A Mystery On Tyneside

Chapter Four

Chapter FourWhile she was waiting for Alan to return, Agnes looked towards the door and retraced her steps from when she first entered the restaurant. She hoped she might recall seeing something unusual. But everything had looked normal. Turning back to face the corridor which led to the restrooms, she looked up at the small, brilliantly lit glass notice above the archway. The words Ladies and Gents were written in bold lettering, but there was no mention of an emergency exit.

Until now, she had always believed that an emergency exit would be down that corridor. Maybe the murdered man had assumed much the same thing. Agnes began to move towards the corridor to take a look for herself. However, she hadn't got very far before one of the uniformed officers held up his hand to stop her from going any further.

“Sorry,” she said, taking a step back. “But can you just tell me whether there are any other doors leading off from that corridor, other than the two leading to the ladies' and gents' rooms?”

The officer stared at her for a long moment, before taking a couple of steps backwards into the corridor. He glanced up and down, hardly taking his eyes off her for more than a second, before shuffling back into position.

“No, there are no other doors,” he said. “Only the two you mentioned.”

“Thank you,” Agnes replied.

“Is it important?”

“It might be,” she replied.

She turned away and looked around the restaurant. There had to be another exit somewhere in the restaurant; if for no other reason than as a means of escape should there ever be a fire. All buildings had to have a fire escape these days. Health and Safety had seen to that.

It was then that her eyes were drawn towards another, much narrower archway behind the counter. It was partly hidden due to the large desk, which held the restaurant's computer, only a few feet in front of it. As there was nearly always someone using the computer at the desk, or diners paying for their meals, it meant that the corridor was blocked from sight most of the time. However, above the arch was a small sign showing the figure of a running man. Two words were printed underneath, Emergency Exit, again in bold lettering, but the lettering was smaller.

This was the first time Agnes had noticed that particular corridor. But then, why would she? It was so narrow, it could almost have been a tunnel dug out as an afterthought. Thankfully, both she and Alan had never needed to look for another way out of the building. But, getting back to the victim, if he had rushed into the restaurant to escape from someone and had ordered a meal before finding another exit, it was little wonder he had taken the wrong corridor. Maybe, finding himself with nowhere to go, he assumed hiding in the ladies' room would put his assailant off the scent? If so, his ploy hadn't worked.

But the solution to the problem regarding the emergency exit only left Agnes with another puzzle to solve.

As the killer clearly hadn't followed the victim into the restaurant, how could they possibly have known where to find him? Perhaps they were watching through the restaurant window as the victim headed off down the corridor and the assailant was already aware there was no exit down there?

But, even so, how on earth could they have known that their victim, a male, had entered the ladies' room?