The Lost Treasure Map Series (6 page)

He silently studied Robert.

Robert and James then studied them, as a
group.

Just as they finished, Inspector Bailey
stepped back.

“
I
’m
Inspector Bailey. I
’m
investigating her
murder!
”

“
Here!”
James asked, startled.

“
Yes. Here!
”

“
Can you prove that
you
’re
Inspector Bailey?
”
Robert asked.

Inspector Bailey produced his
identification, which he grasped, with curiosity.

He adjusted his eyes twice to the light,
before he examined it, and handed it back.

“
You said that the others would be
back down soon?
”

“
Yes
...”
Inspector Bailey replied, and suddenly stopped,
forcing himself to leave something until later.

Chapter 15

Law and Order

Inspector Bailey resumed his pacing, leaving
a faint trail over the carpet. His expressions occasionally gave
away how deeply troubled he was, and that, most of the time, he was
not mentally in the room.

Bryson wondered how easily they normally
solved such crimes. He was sure that Inspector Bailey was keeping
hidden facts that they should know, which were troubling him, and
which he probably did not intend to tell to any members of the
public, unless forced to.

The others were mainly in the lounge,
chiefly watching Inspector Bailey. They were waiting for something
to occur, or him to come to some conclusion
–
perhaps waiting for him to
lose his temper, and to argue with them. Then he might give them
some information, to enlighten them.

Bryson gave occasional shudders, from the
exertion he had experienced in the woods. His lungs felt as if they
had sandpaper grated over them. The cold air that he had
frantically pumped in and out him had to have given him some kind
of illness.

Robert and James sat at his sides, silenced
by the whole event, glimpsing the window, as if something were
going to come crashing through.

“
How did the three of you manage to
lose yourselves ...?
”
the tall policeman inquired viciously
–
upset at
Inspector Bailey not doing as he wished
–
examining again, trying to discover
why they were so exhausted.

“
The darkness and snow made us lose
our way,
”
Robert explained, while keeping silent about what he thought
had chased them.

The police obviously would not accept the
full account, and Robert and James clearly did not wish to be
involved in any way with the horrendous crime that had taken place
in their absence.

Inspector Bailey turned his back to
them
–
a
yellow radiance flickered over the wall from him
–
and gray wisps of smoke
rose from behind his shoulders. He swiftly gasped and blew out a
cloud of smoke, from a cigarette.

He gradually turned, coughing into his
handkerchief.

“
I don
’t
understand,
”
Helen argued,
“
why someone would
want to kill one of the servants?
”

“
Did anyone see anyone having an
argument with her?
”
Inspector Bailey spoke, to
Bryson
’s
amusement.

Nobody moved in the room, and Inspector
Bailey continued to pace along in front of the fireplace.

“
Where did she die?
”

“
Oh, the usually!
”
he muttered
nervously.
“
The killer buried her body under the rubbish
in one of the large metal bins, along from the kitchen
door.
”

“
Who found her?
”
Bryson asked.

“
She managed to stay alive until all
of you left!

“
They realized that she was missing,
and searched where they had last seen her. They found strange marks
on the floor, and followed them to her body.
”

If it had been one of them, and not one of
the other servants, who had done it, how could the person have done
it? They had been in groups! If anyone had been missing, it would
have been obvious.

Had this infernal place a killer? Yet who
would want to kill an innocent, harmless, old servant?

Nothing about it made sense
–
but neither did
anything else!
–
it was completely obvious that they would at least replace
her (which was all he could make out).

From the looks that that he caught, he knew
that the incident had affected the policemen. Some of them were now
argumentative. And he was sure that they had not found any
clues.

The killer had to be ruthless ... And
carefree, to have done it in the way that it had been done. The
person had done it under their noses.

One of the policemen, wearing a uniform, who
had been at the murder scene at the bins, strolled into the room,
and silently conferred with Inspector Bailey. He spoke just out of
range of their hearing his whispers. And Inspector Bailey never
replied, or showed signs of what he said. Then they left the
room.

Bryson touched his sore forehead with his
fingers, feeling the coldness.

He saw that it had still stopped snowing,
and there was a good chance, according to the forecast, that the
weather would stay that way until the following day. Therefore,
there was a chance that if there had been anything physically in
the woods, chasing them, that the prints would be there.

He was beginning to believe that the place
might have turned Sir Richard insane.

He wondered if the killer had an interest in
the hidden money.

A vehicle screeched to a halt, outside the
window, attracting the attention of the policemen in the other
room, making one of them rush by, going to the door, with his
walkie-talkie blaring out.

The policeman had a hard time opening
the door, and Bryson listened to the woman
’s
voice on his walkie-talkie. She
had clearly been communicating with the police in the vehicle
outside.

Bryson then spotted the stunned looks of
some of the women in the room.

Inspector Bailey remained normal, giving no
reactions.

Nobody debated leaving the room, but
Inspector Bailey insisted that they should see the body first.

When they entered the kitchen, Bryson turned
his head to look in the direction of the open kitchen door, where
the wind blew in short rhythmical gusts.

Through a window he saw the dark shapes of
police cars, hidden in the dark, about the castle.

The brightness beamed from bright lights off
a window, as they entered a room, and he recognized that it was the
storeroom, at the back of the kitchen.

Then Bryson
’s
eyes followed
Robert
’s
startled glare down to an area of the floor, where there was
a body, covered over with a white blank.

“
How did the killer manage to do
it?
”
Sarah
inquired.
“
Surely someone would have seen or heard
something!
”

Inspector Bailey placed his hands together
behind his back and turned away, and strolled up to the window.

“
She was on her own. And she then
entered the kitchen
–
then here
–
to fetch something to eat
...
”

Bryson looked away, towards the hidden
tunnel.

“
Could the killer have used that
tunnel to surprise him?
”
he muttered, slightly astonished.

Inspector Bailey walked towards it,
examining it, and shoved it shut, feeling the weight of it.

Bryson examined it in more detail,
astonished by it.

Someone had gone to a great deal of trouble
to make it with the castle stones. The large cracks between all the
bricks hid it. It looked as though the builders had just badly
built the wall.

“
It
’s
peculiar!
”
Bryson went on, interrupting their
examination.
“
That this secret passage is at the exact
location of the murder.
”

The outer door opened, and a forensic
investigator, wearing a white garment over a suit, appeared, and
Inspector Bailey rushed over to him.

“
So you
’ve
not found any fingerprints or
DNA!
”

The man
’s
face showed only signs of
disappointment.

“
We
’ve
not found anything,
”
he muttered, as he shook
his head.

Inspector Bailey
’s
face was cold and empty,
showing little of what he was thinking.

A pale blue radiance appeared and flashed
over the wall, at the window, from one of the police cars.

Voices of policemen discussed what they were
investigating.

Inspector Bailey stopped in front of
Robert.

He anxiously attempted to grab his
attention.

“
I want to stay here, with two of my
men, and I want them to question all of you further. Some of you! I
want more details on who accompanied whom. And I want who killed
your servant!
”

“
Poor Molly!
”
Robert whispered.

“
If anyone has any information,
whatsoever, disclose it now, before it happens
again!
”

The door swung as a forensic investigator,
wearing a white garment over a suit, marched past, and Inspector
Bailey rushed out to join him.

Bryson wondered what would happen now. And
why he insisted that it could happen again. Would the killer
attempt to take the money or wait to see if they found it?

Chapter 16

Strange
Encounters

Robert then led Inspector Bailey, two
policemen, and them out of the room.

They crept up the dim and gloomy stairs,
trying not to create any disturbance.

At the second floor, a few lights at the
stairs was all that lit the corridor, and Bryson saw a light still
on at their rooms, at the end of the dim corridor.

Bryson approached the rooms with noises, in
the middle, with urgency, deeply overcome by the hideous place.

He swiftly went past the first room,
wondering what Inspector Bailey would think of it.

But he seemed to do nothing else but
continually thinking of everyone and their movements.

He recalled his arrival there, a few
days ago. The interior of room had been stunning, as he had
wandered through, into its realms. Everything had been identical!
It had actually been identical to the way that he had left
it
–
as if
it had stayed there
–
frozen in time
–
waiting for his return
...

A painting with some sort of animal (which
he still could not identify) wearily hung above the bed.

Its strangeness awe-inspiring, and its
similarities to modern paintings bewildering.

Inspector Bailey observed them, staying
silent, as they past, almost from a scientific perspective.

At the rooms at the end of the corridor,
Bryson entered his room, as Robert gave Inspector Bailey and the
policemen the rooms next to it. He then came in his room.

“
The strange thing is that nobody
seems guilty of committing such a crime,
”
Robert muttered.
“
And I cannot imagine anyone
here doing anything to ...
”

“
Inspector Bailey must be wrong
then!
”

“
Something else may have
occurred.
”

“
Sir Richard
’s
death might have triggered
something. Perhaps it affected Molly enough to make her do
something stupid, causing someone to commit the crime. History is
full of occurrences strangely happening
simultaneously.
”

“
Maybe Inspector Bailey knows
something else ...!
”
he wearily moaned, and rested on an old
seat.

Bryson unpacked things from his case and
neatly placed them about the room. And he finished the task by
placing a clock at a table beside the bed.

He rested on the bed, observing the room,
from different perspectives, giving an occasional nervous listen
for anything, and he recalled the events that had taken place there
many years ago.

Robert stood, yawned, and marched out of the
door.

“
We’ll
see ...” he muttered, in the direction of
Inspector
Bailey
’s room, and
closed the door behind him.

At the back of the table, Bryson spotted a
jar of water and two glasses, and he poured the water into one of
the glasses and drank it.