Winter's Last Victim

by Ruby Loren

  CHAPTER TWO

  The Deadly Dig

  “What happened? How did you survive?” Holly asked, feeling as though she’d been dropped straight into the plot of an Indiana Jones film. Rob shifted his weight and stood up again, walking over to the grimy window to look out across the car park again.

  “I’ve been digging at night, so as not to draw attention to myself. The Midastophian artefact was found in a small patch of woods, next to an official dig site. A farmer owns it and lets amateurs do what they like there, but the woods next to it are technically off limits. You’re not allowed to dig there as it’s part of a National Park. Even though it’s not as if anyone ever goes to that bit. It’s just weeds.” Holly tried not to roll her eyes. It was typical of Rob to disregard anything that wasn’t to do with digging. His ‘weeds’ were probably a patch of incredibly rare orchids.

  “So I went out to dig and had just got started on a good hole when I heard something buzzing.” He made eye contact with Holly. “Now, it’s January and freezing out there, so I’m immediately suspicious as no way are there any hornets floating around. So,” he continued, “I stuck my head up above the hole and nearly lost it when this drone swooped down. It happened so fast, it took me a few seconds to realise what the stuff falling into my face was and then I realised it was hair - my hair. The drone had been equipped with rotating blades. That was what was making the buzzing noise, and it had got close enough to take a little off the top.” He shook his head. “It was lucky I’d dug deep enough, or it would have taken a whole lot more off the top.”

  Holly’s hands had gripped the sides of the armchair when she listened to Rob’s near death experience but now she relaxed, patting Watson as she thought about all that Rob had said.

  “What are we thinking… are the council trying a more unorthodox approach to weed control, or is some big, bad, unknown trying to stop anyone from digging there?” She said and Rob frowned at her.

  “Hey, I’m the only one allowed to make tasteless jokes!” He complained and shook his head in mock disbelief.

  “It was totally a bad guy. I kept my head down… literally… after that and once the drone was gone I decided to do a little reconnaissance. I crawled out of my hole and hid behind a bush and a minute later, a couple of guys dressed in black walked through the woods and started checking out the pit I’d dug. I could tell they were up to no good because they were wearing black. At the time, I was also wearing black… see? It all makes sense,” he said, diverting himself. “Anyway, they seemed pretty disappointed that I wasn’t headless in the hole I’d dug after their deadly drone had done its work. It didn’t stop them for long though, they were soon digging their own holes, which is when I left.”

  “Who do you think they are?” Holly asked but Rob just shook his head.

  “I don’t know and I don’t know why they’d want to kill to stop me from looking too. If I were paranoid, I’d say it was a secret government force who are tasked with covering up any evidence from the past which conflicts with our current widely accepted version of history.” He raised an eyebrow at Holly to show he wasn’t serious. “That, or someone knows more than I do about exactly what it is that’s buried somewhere around here.” He rubbed his head and sat down on the edge of the bed. “I wish I knew more, but I don’t. All I’m good at is digging holes and finding things but I don’t think that’s enough this time. I know I’m viewed as a detective but beyond historical research, I’m fairly useless. The other detectives were annoyingly correct when they hinted that a few times. That’s why I need your help,” he said, looking at Holly imploringly.

  “What do you want me to do? Should I try and find out who it is that’s also looking for the treasure? And what about the treasure itself? If someone has a clue about what it really is, I should find that out too, right?” She said, speaking her thoughts aloud. Rob nodded enthusiastically.

  “Yeah, and while you’re at it, if you could find the exact location too, that would be great,” he joked and Holly shot him a sideways look. He grinned at her.

  “Come on Hols, I know together we can crack this! You do all the detective stuff and I’ll figure out where to dig using my super secret, tried and tested method.” There was a pause as Holly waited for him to share the method. Rob clammed up and Holly narrowed her eyes.

  “You just guess and get lucky, don’t you?” She asked and Rob spluttered indignantly.

  “There’s a lot more to it than that, but I wouldn’t expect you to understand,” he said, airily. Holly tried not to roll her eyes again.

  “Sure,” she said deciding to leave it there. “I think we should start by going to back to the place where you were attacked by the drone from Robot Wars,” she said and smirked at her own joke. “Also, Watson needs a walk, so it makes perfect sense to start there,” she added.

  “Cool, well I’ll see you later then,” Rob said, lifting his feet onto the bed and picking up a magazine.

  “Come on,” she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him off the bed. He opened his mouth to protest but she gave him a look.

  “You said you only dig at night, Rob, so you’ve got some free time now. Also, you’ll have to help me find where you were digging.” Rob snorted.

  “It’s not exactly difficult. Keep walking until you fall into the really big hole,” he said. Holly gave him another look and he put on his shoes, grumbling under his breath.

  ***

  Holly found she was forced to agree with Rob’s description of the corner of National Park being particularly weed ridden. Resilient, neck high stinging nettles had refused to die down despite the icy cold, and brambles tore at Holly’s jeans. The only unusual thing was the tops of the nettles which had been sheared off in a straight line.

  “Rob, I believe you,” she said as they passed a sapling, which was now little more than a stick with roots. Behind her, Rob muttered something about a lack of faith. Holly pressed onwards through the wild weeds and soon reached the clearing that Rob had spoken about. She frowned as her eyes fell on the holes and she counted one, two, three…. four. In Rob's story, there had only been three holes dug. Had the men come back the next night and dug again? She walked forwards, immediately picking Rob’s perfectly circular hole out from its jagged companions. The first two holes she looked into were empty but the third had a body in it.

  Holly looked down at the decapitated corpse.

  “Rob… Would I be right to assume that you didn’t report the attempt on your life to the police?” She said, already knowing the answer. Rob joined her at the lip of the hole and shook his head.

  “No, the police are probably working with the government,” he said and Holly readjusted her view on Rob’s paranoia levels.

  “Then we have a problem,” she said.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Friends Reunited

  “I don’t believe it!” A familiar voice said and Holly turned to see detective inspector Stephan Chittenden striding through the woods towards them. A cluster of police spread out through the clearing, taping off the area, while white suited men inspected the body.

  “What are you doing here?” Holly asked, not bothering with pleasantries - Chittenden never did.

  “I’ll ask the questions!” He barked back, spittle spraying from his lips. The silence stretched and Chittenden narrowed his piggy eyes. “What are you doing here?”

  “We were just taking a nice stroll through the woods with the dog, like normal people with dogs do, when all of a sudden we see these holes and find a body. It was all very unexpected,” Rob said, completely unconvincingly. Chittenden’s eyes turned into slits as he examined Rob.

  “You were involved with the Archaeological Society murders,” he said, sounding like he was accusing Rob of the crime. Rob nodded enthusiastically.

  “Yes, and the Horn Hill House massacre. There was quite a good picture of me in the paper, although I’d never say so myself,” he said, flapping a hand. Chittenden’s face might have been carved from marble, but
it just didn’t seem to deter Rob. “Just to reiterate, we were walking through the woods when we happened across the body and like the good citizens we are, we reported the crime to the police and hung around until you arrived - something which murderers don’t tend to do,” Rob said. Holly wondered if anyone would notice if she jumped into one of the pits and kept digging until she reached China.

  Chittenden’s forehead creased as he struggled to comprehend Rob’s humour, or perhaps he was just wondering which cell to throw him in.

  “You’ll have to give statements and leave current contact details.” He sighed and shot them both a withering look. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I was transferred here due to my excellent past case record.”

  Holly opened her mouth to argue that she’d basically solved the two most recent cases he’d worked on but then thought better of it. She seemed to have an unfortunate knack for being at the scene when bodies turned up and she was lucky that thus far, they’d found the people culpable for the crimes. Otherwise she was fairly certain that Chittenden would have locked her up and thrown away the key.

  “Well, what wonderful news. We should go for a drink to celebrate!” Rob said, not taking any of this seriously. Holly might have throttled him were it not for the fact they were at the scene of a murder and she was currently trying to come across as un-murdery as possible.

  Chittenden looked like he might be physically sick and finally turned away from Rob to go and look at the far less offensive corpse.

  “I think we’re bonding,” Rob whispered and Holly jabbed him in the ribs. Watson whined by her ankles and pulled on his lead. She gave him some more slack and then followed when he seemed intent on walking on through the trees.

  “This had better not be a squirrel…” She started to say but stopped speaking when they entered the next clearing.

  There were holes everywhere.

  Holly tried to count but the number was definitely upwards of twenty. Someone had been doing some serious digging.

  “You can’t just walk off!” Chittenden’s voice shouted through the woods before the man himself entered the clearing and stopped talking too. His eyebrows shot up and then a frown creased his forehead, adding to the wrinkles that were already fixed there.

  “You’re both coming with me to the station. I want to know exactly what is going on here!” He said and just waved a hand when Holly opened her mouth to protest that they’d just been walking Watson in the woods.

  Even Chittenden wasn’t that gullible.

  ***

  “Did you get the feeling we’re being used as bait, or is it just me?” Rob commented when they were finally released from the police station. Holly glowered at the pavement as they walked towards the bus stop with Watson bouncing happily beside them. “It’s almost as if they expect us to get into trouble,” Rob carried on and Holly ignored him.

  After ascertaining that they hadn’t decapitated the, as yet unknown man, they’d been told they were free to go. The police’s plan was pretty transparent. Holly didn’t think she’d seen Chittenden smile before. She could also tell they hadn’t bought Rob’s story about the deadly drone. Even to Holly, it sounded like something from a sci-fi novel, but the body in the hole suggested otherwise.

  “I suppose it means we’ll be being watched,” Holly offered. “It could help keep us safe.”

  “That depends on whether they wait until a crime has definitely been committed before running to help,” Rob countered and Holly sighed. They were on their own then.

  She noticed a car slowing down in her peripheral vision and turned slightly, wondering if they needed directions, which she couldn’t give.

  “Need a lift?” A far too cheerful voice asked.

  That was the last thing Holly remembered.

  ***

  She woke up in a room lit by a single, bare lightbulb. Normally, she’d have appreciated the irony, but her head was still swimming from whatever it was they’d used to knock her out.

  That was right.

  She’d been knocked out and kidnapped.

  Holly blinked and tried to take in her surroundings more carefully. You never knew, it could end up saving your life.

  The walls and floor were all grey concrete with no windows at all. The only feature was the door and the chair she was sat in. Watson was by her feet, asleep, which was something.

  Two men in suits walked into the room and Holly spared a thought for Rob, wondering where he was, before they crossed their arms and stared at her.

  “You’re Holly Winter, a pianist and more recently, a private detective,” one of the men said. There was a long pause.

  “Should I be taking notes?” She couldn’t resist having a dig. She’d been kidnapped, left in a tiny room and now these two strange men were telling her they knew who she was and what she did. Big deal. What could they possibly want with her?

  There was the sound of scuffling in the corridor and Holly’s heart lifted as she heard a familiar voice screaming about wanting a lawyer. The door burst open and two heavies half threw, half pushed Rob in. Rob dusted himself down and walked over to stand next to Holly, facing down the two men.

  “As I just said to your colleague, we’re partners so whatever you want, we’re both involved,” Rob said and Holly didn’t know whether to cheer or groan. Was Rob dragging her deeper into this mess? The two men exchanged a glance and then seemed to make a decision.

  “We know you’re looking for something and we want to know when you find it. From now on, you’ll be working for us,” one man said.

  “Will you pay us? Also who are you?” Rob asked. Holly couldn’t believe he was still joking.

  Another glance as exchanged.

  “No pay. We’re the government. That’s all you need to know,” the other man said and Rob half nodded.

  “I guess the lack of pay supports your claim but have you got any ID on you?” The men made no move. “What… not even a company pen?” Rob said, incredulous.

  “There are others looking for the same prize as you, people who we don’t want to have that kind of power. When you find what you are looking for, you will let us know immediately. Be careful. The other hunters may be dangerous,” one man continued.

  “May be dangerous? Tell that to the headless corpse in the hole,” Rob muttered, shaking his head. “All of this over some old stolen coins.” He sighed dramatically. Holly bit her tongue just before she asked him what he was talking about. The men exchanged another look and Rob pretended to look confused.

  “You are looking for the horde, right? There’s meant to be several million pounds worth of stolen gold buried around here, left by bank robbers in the twenties. Unfortunately, word has got out about it… Look, I’ve already found what I think might be a bit,” Rob said, pulling a piece of gold shaped like a coin out of his pocket. Holly kept her facial muscles slack to hide any surprise.

  “Mr Frost, we know you’re looking for evidence of Midastophians,” one man said calmly, finally getting the word out in the open. Rob shrugged.

  “You can believe what you want to,” he said. “I’m on the lookout for stolen money and I’ll let you know when I find it, same as I always let the government know. I’m an honest guy.”

  There wasn’t much more that could be said after that. The men took them out to a back alley and Holly experienced a brief moment of panic when she wondered if they were going to be executed, before the men slammed the door shut behind them and left them alone in the street.

  Holly waited until they were a few roads away before she broke the silence.

  “Stolen money?” She queried and Rob grinned.

  “Yeah, too bad they didn't buy it.” He took the gold piece out of his pocket and looked at it. “It really is stolen too.” Holly raised her eyebrows at him and he grinned. “I stole it… from a horde of gold coins I was meant to be declaring and handing over.”

  Holly snorted.

  “What was that you were saying about being an honest
guy?”

  Rob’s lips moved up, but his expression soon turned stormy again.

  “So the government are sticking their noses in. I thought they might,” he said as they strode briskly down the streets. Watson was back to bouncing along although Holly suspected their busy day might be sapping his energy.

  “You think they’re telling the truth about who they are?” Holly asked, and Rob nodded.

  “Let’s just say I’ve had a few brushes with the government before and I know the kind of morons they employ. The old ‘snatch and grab for no reason to intimidate’ is exactly up their street.”

  Holly bit her lip and tried to take it all in. Rob was acting remarkably casual considering they’d been kidnapped and told to hand over the very thing he’d been searching for his whole life.

  “So… what do we do now?” Holly asked, thinking about having both the police and the government watching them. They wouldn’t be able to sneeze without someone knowing it!

  “We dig… we dig really obviously and in all the wrong places,” Rob said. Holly opened her mouth to ask how he knew which places were wrong, when he hadn’t found anything yet, but then shut it again.

  It wasn’t worth it.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Fire In The Hole

  Holly felt like she was in the film Holes. The only difference was, they were digging in sub-arctic temperatures and the ground was as hard as rock. She sighed as she dug, still on her first hole while Rob had dug three. Although she couldn’t see the police, or the government officials, she sensed that they were being watched.