Shell Game A Professor Simon Shaw Mystery

Chapter One I'm not afraid of dying. I just don't want to be there when it happens. Woody Allen Simon knew instantly that someone he cared about was dead. Walker Jones, the chairman of his department, and Sophie Berelman, another colleague, hovered in the hall corridor outside the lecture hall, waiting for his class to end. Sophie leaned against the oak-wainscoted wall, gazing fixedly at the floor, repeatedly glancing at her watch, looking miserable, while Walker, inured by years of experience coping with the troubles of his colleagues, just waited stoically, arms crossed. Vultures perched on the staircase banister outside the room would have been less conspicuous. Seconds before the bell rang, Simon's students began to shuffle their papers and water bottles into their backpacks. They emptied the old-fashioned stadium seating in no time, leaving Simon alone in the echoing lecture room. For once no one lingered behind to talk to him. Simon turned and started erasing his scribbles from the whiteboard, the only modern fixture in the room, dreading the next few minutes. He mentally reviewed the various ages and infirmities of his aunts and uncles, and braced himself for the bad news. After the last student had left, Walker and Sophie came in. Sophie closed the door behind them. "Bad news," Simon said matter-of-factly. "'Fraid so," Walker said. Sophie laid a hand on Simon's shoulder. "David Morgan died this morning," Walker said. Walker pulled a chair out from behind a desk while Sophie guided Simon into it. Simon wasn't prepared for this, not that anyone is ever prepared to learn about an unexpected death. His friend David Morgan was forty-two years old. He didn't take any worse care of himself than most people Simon knew. He must have had an accident of some kind. "I just saw him a couple of days ago," Simon said, as if that meant anything. "I'm so sorry," Sophie said again. "Car wreck?" Simon asked. "No," Walker said. "What, then?" Simon asked. The two glanced at each other, hesitating. "He's got to know," Sophie said to Walker. She turned to Simon. "He was murdered." Simon found himself sitting on the worn leather sofa in Walker's office, his hands wrapped around a steaming mug of coffee. Walker poured a shot of Jack Daniel's into the mug. Simon drank half of it in one gulp. Walker sat down next to him. "We've canceled your classes for a couple of days, of course," he said. "Marcus will be here in a few minutes to drive you home." Simon finished his coffee without speaking, collecting his thoughts and emotions. "I want to know what happened," he said. He tried to remember Morgan's schedule. Had he gone to the office today? Was he out on a dig? "We don't know yet," Walker said. "A package deliveryman found the body this morning. The police are still at the house." Simon's friend Marcus Clegg arrived, carrying his brShaber, Sarah R. is the author of 'Shell Game A Professor Simon Shaw Mystery', published 2007 under ISBN 9780312356026 and ISBN 0312356021.