Sounds of Murder

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The next day, Tuesday morning, when Pamela entered the building, she carried a mini-tape recorder in her jacket pocket. When she encountered a suspicious sound, she intended to record it secretly and then label it when she had a chance, in her own voice--giving the name and source of the sound she'd just captured. At least, that was the plan.

As she opened the side door of Blake Hall near the parking lot, she clicked the record button on her unseen recorder in order to capture the sound of the door hinges squeaking. It was really just a test of her secret recording skill; she didn't actually think the entrance door was the clicking sound on the disk.

"Blake Hall, front door hinges," she whispered into the lavaliere microphone she had pinned underneath her jacket lapel. Her unseen hand in her pocket switched the off button as she headed down the hallway towards the main office. As she passed people swarming around, she listened for sounds.

Laura Delmondo was coming towards her from the office, balancing delicately on a pair of torturously high heels which made a metallic clicking on the linoleum floor. Pamela pushed the record button in her pocket as Laura's heels tapped against the floor. Was this sound a match to the clicks on her disk? She couldn't tell. Could the mysterious double-click noise be the sound of someone's shoes hitting the floor? It didn't make sense, she reflected, but she made the recording of Laura's shoes and her unseen finger pressed the record button off right after she added her whispered vocal label "Delmondo, shoes" into her shoulder. Laura passed by her with a quick greeting. She didn't really suspect her, but Laura did admit herself to having a fight with Charlotte shortly before her murder and she did have that emotional break-down during the memorial on Sunday. Charlotte wanted Laura to concentrate on research and Laura wanted to work on starting a family. Was that sufficient motivation to kill someone?

Entering the main office, Pamela bumped into Phineas Ottenback getting his mail.

"Dr. Barnes," he mumbled, softly. "So sorry, didn't see you." He pulled a ballpoint pen out of his shirt pocket and began repeatedly pushing the clicker, she noticed, almost like a tic, all the while smiling constantly. As usual, strands of greasy hair dangled over his forehead.

A pen clicking, she thought. Now, that would work. A pen could click even if it were in his pocket if something (like a body) were pushed against it. She quickly pressed her hidden record button. Was this the clicking sound? She'd never paid much attention to Phineas, but he did seem to be full of nervous mannerisms. Maybe he killed Charlotte and then quickly picked up his pen and started punching it because he was so upset. Or possibly, the pen was in his shirt pocket and clicked when he pressed Charlotte to his chest while strangling her. Hmm.

"Good morning, Phin," she greeted him and grabbed her own mail from her box, at the same time ending the recording of his clicking pen. Her greeting would serve as her label, she decided. She had no reason to suspect Phineas of Charlotte's murder, but he was the only faculty member she had actually seen in the building on the night of the murder. Also, he was up for tenure and from his conversation with Pamela that night, he appeared to be concerned about tenure. If he believed that Charlotte would not support his candidacy, maybe he killed her to further his career.

Peeking around the corner into Jane Marie's office, she saw that the secretary was busily typing away, but she stopped momentarily to wave a greeting to Pamela then returned to her super fast typing. Click-clack. Her fingers sped over the keys. Now there's a clicking noise, thought Pamela. Oh, what's the matter with me? She stopped abruptly. Oh, sure. Jane Marie strangled Charlotte to death and then blithely started typing away on the computer keyboard. Or if she pressed Charlotte forward as she was strangling her, Charlotte's body could have pushed on the computer keyboard and pressed several keys, causing the double-click noise. Surely, that was crazy. She was losing it. Even so, just to be thorough, she made a brief recording of her secretary typing, along with a quick vocal label. She'd better get to her office and start on something constructive before she was declared a basket case. As far as she knew, Jane Marie had no motive to hurt Charlotte. She was terribly protective of Mitchell and might do something drastic to protect her boss-but murder?