Read The Glass Room (Vera Stanhope 5) for Free Online Page A

got the note, no way was I going to stay away.’
    ‘What note?’ Vera leaned forward. The bed was soft enough, but she could have done with something to lean against and there was a crick in her neck. She wanted to stretch, but that might have given Joanna the impression that she was bored.
    ‘We each have a pigeonhole near reception. If there are outside phone messages or the tutors want to leave work for us, they leave them there. I had this note from Tony. Come to the glass room after lunch. A major publisher has expressed interest in your work. ’
    ‘How did you know it was from Tony?’ Vera asked. ‘It could have been from any of the tutors. And he was a university lecturer, wasn’t he? Not a publisher.’
    ‘It was signed,’ Joanna said. Vera could tell the woman was making an effort to be patient. ‘Not a proper signature, but initials. And I knew Tony liked to sit in the glass room. He’d escape there most days after lunch with coffee and a brandy. I think he liked looking down on us. Literally, I mean. From the balcony he could see onto the terrace and that was where the smokers all gathered and chatted. I caught him once, listening in.’ She paused. ‘And he was much more than a university professor. He had influence, contacts in the industry.’
    ‘What did he get out of it?’ Vera asked. ‘I mean if he’d found you a publisher, would he get a cut?’
    ‘No!’ Joanna was losing patience now and struggled to make Vera understand. ‘It wasn’t about the money. It was about power. If he’d helped me become a best-selling author, I’d always have to be grateful to him, wouldn’t I? It would be like he’d created me. That was what turned him on.’ She considered her earlier assessment of Ferdinand. ‘It was power he was greedy for, not money.’
    Vera still wasn’t sure she got it, and decided to stick to the facts. ‘What happened next?’
    ‘I knocked at the glass-room door. It’s a public room, but Tony tended to treat the place like his own. There was no answer, so I went in. There was nobody there. I thought Tony had been there. There were two coffee cups and a glass on the table. The chairs were arranged differently from usual, and I wondered if he’d been chatting to one of the other students, if someone else had received a similar offer. That was when I saw the knife.’
    ‘Where was it?’
    ‘On the floor. Next to that big plant pot. I picked it up to take back to the kitchen. I mean, in my experience that’s what knives are for. Chopping meat and peeling vegetables. Not killing people.’
    ‘You didn’t go onto the balcony?’
    ‘Obviously not.’
    It was possible, Vera thought. The body wouldn’t have been visible. Not from the table.
    ‘Didn’t you hear the screaming?’ She would have liked to believe Joanna, but none of this made sense.
    ‘What screaming?’
    ‘Miranda Barton yelling fit to bust! I could hear her from outside. You’d surely have passed her in the corridor.’
    ‘I didn’t pass anyone,’ Joanna said. ‘Until I met Alex in the corridor. And I didn’t hear anyone screaming. The walls here are very thick. I wouldn’t, unless I was in the drawing room or standing outside.’ She stood up and suddenly towered over Vera, seeming very tall and strong. Had she towered over Ferdinand with a knife in her hand? ‘All I heard was music. Someone with a CD player in his room, I suppose. The Beatles.’ She looked down at the detective. ‘That was what happened. You can believe me or not, as you like.’

Chapter Five
    Joe Ashworth got the call from Vera just as he was on his way home. He’d left work a bit early because it was his birthday and his wife Sarah, known in the family as Sal, had planned a family tea party. It was supposed to be a surprise – the kids adored surprises – but he knew how it would be. A home-made banner on the wall, balloons and a cake covered in candles and chocolate buttons. The bairns wild with excitement, topped up with