Could they have been the footsteps of the killer?
From the back:
DEATH WALKS IN MARBLE HALLS as mysterious people hurry through the aisles bent on escape. A blonde rushes out shortly before a wounded man falls from a balcony, and she is murdered soon after; a scrap of paper is found bearing writing that resembles Sanskrit; a member of the staff finds the clue that results in the capture of the killer after a cat-and-mouse chase through the library.