Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Priory of Death: 13


We stood in the doorway looking down at where Rev. James Hamilton had been.
"Where is he?" Victoria wailed. "Where's he gone? What happened to him?"
Even Duncan Campbell looked shaken. We were in no mood to continue walking around the grounds, and the party, shocked and rather subdued, returned to the Priory. Fortunately Emily had finished her raid on the fridge. She was in my room as I entered, doing some serious research on the internet. Well, trying to buy another crossbow online, actually, but it's almost the same thing.
"Jane! What's up?" the black and smoky girl asked, concerned.
"Mr. Hamilton, the minister. He vanished in the Devil's Pit."
"The Girl in Grey needs to look into it," Emily responded at once. "You're a detective, aren't you?"
"Well, yes I am. But..."
"Call her. Then go to the station to picked her up tonight and don't come back. She'll bring your car back, and you got called to London."
"I can't. there's aproblem with the line..."
"The airfield, then."
"Emily, you're brilliant. I'll tell the others."
I ran down the stairs. Victoria looked up as I did so.
"Jane?"
"I know someone in London who specializes in solving mysteries. She's called the Girl in Grey. I called her just now on my mobile and she's agreed to come up and find Mr. Hamilton for you. She'll be getting into the airport about nine. She wants to sleep off the trip, then investigate the disappearance."
"I'll tell the police what happened," Victoria offered. "I guess I have to."
"Yes," Connie was deep in thought. She seemed to have calmed down since school. Maybe it was having a job.

"Penny for them," I sat down next to her.
"Well, I'm not a specialist on Medieval Scotland, but that thing puzzles me. There was something about it not quite right. Something about everything."
I noticed she was reading 'A True History of Dentree Priory'.
"Interesting?"
"In a way. I can't think what it was, but SOMETHING struck me, out there in the garden."
I wished she could think what it was too. Because more and more I was becoming convinced that the solution to this mystery could be found in that book and in those ruins.

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