The Library Paradox by Catherine Shaw Read Free Book Online Page A

exactly as it had been when the murder took place. There was not much of it, in fact; apart from two large, solid oaken cabinets on either sideof the large window looking out over the grass at the back of the house, the study had been furnished only with an impressive, massive desk and two black wooden chairs, one with arms and one without. Probably the professor had one chair behind his desk and the other was for visitors, but it was not possible to tell immediately which chair had occupied which position, for they had apparently been flung about the room. The smaller of the two appeared to have crashed against the wall, smashing the glass of a picture, which still lay among the shards. The desk had been pushed over, but had not fallen entirely to the floor, having partially and crookedly come to rest upon the other chair, which lay flat on its back on the floor, rather miserably upholding the full weight of the desk on the edge of its upthrust seat. The desk was a handsome one; its burnished wooden surface was free since everything on it had slid to the ground. I spotted a little dent in its centre, as though it had received rather a sharp blow from a heavy object. I peered closely at this dent. It seemed to have been newly made; infinitesimal splinters of wood showed, clean and fresh, at its edges. The papers and pens which had been lying on the desk lay scattered on the floor, as did a nearly empty inkpot and an elegant brass lamp, its shade awry. A thick carpet covered the central section of the floor. Before the tragedy, the study must have been quite a pleasant place to be.
    ‘You see how the floor is raised above garden level,’ observed Professor Taylor. ‘One goes up several steps from the path to the front door; the higher level keeps out the damp. It means that the windows are quite high; they areat waist level in here, as you see, and thus above head level outside. That is why the students who heard the sounds of the struggle which produced all this’ – he indicated the mess with a wave of his hand – ‘could not simply peer within to ascertain what was going on.’
    ‘It is a pity,’ I said thoughtfully, ‘that they did not think of climbing on each other’s shoulders.’
    ‘Peering in windows goes against the grain, instinctively, doesn’t it?’ he replied. ‘It probably did not even occur to them. I think that in their place I should have done exactly the same as they did.’
    I walked rather tentatively around the fallen desk and looked at the spot where Professor Ralston had presumably been wont to sit.
    ‘This is where his body was found,’ said the professor. ‘He was apparently shot at very close range while standing behind his desk. There was not much blood. The police took away samples, I expect, to do whatever they do with them in their chemical laboratories, but I don’t believe it yielded anything unexpected. The gun was over there,’ he added, indicating a position one or two yards in front of the fallen desk, rather near the door. He then turned to the cabinets, and tried a drawer. ‘Perhaps we should begin by having a look at these?’
    It had not occurred to me that he might actually intend to offer me his collaboration. I would much have preferred to work alone. It was my habit; after all, one could never tell who might be involved in the events one was trying to uncover, or at least have a secret interest in them. But he wasalready opening some drawers and peering inside them, and for the life of me I could not see how to send him away.
    ‘This one holds drafts of his own papers and articles, and copies of newspapers and magazines containing things that interested him,’ he remarked, lifting out some of the contents.
    ‘I think I will begin by inspecting the desk,’ I said, and leaning down, I began to look at the papers that lay upon the floor. ‘I don’t suppose we had better disarrange things too much, had we? I mean, the police will be expecting to find this room