Free 4 Impression of Bones by Melanie Jackson Page B

larger staircase coming down, perhaps from the courtyard. They
also probably had an entrance away from the hospital where the hearse could
come and go without upsetting the other patients.”
    “You have any
proof of this?” The tone rather than the question itself was confrontational.
It was early days, but Juliet was betting that this was a man with a limited
linguistic database. That usually happened when someone had only predictably
small thoughts. It was another strike against him.
    “It may be
that I can eventually find some blueprints to show you where the exterior
entrance was, but for now we’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way. There is
fresh hot air coming in from somewhere. Follow the smell.”
    Esteban would
be the one to find blueprints if any existed but there was no need to drag his
name into things, especially since this new cop was so hostile.
    “And you know
this how, Mrs …?” the stranger asked again. She gave
him credit for being dogged.
    “Excuse my
manners,” Manoogin said. “Juliet Henry, this is my
partner, Detective Weston. Juliet is one of the artists working on the project.
Her room was the one in the tower with the body in the chimney. She’s done some
research on the building.”
    That was a
strange introduction but probably the most relevant of the facts for the new
policeman to know.
    “Detective.” Juliet gave a small smile and got one
in return, but only after Weston had sent his partner an odd look. She gathered
that Manoogin had been truthful when he said that he generally didn’t involve
civilians in his investigations, and that Manoogin apparently had not shared
her work history with his partner. Whether this was to preserve her privacy or
because he didn’t trust his partner remained to be seen.
    “Mrs. Henry.”
    She didn’t
correct him about her marital status and made herself speak pleasantly.
    “As Lieutenant Manoogin says, I’ve been studying the castle, looking
for history about the room in the tower and have discovered a few other things
in my research. I don’t know if the original castle had some kind of dungeon
back in Scotland, but when the castle got here, it was discovered that there
were caves in the cliff below the plateau which were deemed appropriate for storage
and later for use as a place to hold bodies before their burials. Probably because it is naturally cold. Based on geography,
it’s unlikely that the caves run north-south so the cave openings would be
either east or west.” Juliet pointed again. “Let’s start here. The brick
pattern is different on that wall.”
    Neither man
argued though she had the feeling that Weston wanted to on general principal.
    Again it was
Juliet who discovered a ponderous door behind one of the wine racks which had
not yet been screwed into the mounts in the wall. The floor below it was
slightly scuffed, suggesting the heavy rack had been moved recently.
    The old timber
door was locked and there was no key, but Juliet only shook her head at the
detectives when Weston expressed a belief that no one could have come or gone
that way.
    Juliet sniffed
the lock and then went to fetch a pair of flathead screwdrivers and proceeded
to force the lock on the door.
    “These old
locks are crude, but oiled up with WD-40 one could lock it from either side
with a coat hanger or a large hook. Assuming one didn’t have a key.”
    Which
proved to be the case. At least a mangled coat hanger was found on the floor of the passage which ultimately
led out onto the hill just outside the hurricane fence where the security guard
had been sent to look for a trespasser.
    The curving corridor
was stone with some leaves and other debris piled around the edges where it
jogged right and left. Though Juliet knew that the tunnel wasn’t part of a real
dungeon or an oubliette filled with mantraps, her eyes kept moving from the
floor to the ceiling and back again.
    There were no
convenient muddy footprints or handprints displayed on the