Susan Applade could still feel the finger marks on her neck. It was the only part of her that was hot, as she sat on the ramp of an ambulance, with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders. Jim came over. "This trip was doomed from the beginning."
"Your girl friend would tell you this is the prime reason not to continue with this job." She wheezed.
"Yes well, I won't tell her."
"What happened, Jim?"
"You know what happened. Your brother tried to murder you!"
"But why? And why did he stop?"
"I wacked him. Quite hard, with an archaeological mallet. And when he simply fell back, I threw those egg cups you were given by Albin. They poisoned him, as there were still bits of egg in it. He suffered a severe shock and is now in hospital. What I don't guess is why he did it?"
"I have a feeling it's to do with the umbrella."
"The umbrella? What's so special about it?"
"It had Wicca symbols on."
"So?"
"My brother worshipped it."
"Did he?"
"I don't think he was worshipping it to a point of insanity. I just remembered him being thrown out by my parents once because he was worshipping a different religion. And he said, at hospital when he was being treated for the motorbike accident, he was on the way to some worship ceremony to do with the summer solstice."
"So you reckon there is an evil Wicca curse on the umbrella?"
"No. But think about the murders. Albin was found dripping wet! You use an umbrella to protect you from the rain. Runcorn was found sun burnt. You use an umbrella to protect yourself from the sun! It makes sense."
"But he tried to strangle you! What's that got to do with umbrellas?"
"I was using my umbrella as a walking stick. It's one of the many things you can use it for!"
"Very clever! But why has it been cursed?"
"I don't think it has. Don't know why. Just a feeling."
"What Wicca symbol was it?"
"The symbol of the goddess of the three moons."
"So you're thinking the renewal of life and death is the curse."
"I don't know."
Jim paused for a second and thought. Then he kicked the ground and screamed. "I've got it!"
"What?"
"Why it was cursed!"
"Tell me more."
"The Goddess of the three moons is a special symbol that represents-"
"Life and death. We've already done this part."
"I was going to say the new moons."
"So?"
"So, your brother was going to a summer solstice ceremony when he was involved in the bike crash. The umbrella was sold by the African bloke here, at Stone Henge- the sight of many hundreds of special ceremony's, for the summer solstice! The returning of the umbrella to it's place of birth must have triggered something, and the fact that your umbrella caught his foot, raising memories of the original injuries, must have done something."
"Genius, Jim! You're brilliant!"
"Thank you. My only problem with that theory is that it sounds too, I don't know, far fetched?"
"All the best theories are. Where's the umbrella now?"
"I don't know." He went to ask the paramedics who had found them out in the field. "No idea."
They continued talking, bouncing ideas, to a point where she couldn't talk any more- because she'd nearly been strangled. Obviously! And then they returned to the hotel. Surprisingly, she was never given a chance to do a trip ever again. Well, not until the incident at the church, where the bat creature attacked.
But as for the umbrella, she never found it. In fact, it had disappeared that night as it was washed away in a sudden flood. And it would float through the night for ages after, to a point where it was hundreds of miles away. Until the day where a budding professor ripped it from the water and thought the irony that an umbrella was submerged in the substance it was meant to protect from. And so the DCI thought, as he considered the irony of a budding professor with his umbrella was killed by the very substance it was meant to protect him from.
And so the professors nightmare continued...
No comments:
Post a Comment