Death at the Hunting Lodge by Laura Stewart

Author:Laura Stewart [Stewart, Laura]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodhound Books

TWENTY-TWO

‘Were they naked?’

Amelia nearly choked on her coffee. ‘What?’

Gideon leant forward and repeated his question. ‘Were they naked? You tell me that Moira and McGregor, and probably Davey, Ray and Hector, were dancing around the fire at midnight and I’m imagining naked pagan goings on! I’m not being weird!’ He looked to Toby for backup.

‘They were fully clothed. Seeing them dancing around like that was weird enough,’ Jack said, clearly quite discomfited at Gideon’s suggestion.

The four of them were in the Stone Manor kitchen while Amelia regaled Gideon and her brother with what she and Jack had gleaned from Archie the night before and then seen going on in the woods.

Having left Ben to take over the Stone Manor breakfasts, Toby plonked down a plate with a selection of pastries between them.

‘It was quite funny,’ Jack conceded, selecting a pain au chocolate.

‘Made me see DI McGregor in a whole new light. He seems almost human!’ Amelia added.

Gideon gave a shudder. ‘Seeing them cavorting naked would have probably sent me over the edge.’ He dipped the corner of a croissant in his espresso and ate it, chewing thoughtfully before saying, ‘But what if it isn’t a bunch of middle-aged folk reliving their youth? What if all this is more sinister? With all this talk about Satanism, what if we’ve found ourselves in a real-life Wicker Man situation?’

‘Oh God,’ Toby said quietly with a groan and lowered his head onto his folded arms on the table. ‘We haven’t.’

‘But there was a policeman in that film, wasn’t there?’ Gideon continued.

‘Yes. Although the policeman character that Edward Woodward played in the original film ended up being the sacrifice,’ Jack pointed out.

‘And last night it looked like McGregor was more the sacrificee!’ Gideon said excitedly.

‘Whoa!’ Toby looked up. ‘No one here has been sacrificed inside a large burning effigy!’

‘That we know of!’ Gideon said shrilly. ‘What if Gus was the original victim? And maybe it was discovered that he didn’t fit the criteria of sacrifice. Didn’t they have to come willingly? Be a virgin? Obviously something didn’t meet the conditions!’

Gideon dunked more of his croissant into his espresso, so fiercely the dark coffee spurted out onto the table.

‘And here’s us trusting DI McGregor, when really, he’s going to turn and murder us all!’ Gideon narrowed his eyes. ‘And if we carry on along the Wicker Man line of thinking, is the whole of Glencarlach involved?’

‘I’m finding it difficult enough to process pagan fire rituals and Wiccan magic in the Hunting Lodge without adding a horde of murderous occult villagers into the mix,’ Jack said gloomily. ‘And didn’t the locals get upset with that Samuel Bain person because he was dabbling in the occult?’

‘Maybe he started a trend. His own little group of acolytes.’ Gideon brandished his half-eaten croissant at Jack. ‘Maybe it’s to do with him cursing everyone and promising to come back. Maybe every year he returns and drags another into his hell army?’

‘Maybe we all need to take a little step back from flinging these fanciful theories about?’ Toby suggested.

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