“This is it,” I said.
“The door at least lives up tae the reputation.”
“Well, to coin a phrase, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”
I took the large blue skeleton key from my bag, gave Inspector Winters a small lift of my eyebrows, and inserted the key. I turned it to the left three times, unlatching the heavy bolts, and then pushed it open.
I had made sure that Edwin was okay with my plan, and that whatever cleaning up that needed to be done had been done. The entire bookshop, the close included, was no longer a crime scene and was no longer off-limits, but Edwin had decided to remain closed for business.
Surprisingly, my conversation with him had been rough at first, full of awkward pauses and “oh dear’s” but ultimately, he agreed with me that it would be good for Inspector Winters to know about the warehouse, for a couple of reasons. He’d become a friend to me and everyone at the bookshop. There was no need to keep the secret from someone in law enforcement who we also trusted so implicitly.
And now a murder had occurred in a place that was a big part of our world, our home. The police needed to know as much about what might have led up to Mallory’s murder as we could supply. Though Inspector Pierce had seen the warehouse, Inspector Winters had a knowledge of the history of the shop and its people. Could that knowledge somehow help? We were about to find out.
Bottom line—ultimately Edwin and I agreed that finding a killer was much more important than keeping the secret of the room filled with treasures.
I could sense Inspector Winters’ excitement, though he cloaked it with a wide-eyed silence. I tried not to smile.
I reached around, flipped up the light switch, and led the way inside.
Inspector Winters stood inside the space, put his hands on his hips, and looked around. I moved to the desk and retrieved the treasure chest from inside the drawer.
“This is unbelievable,” Inspector Winters said.
“It doesn’t disappoint?” I asked.
“It’s … not what I expected, but, no, it doesn’t disappoint. It’s a roomful of treasures, just like I’d heard.”
“There are treasures in here, but there’s also some junk. Do you want a tour of some of the shelves?”
He looked around again, slowly. “No, not right now. I want to know why you brought me to see it today.”
“I don’t know if what I’m going to show you had anything to do with Mallory’s murder. Inspector Pierce knows about them too, but you know us. Maybe it would be good for you to know about this room. It was mentioned at the pub the night of the murder. I don’t know, there might be important connections.”
“Okay.” Inspector Winters moved closer to the desk as his eyebrows came together.
I gloved up and showed him the scalpels. I told him most of the details from my evening in the pub with the medical students and professor, emphasizing Dr. Eban’s curiosity about Edwin’s room, and the scalpels specifically. I told him about Dr. Eban’s reputation.
“These are authentic?” he asked about the scalpels.
“I think so, but I will need to do more research. I saw one at the Burke and Hare display at the museum, and it’s identical.”
“Where did Edwin get them?”
“Like many things in here, he’s not sure or he doesn’t remember. That’s part of the reason I was hired in the first place. More attention needed to be paid.”
“It would help tae know where they came from.”
“I wish we did know.”
His eyebrows came together even more. “People used tae operate with these?”
“It appears so.”
“It’s a wonder any Scots survived the Black Plague. Twice. And then the medical experiments that finally led to the miracles that we have.” He shook his head. “Amazing.”
“Survival of the fittest, I suppose. Will you look more closely at Dr. Eban, or tell Inspector Pierce to?”
He glanced up at me. “It’s not my case, Delaney. It’s in my jurisdiction, but I wasn’t there with the first call, and that automatically gives me a disadvantage. I’ll talk to Pierce, but I’ve heard he’s not one tae play well with others. Be sure you tell him everything you’ve told me, and I’m sure he’s looking closely at Dr. Eban. I wouldn’t be surprised if he takes the scalpels.”
I heard what he was talking around. He was surprised Inspector Pierce hadn’t already taken the scalpels, but he didn’t want to sound critical.
I nodded. “I don’t think he trusts me, since I was with Mallory and she was killed near the shop. He doesn’t understand the history of the legend of this room. Between the scalpels, the books Sophie and Rena brought in—let me show them to you. We didn’t tell Inspector Pierce about the books yet, but I’m thinking we should now. Or, at least you should tell him. Maybe there’s something here that is a clue to Mallory’s killer, even if it’s just a peripheral clue.” I grabbed the box of books and put it on the desk. “You know about the skull that was found?”
“I do.”
“Well, everyone I’ve spoken to—not the police, though; Pierce hasn’t told me anything—thinks that the presence of a skull from the skull room at the university, a room that Dr. Eban is somehow in charge of, is either a clue or too obvious to be a clue. To me he seemed charming, but I’ve heard he’s odd. I just hope he’s not being overlooked. He’s so smart.”
“As a rule, Delaney, the police do know that people might be smart enough tae try to fool us. I’m sure Pierce isn’t a gump.”
“Gump?”
Inspector Winters blinked. “Aye. A fool.”
“You used a Scots word?”
“I guess I did. My da uses them frequently.”
I smiled. Inspector Winters rolled his eyes.
“I like that word. I’m going to use it someday soon.”
When I’d first arrived in Scotland, it seemed that many people
