Page 88 of Murder on the Upper East Side

From this vantage, it was hard to get a good look at the sidewalk directly below. Hannah’s view was blocked by a small balcony, and her thoughts ricocheted to her encounter with Theo earlier in the night.

‘How the hell do we get out there?’ Detective Crews muttered.

‘Here,’ Hannah said, fingers scrabbling for the brass door pull identical to the one Theo had used to access the hidden door in the other room. It swung open with ease, and she unlatched the sliding glass door beyond. Without a word, the detectives pressed past her, and soon all three were squeezed onto the narrow balcony, peering one storey down to the street.

Hannah gasped. In the bright morning sun, the shape of a body on the sidewalk below was unmistakable.

33Saturday, 13 June 2026

7:23am

For a beat, the three took in the scene outside in stunned silence. The front door to the Lenox Club had been flung open, and the uniformed officer stationed there had joined his colleagues on the sidewalk. Two were scrambling to move the sawhorses that had been previously positioned in front of the door to form a partial barricade around the body. Another had her phone pressed to her ear. The fourth hovered over the body, partially obscuring Hannah’s view. She could see only that the body was motionless, one arm bent at a sickening angle. Blood had begun to pool from beneath the head.

With the front door now unguarded from the inside, guests had begun to stream out. Their horrified shrieks and gasps carried to the balcony, and Hannah’s hand flew to her mouth. It was taking the four officers’ full efforts, combined with the club’s butler, to keep everyone back.

‘Who is that?’ Detective Wellesley asked.

Hannah’s gaze returned to the body. Finally, the uniformed officer who had been blocking her view stepped aside. The man lying motionless on the sidewalk wore a deep brown tux and sported a full, boxed beard. It could only be…

‘That’s Paul Harris,’ Hannah breathed. ‘Our senior seminar teacher.’

‘Fucking hell.’ Detective Crews smacked his hand against the balcony rail. ‘How’d he get up to the roof?’

‘Door’s right across the hall,’ Hannah supplied.

‘Not possible,’ Detective Wellesley said. ‘Officer O’Doyle is under strict orders to only permit witnesses escorted by Edward Beaumont access to the club’s second floor.’

Hannah shook her head. ‘There’s a hidden stairwell, runs from the hall behind reception up to the second floor. It’s meant for staff, but Mr Harris must have found out about it. From the second-floor hall, he must have taken the stairs to the roof deck.’

‘Fuck,’ Detective Crews said again. He rushed back inside and snatched Oliver’s phone from the edge of the desk. Then Detective Wellesley followed, and both detectives headed for the door. Below, the officers had gained control, and the crowd was being corralled back inside the club’s front door.

Hannah’s plush Lenox Club slippers felt rooted to the balcony floor. The ache in her temples was now a full-blown throb.Mr Harris was dead.Had he jumped? Been pushed off the roof? She flashed backto their conversation in the dining room. He’d been looking around nervously, his eyes darting time and again to the stairwell. Had he been looking for someone – or trying to avoid them?

‘You can’t stay here.’ Detective Crews’ voice was sharp. Hannah turned. Both detectives stood in the hallway, eyes fixed on her.

‘Sorry,’ she mumbled, forcing her feet to march back inside the Caraway Room. She closed the sliding glass door, then headed towards the hall. Her stomach cramped in protest.

Downstairs, Detective Crews made a beeline for the front door, and Detective Wellesley began combing her way through the crowd. For Oliver? Ignoring the pulsing in her temples and the sick feeling in her stomach, Hannah jostled her way through the lounge. The curtains on the front windows had been ripped aside, and half the guests were pressed to the panes, peering out. She joined them.

One of the officers was bent over the body, checking for a pulse, but Mr Harris was unmistakably deceased. A fall from the roof, two storeys up, onto hard concrete… Hannah was no medical expert, but if he’d landed the wrong way, which it looked like he had, he’d most likely died on impact.

‘What the fuck happened?’ Theo was behind her then, visibly shaken.

She stepped away to join him, relinquishing her spot at the window to another curious guest.

‘I have no idea. Do you think he was pushed?’

‘I suppose. Honestly, Harris hasn’t been looking his best lately, but offing yourself in the centre of a murder investigation is an odd choice.’

Mr Harrishadseemed run down and on edge tonight, but Theo had a point. Had he really been suicidal? And if so, why the Lenox Club of all places? Hannah glanced around. There was Ami, huddled together with Alex and Tyler. Elle, Beatrice, Bash and Edward stood to the left of the front door, speaking in hushed voices.

‘So who pushed him?’ she asked. ‘The same person who murdered Madison?’

‘I guess so. But… why would the same person who had it in for Madison also have it in for Mr Harris? It seems so…’

‘Random?’

‘Yeah.’ Theo scrubbed a hand across his eyes.