MURDER MOST COLD an absolutely gripping cozy mystery with twists and turns by VICTORIA DOWD

Author:VICTORIA DOWD [DOWD, VICTORIA]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: JOFFE BOOKS crime thrillers and mysteries
Published: 2023-11-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty: The Water Spirit

When we arrived at the cabins, the Northern Lights were illuminating the lake in a great sea of livid green. Matthias had said the snow would soon start to cover the surface as they headed deeper into winter, so now was a perfect moment, with the ice a clear mirror of the luminescence above. He pulled the dogs into an uneasy stop, their breath frantic, panting and clouding the air.

Matthias, still dragging on the reins, called stern but calming noises to them. We’d drawn in next to the frozen jetty that led out onto the lake. None of us had ventured this far from the cabins before.

‘We don’t stop too near the cabins. I don’t take them in too close. The dogs will smell the food, or whatever else is in there.’ He didn’t elaborate on that last comment but it was enough on its own to pass a shiver over my skin. Was this where Spear was hiding? Or had someone else taken up refuge here? One thing was certain, no one could stay out in this cold too long without some form of shelter, and our cabins had been left empty all day. Anyone could have been using them.

Neither me nor Angela wanted to ask any more.

‘OK?’ she said quietly to me.

I nodded. ‘I’m scared though, Angela. But I don’t know what of.’

She gripped my arm tight and stared at me. ‘I know,’ she breathed. ‘I am too.’ She looked so fragile that I wondered if I’d done the right thing agreeing to her coming out here with me now. There was a spent frailty to her. Her face so sallow, the skin paper thin, a weary grey round her eyes that were sunk deep and bloodshot with tears.

I looked back for the others. Surely they wouldn’t be far behind.

The climb out was unstable with the dogs jumping at one another and shifting the sledge. I helped Angela out while Matthias tended the over-excited animals, trying to calm them.

‘Let’s find the phone and get some help out here to this place.’ Matthias started to walk towards the cabin, then paused and looked at Angela who was wandering closer to the jetty, staring out across the lake. ‘Don’t go near the water. Nakki could be there.’

‘Nakki?’ I repeated.

‘You really know nothing about my land. Nothing. They are water spirits that lurk beneath the surface, waiting for more victims. They will lure you in and grab you. Now, I’m going to telephone for help. Stay there.’ He seamlessly shifted between talking about the real world and that of some surreal spirit land as if they were one and the same, living beside one another out here in the snow and ice. He made it seem almost believable.

I looked towards Angela. She’d paused at the end of the small jetty, looking out over the surface of the lake. I knew who occupied her thoughts and it wasn’t water spirits or devils. I walked slowly down towards her.

The lake was exactly as Matthias had said, a perfect glass for the spectral display.

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