A Magnificent Murder

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A Magnificent Murder    

Anna should have known from the start that Frank was not to be trusted. She had been taken in initially, by his diffident manner. It was only much later that she had found out that he had had ulterior motives in applying for the job, that of assistant in the Gallery library and that he had lied about his qualifications.

He was a mature student from Library School and he was looking for an environment that would offer him support in both his fields of interests, art and librarianship. He intended to apply to the Library School for acceptance as a Master student and this position in the Gallery library would be a stepping stone towards fulfilment of his ambitions.

Frank, in his late thirties, attracted attention in the dashing way he dressed. Casual attire suited him, blue jeans and pastel coloured shirts. A lock of blonde hair frequently falling  over his left eyebrow.

Anna in her early forties was still an attractive woman with silky light brown hair and clear blue eyes. Having lost her husband soon after their marriage in a tragic car accident she was very susceptible to the early advances of this somewhat predatory younger man. She had been alone for years and it had been extremely difficult to come to terms with the tragedy of her marriage.

In her present occupation as chief librarian Anna had tried her hand at writing articles about her work and these were published in various art journals and received quite a number of good reviews. However her main target was the highly acclaimed Library Journal. If she were to have an article published in that, she would gain the respect of her peers and she would win a scholarship  that would enable her to apply for a Masters degree in Special Librarianship thereby consolidating her position in the gallery.

 In the beginning Anna and Frank had gone out together after work, for a drink at the Pig and Whistle or for an early supper at the Foresters Arms. They had compared notes on the way in which both had taken to librarianship as a career. They had established a friendly kind of camaraderie, that now looking back seemed impossible in the circumstances. Anna discussed with Frank how much she too would like to achieve her ambition of becoming a Master student in Special Librarianship. They therefore had similar aspirations.

At the Forester’s  Arms they would sit at what they soon came to think of as their table, a corner table, in an alcove facing the garden at the back of the building.

 Here in the dusk they could watch the birds flying amongst the trees and drinking sugar water from a bottle put there by the proprietor. They would order drinks first, a Lager for Frank and a martini dry for Anna. They found they had similar tastes in food. When the waitress appeared they both ordered deep fried calamari, chips and vegetables.

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  Anna regarded this dish as rather unhealthy . The inclusion of fried chips made it especially so but always having had to watch her budget when cooking at home, this was a favourite choice whenever she had the opportunity to go to a restaurant.

Frank told Anna that he had not been successful as an artist he had tried oil painting, graphic art and bronze sculpture, being unsuccessful with all three.  He had gravitated towards the working of a library with its precise application of the Dewey system and the aspect of Readership which would accommodate his interest in books.

Anna told Frank that she had worked for a whole year on an article which she hoped to have published in the Library Journal. The standard for this journal was very high and she had struggled  first of all to come up with an idea for research that would have the right kind of appeal for the judges.

There had not been many articles published on Art Libraries in South Africa and she thought of doing research on the automation of art library catalogues and the different systems used in South African Museum libraries and other countries. She had saved enough money for planned visits to Denmark and The Netherlands. In the Netherlands she had set up interviews with Library Heads at the Rijksmuseum Library and the Stedelijk Museum and in Copenhagen at the  Statens Museum for Kunst and the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.

 She had been met with warmth by all the librarians concerned and had established what would be lifelong connections with people who were at the same level of expertise as she.

It was not just the writing that had been difficult . Once back in South Africa Anna had painstakingly designed a questionnaire to be sent out to as many Art Gallery Libraries as she could identify. The final number amounted to 30 libraries in various parts of the country. The printing of the questionnaires was done at her own expense. This entailed a vast amount of work and many evenings she was up until the early hours of the morning.  All in all it had been a struggle but she was eventually pleased with the result

Frank asked if she would like him to read the article and review it and she said that would be very kind of him. They shared sandwiches during the lunch break and after lunch Frank gave back her manuscript saying it was well written. Anna then sent it in a parcel by courier to its destination, not wanting to take any chances by sending it through the Post Office.

In the four weeks before Anna could expect a reply from the committee for the Library Journal , something occurred that made Anna  suspicious of Frank’s true character.

One afternoon, late, when the last of the Ph.D students had left for the day, Anna was putting the manuscripts away in the Reading Room.  As she was busy with this, Frank came up behind her and encircling her with his arms put his hands over her breasts and squeezed her nipples. She had gasped and her insides had lurched with undisguised desire. He had then turned her around and pushing her back over the reading table pulled down her briefs and taken her without a murmur of protest from her. They had made love there in the Reading room in the dim light of the afternoon sun filtering through the barred windows in the West wall.

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 She had encouraged him, she knew that, and she knew too that her mixed emotions were both of anger and enjoyment . Anger that Frank, knowing her background, took it for granted that she was easy prey, enjoyment born of a longing for an end to the years of loneliness.

A few days after the incident in the Reading room Frank had started to bring young college girls to study at the same table where he had swoopingly made love to her. He had flaunted their presence in front of her, to her, Anna and she had slowly realised that this was his way of showing her that what had happened meant nothing to him.

 As time passed Frank’s behaviour changed from one of diffidence to one of arrogance. Anna began to have doubts about him, asking herself whether he was as kind as she had first thought. Frank’s attitude towards her was demeaning and he began to put her down in front of other staff members. Could he in fact be after her position at the Gallery? Was he laying down the background for her downfall?

As Anna was walking past Frank’s desk one morning Anna glanced at a folder addressed to the University with a title that seemed familiar to her; Automation in Museum libraries. Picking it up she started to read the document and realized with mounting horror that Frank’s Master’s proposal was a word for word copy of the article she had written and which he had reviewed for her. Not a word had been altered and even the methodology was the same.

Anna looked up as Frank came through the library door. “How could you do this?” she asked. Frank smiled broadly and said “You should know that academics steal from each other, happens all the time. It is a fact of life and we are both aware that you are old enough to know the facts of life”  Anna’s cheeks burned with the memory of his rejection of her and she felt the humiliation of the past few weeks, rushing back to her.

His behaviour after the Reading room encounter was unforgivable but the way in which he had blatantly stolen from her knowing,  as he did, the amount of work she had put into the article, beggared belief . The theft of her work completely took the biscuit as far as she was concerned

Walking up to Frank Anna looked him straight in the eye and said “You will live to regret this, believe me”

The psychological and emotional injuries of the past weeks led Anna to call the College where Frank had said he had written examinations for entrance to University.

 The authorities at the college told her that no one by the name of Frank Venter had written any examinations at the College. There was no trace whatsoever of a Frank Venter. That meant that to get into University he had forged the necessary papers for admittance.

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The consequences of Frank’s duplicity would mean that she could be accused of plagiarism when both documents came out and were read by members of the art and library worlds. There was no proof which had been written first Frank’s proposal or her article. The library community was small

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like the art community.  All the significant players knew each other and discussed developments in their disciplines

After having been at first accepted Anna’s article was rejected before it went for publication. To Anna this indicated that the top people in the Library circles had noted that her article and a proposal submitted by one of their students were identical. It meant that she would not now get the respect to which she had looked forward; it meant that if the Gallery director were to find out she could lose her job; it meant that in the long term any writing she did would be regarded with suspicion.

It so happened that a new sculpture exhibition was due to open at the Gallery. The artist responsible, specialised in making metal art using an angle grinder. The sculptures were unlike anything that had been seen at the Gallery before and some of them were interactive. The art world had moved on from the realistic vision of the artists of the Middle Ages such as Giotto to the more abstract, fractured images of the early 20^th century.

The opening date for the exhibition with the title “Art from the Angle Grinder” was set for the following week. Many of the art works would be hung on the gallery walls but the main attraction was a three dimensional sculpture that was to be placed in the centre of Room 5. The artist himself was to arrive in a day or two to assist the curator in arranging the sculptures.

The central sculpture for Room 5 was a monstrous object representing a guillotine. The blade was suspended over a hollow drum-like opening in the floor of the gallery, the floor boards having been lifted to accommodate the work of art.

Anna had been to inspect the work which was simply called “The Revolving Revolution”. The blade was made to revolve as it fell at great speed to the waiting bowl at floor level. She had always taken an interest in all the gallery exhibitions because of her involvement with the Exhibition catalogues that accompanied them. She was sometimes required to edit parts of the publications and was responsible for allocating the International Standard Book Numbers.

“Hmm” thought Anna. She had at first only thought of frightening Frank out of his wits but now as she inspected the sculpture in Room 5 another thought entered her head.

The next day when Frank arrived at work Anna said.” Good morning Frank” Have you seen the new sculpture in Room 5?” “No” said Frank, “ is it worth seeing?”

“Oh yes indeed” said Anna. : It is a most exciting work. In order to activate the mechanism you simply stand on the raised lever next to the arrow on the floor. “ But” said Anna” no one but no one is allowed into Room 5 until everything has been set up; for safety sake.”  Anna knew that Frank’s innate curiosity would make him oblivious to instructions from higher up. Right enough after a few moments of contemplation he hurried down to room 5.  Walking over to the Sculpture he stepped on the arrow. The blade instead of crashing to the floor as he expected, it swung round hitting Frank squarely on the head .

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 He was not missed until tea time when a janitor went in to Room 5 to look for the resident artist and there he saw the body stretched out in front of him. Raising the alarm the word soon got round the entire gallery.

Anna who was busily cataloguing some new books heard the news and smiled secretly to herself. No one could lay any accusations at her door for the tragedy.