The Circle of Sappho Read Online Free PDF Page A

minutes later, Swann, Miss Jennings and Lady Harriet were in the middle of the lake, being rowed towards the island by Thomas, the school gardener. Miss Jennings informed Swann that it had been Tom, as everyone called him, who had found the bodies on the island. The wooden boat was just about large enough to carry the four of them but it felt as if the boat might capsize; the motion of the oars moving the craft almost as much from side to side as it did forward. However, they reached the island’s small jetty on the far side of the islet, dry and upright.
    Tom stepped off the boat and then tied it to a small wooden pillar. Swann followed him onto the jetty and the two men helped the women ashore. Tom requested to stay with the boat, to which Miss Jennings agreed. Swann and the two women made their way to the spot where the bodies had been discovered. It was at the end of one of the many paths and trails that crisscrossed the relatively large island, which was otherwise covered in trees, now starting to bud in the spring air.
    They reached the end of the trail and in front of them stood a stone structure. It was about twenty feet high and the same wide, with a pair of Doric columns adorning the entrance.
    ‘I believe it is a temple dedicated to the goddess Aphrodite,’ said Miss Jennings.
    ‘It cannot be seen from the house,’ observed Swann.
    ‘That is correct. For whatever reason the builder designed it that way. The island is completely isolated and can only be reached by the boat on which we just arrived. One could swim across but the edges of the island are too steep to climb out onto and there are many sharp rocks, deliberately placed, just under the surface of the water. The builder certainly took steps to ensure that the island was difficult to access.’
    ‘I do not understand,’ said Swann. ‘If Miss Leigh had already brought the boat across to the island, how did Tom gain access to it?’
    ‘He swam across, pulled himself up onto the boat and then stepped onto the jetty and island that way.’
    Swann nodded as they went inside the temple. It took a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the change of light but once he became accustomed to it he could see that the interior went back about twice the length of its height and width.
    ‘Do any of the other teachers or girls come over here?’
    ‘No, Mr Swann, the island is out of bounds to everyone in the school.’
    ‘Why do you think Miss Leigh went against your orders and came across?’
    ‘I assume she wished privacy to carry out her abominable crime, although I still cannot understand why she wanted to kill Grace. On the occasions we discussed the girl’s progress, Miss Leigh spoke of her with great regard.’
    ‘Do you know any reason why anyone else would want them dead?’
    ‘No one else was involved; of that I am certain.’
    ‘Miss Jennings,’ said Swann, ‘if it was that simple, I am sure my services would not have been engaged to investigate. I would suggest that either you or Lady Harriet believe it to be something else or otherwise …’
    ‘Swann, if I may,’ interrupted Lady Harriet. ‘I asked you here today for your expert judgement in asserting it was as described by Catherine. I am sorry if I misled you to think it was anything else.’
    Swann immediately realised Lady Harriet was lying but for the moment remained silent on the matter. Instead he glanced around the temple’s interior and said: ‘If I may, I would like a few minutes to look around on my own.’
    Lady Harriet nodded.
    ‘Catherine and I will be at the jetty, once you have finished.’
    ‘Thank you, Lady Harriet,’ replied Swann.
    As soon as Lady Harriet and Miss Jennings left the temple, Swann positioned himself in the middle of the room and closed his eyes. He began to imagine the sequence of tragic events, as he had been told them, which had unfolded within it. He could see the two female figures, perhaps sitting or kneeling upon the woven mat that had been