon?’

‘Yes, there was a chair,’ Oliver said, and sighed. ‘She was tied to it.’

Harry closed her eyes. She had very little experience of corpses but she suspected few tied themselves up to await discovery.

‘There’s something else,’ Oliver said, and he sounded even more troubled. ‘She didn’t have the diamond but there was something in her hands. A letter addressed to Sherlock Holmes.’

It felt to Harry as though the floor fell away then. She clutched at the telephone table for support. ‘To Holmes?’ she repeated, as the implications came thick and fast. ‘But that means – it suggests…’