A Savage Hunger (Paula Maguire 4) by Claire McGowan Read Free Book Online

looking grumpy as they stood in the reception of the college. ‘There was meant to be someone here to meet us. We’ve an appointment with the principal.’
    Oakdale College, a small private university, was still fixed up like the stately home it had been – apple-green carpets muffling the stairs, clocks ticking quietly in the corners. And the calm of the place – despite the students gathering books and preparing for lunch, passing Corry and Paula with curious looks.
    ‘No one seems to know Alice is gone,’ Paula said, as the lobby, once the hallway of the house, filled and emptied, filled and emptied, busy with chattering students, the girls dressed for the hot weather in tiny shorts and vests, the boys loud-voiced. High sounds of laughter clashing round the wooden walls of the place.
    ‘They know. Honestly, you’d think they didn’t even care one of their students is missing. Come on, I’m not waiting.’
    The library at Oakdale stopped Paula in her tracks. Polished wooden shelves of old books, and above on a high mezzanine, lines and lines of them running into shadowed corners. Students worked at the desks, the buttery summer light reflecting off glasses and Macbooks. Though they were all over eighteen, the place felt more like Paula’s old convent school. Jam-packed with hormones and tears, everything constantly on the brink. Everything full of meaning. Where you sat, who you had lunch with, how you wore your clothes, how you carried your bags. ‘Why haven’t they gone on summer break?’ There seemed to be as many students around as you’d expect mid-term.
    ‘They’re allowed to stay all year round. It’s like an extension of boarding school for a lot of them – often they’ve no homes to go to, if Mummy and Daddy are overseas or it’s too much hassle to have them. So they carry on with research projects. That’s what Alice was doing with the relic.’
    A woman in a short-sleeved shirt and polyester trousers approached. She looked cross. ‘Yes?’
    Corry showed her ID and the list of names she’d got from the secretary. ‘We’re looking for these students. Any of them in here?’
    ‘Dermot Healy’s in Mathematics,’ the librarian stage-whispered. ‘But you can’t speak to him here. You’ll disturb the students.’
    ‘Where then?’ Corry was speaking at her normal volume.
    ‘Well, there’s my room, but—’
    ‘Good.’ She tapped the edge of her ID card on the librarian’s desk. ‘Would you send him in to us, please? It’s urgent.’
    Even the office was nice, a small room with wooden cabinets. Corry crossed to the kitchen area and flicked on the kettle. She saw Paula looking. ‘It’s the least they can do. One of their students is missing, for God’s sake, and they’re acting like we’re here from Ofsted or something.’
    It took a few minutes for Dermot to be summoned from the depths of the library – or perhaps he wasn’t keen on helping either. By the time there was a reluctant knock on the door, both Corry and Paula had cups of tea. Corry had shamelessly nicked some Earl Grey from what looked like a private stash. ‘Come in.’
    The boy in the doorway – you couldn’t really call him a man – had horn-rimmed glasses and the fair, rosy skin of a chorister. His brown hair, ungelled, fell in curtains round a child-like face. Paula clocked the crimson college hoody – she’d noticed others in the library. She remembered boys like him from her own university, sometimes emerging in groups from labs and libraries, blinking in the light.
    Despite her impatience, Corry’s voice was kind. ‘Hello, Dermot. I’m DS Corry from the Ballyterrin PSNI, this is Dr Maguire. We need to ask you a few questions about Alice Morgan.’
    ‘Did you find something?’ He stepped into the room, rubbing the back of his head. Afterwards, Paula would think it was a strange thing to say.
    Corry didn’t seem to notice. ‘No, she’s still missing. I’m afraid we’re a bit worried about