Winter's Last Victim

by Ruby Loren

  Her spade hit something and she felt a jolt of panic run through her. Oh no! She hadn’t really found something had she? This was a disaster! She bent down and gently prised the item free from the earth. It shone a dull silver in the morning light.

  “Er, Rob…” she said, not knowing how to be subtle about this. Was she holding something important or was it just junk? Rob walked over and slid into her hole, taking the item.

  “Hmmm looks like a roman gold arm cuff or something. I’ll show you where to flog it later,” he said and walked off again. Holly felt strangely relieved. Any other time, she’d have been thrilled to make her first ever discovery but if Rob really thought they were close to finding something that would prove the Midastophians really existed, every spadeful made her nervous.

  “Pssst! The reason you found that is because we are digging right over the roman settlement,” he said from his hole next door and Holly finally figured out what he’d meant by saying that they would look in all the wrong places deliberately.

  It was an hour later that she decided her first hole was finished, she reached up to the grass to pull herself up and was surprised when a huge clod of earth, complete with its own patch of grass came loose. She looked at what was beneath it in horror and instinctively dropped the piece of earth back into place.

  Oh no… she thought, realising what she’d just done. She threw herself out of her hole and into Rob’s neighbouring pit, landing on him as a violent explosion of rocks and dirt blew through the wall of Holly’s dig. Holly suddenly realised she was straddling Rob and rolled off him, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks.

  “Can’t you just dig a hole the normal way?” Rob asked, bemusedly.

  “I found a land mine,” Holly said. She’d learnt exactly what they looked like in the aftermath of the Horn Hill House massacre and had even known there was often a two second trigger. That was why she’d just had time to jump and had been lucky enough to be below the explosion when it happened. “I may have accidentally triggered it,” she admitted and Rob gifted her an incredibly sarcastic ‘you don’t say?’ look.

  They both hauled themselves out of the hole and sat on the grass of the field, not wanting to move.

  “I was expecting more police and agents by now,” Holly admitted when they were still sat there five minutes later. Rob smirked.

  “Well, why do you think they tried to contract us? They don’t have enough resources to do this the dirty work themselves,” he said.

  In the end, they figured out the way they’d walked into the field and carefully trod back. Holly was relieved that she’d left Watson back at the hotel, not wanting to risk having to sneak him in and out again.

  She only hoped the hotel was still standing.

  Rob pulled out his phone and called the police as soon as they were out of the mine field. Holly noticed a couple of about her age walking their way, carrying bunches of flowers.

  “Hi, just to let you know we found an unexploded land mine and we’re waiting for the police or someone to come and check for more,” Holly said, hoping they’d assume it was a freak left behind by some long gone military and not attempted murder.

  “Good luck getting the police around here to do anything that resembles work,” the man said and was sharply elbowed in his ribs by the lady. Holly looked politely enquiring and the woman sighed.

  “Sorry, we’re not exactly in high spirits. James’s father died near here yesterday when all he was supposed to be doing was digging for roman treasure, or something like that.” She shook her head. “He was just a hobbyist. We don’t understand how he could have died and the police won’t tell us anything. They haven’t even let us know the cause of death yet,” she explained while James looked sadly into the distance.

  “They aren’t doing anything. They’re not even investigating!” The man said, looking around the landscape for any evidence of police activity. Holly had to admit, there was absolutely no sign of life and any copper in the area would surely have come running when she’d blown up the field.

  “Look…” She said, wondering if she would regret this later. “I might know a bit about your father’s death,” she addressed James, feeling terrible about what was happening. The couple didn’t know it, but the death had definitely fallen under the ‘suspicious’ category and the lack of investigation was out of place. Either the police were secretly staking it out, or more plausibly, someone had told them keep their noses out of it.

  Holly shivered as she thought about the creepy government men and wondered just how high up this whole thing went.

  “Anything you can tell us, we’d really appreciate,” the man said and Holly took a deep breath before launching into an abridged and sensitive version of the story. She left out the Midastophians, the deadly drone, and the government organisation but let them know how the man had met his end and where they’d found him. Without the additional information, the best she could do was to warn them to stay away from the woods if possible, or at least definitely only go there in daylight hours. The couple weren’t stupid, she knew they could tell she was keeping things back but they were grateful for any information at all.

  “Please don’t think me rude, but how are you involved in all this?” The lady asked and Holly had to think on her feet again.

  “Well, I’m a private detective and I’ve been looking into some unauthorised digging that’s been going on around here,” she said, hoping it didn’t sound too lame. The couple looked intrigued.

  “You could work for us! We’d pay you to find out about dad’s death,” James said and Holly felt a stab of guilt.

  “I have my suspicions that the case I’m working on and yours share the same answer, so I wouldn’t take any money for it. But I’ll let you know if I find anything,” she said, and the woman scrabbled around in her bag for a business card. Holly pulled out her own newly pressed card and handed it across, feeling unusually professional.

  “Oh… so here they are at last,” James muttered as a police car pulled up, not even bothering to turn the emergency lights on despite the threat of unexploded mines. Holly had expected a bomb squad at the very least. What was going on?

  In between the distraught couples’ ranting, Holly and Rob discovered that A, the police weren’t going to do anything other than tape off the area (something that wouldn’t even deter a determined amateur archaeologist from digging) and B, DI Chittenden had been called back to his original office - Holly guessed because he wasn’t playing ball with his superiors and letting the case drop. She felt some grudging respect for that. Chittenden was an ass, but he was determined to go after criminals. His disappearance just made the situation look even more bleak. Someone was manipulating the game and they didn’t care if a few of the players were taken out.

  Holly didn’t like it one bit.

  ***

  “Surely there are other places to walk a dog in a National Park?” Holly complained as she let Watson off the lead later that evening and hoped that the land mine planter hadn’t spread their net too wide. They were walking around just a few fields from where they’d been digging that morning.

  Watson tore off, eager to explore the new area and get into as much trouble as possible.

  “Do you think we’re being watched even now?” She asked Rob and his mouth smiled but his eyes remained hard.

  “Nope. I think you put that theory to the test pretty well with the land mine incident this morning. If anyone had been watching they would have come running, if only to see if you’d found anything good,” he said, his tone dark.

  “So what do we do now?” Holly asked, thinking aloud more than really asking the question.

  “Keep looking and hope we find it before everyone else does and when we do find it, do our best to hide what we find,” Rob answered. They walked on in silence for a bit, both lost in thought until Watson started barking.

  They exchanged a glance and half ran towards the sound.

  The black and tan cross breed was stood proud
ly by a fairly impressive hole of his own digging. Rob let out a low whistle.

  “Looks like he’s picked up a trick or two from the master!” He said with a grin. Holly smiled, just glad it hadn’t been another body. She walked over to inspect the hole and found that actually, there was something at the bottom of it.

  “Rob…” She started to say and he appeared at her side, bending down, brushing the dirt off the smooth metal slab and reverently picking it up. It looked like a smooth, silver, alien rock.

  “Is that…?” Holly asked and Rob nodded.

  “Something belonging to them, yes…” he confirmed.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Lost In Translation

  “Stop,” Rob said, just before they walked through some trees into a clearing. They were nearly back to the car and the hero of the hour, Watson, was back on his lead. Holly tilted her head at Rob and he mouthed the word ‘digging’. He went down on his belly and crawled forwards up the little bank, which was on the side of the hill, peering through the twilight. Holly strained her ears and could just about hear the sound of a spade being thrust into earth. She shook her head, they must be a long way away. Why was Rob being so cautious.

  He returned a few moments later, shaking his head.

  “I don’t know who they are, but they’re digging near where Watson found the item. It can’t be a coincidence. Someone must have seen something…” He said, looking annoyed. Holly didn’t know what to say. She knew how devastated Rob would be if the proof he’d been looking for his whole life was discovered by someone else and then just as quickly covered up.

  “At least we have something,” she said and Rob’s eyes darted around the woods, as if seeing the shadows of their enemies everywhere.

  “We’d better get back,” he said and Holly didn’t like his tone. It hinted that they were in grave danger.

  She only breathed a sigh of relief when they made it back to the hotel without being beheaded or blown up. Result.

  Rob had disappeared as soon as they’d returned to the room and Holly was left with a tuckered out Watson and nothing else to do. She sighed a few times, made herself a limescale tea, and then got her laptop out to search for some new piano tune ideas. It was when she was on the internet that she remembered the little blog she’d started. Holly smiled and thought about the adventures she’d had since The Enviable Emerald case. She needed to write up her two most recent cases. Her nose creased for a moment as she thought. A Fatal Frost and Murder Beneath The Mistletoe both sounded like good names. She sipped her tea, regretted it, and then started to write.

  It was gone midnight when the door to the hotel room was flung open and Rob jumped in, his eyes wide. He shut the door behind him, breathing heavily.

  “What’s wrong?” Holly asked, immediately jumping to her feet and getting ready to run or fight.

  “It’s… it’s the Midastophian artefact we found today. There’s writing on it which I translated. It talks about the demise of their society and exactly what it was that wiped them from the planet.”

  Holly grinned.

  “That’s great! Isn’t that all the proof you wanted to find? They did exist and they did disappear mysteriously. Why did they disappear?” She asked and Rob glanced down at the blank slab of metal again. Holly frowned. It was definitely blank. Rob saw her look.

  “Before you ask, no I’m not crazy. The Midastophians were very advanced and made this tablet so that the letters only show up at a specific temperature and with the addition of moonlight. I’m sure they intended it so that only the brightest and best of any society that uncovered their secrets would be able to read the message,” he said airily. Holly smirked.

  “Well it looks like they messed that up,” she said Rob spluttered indignantly before continuing.

  “The language they use is actually very simple which is curiously a sign of a technologically advanced people. Consider the way our own language is constantly being simplified and modified. Look at what the Americans have done to English… so the Midastophian text wasn’t hard to decipher.” He frowned again. “I almost wish I hadn’t cracked it,” he said and ran a hand through his dark hair.

  “What the hell does it say, Rob?” Holly asked, itching to know what was making him so worried.

  “The Midastophians wrote this: our society is falling and there will be no survivors. The culprit is a disease, which we developed as a weapon to fight against others. The disease escaped, spread and we have found no cure. All is lost,” he quoted and took a deep breath. Holly realised there was more to it than that. “They also wrote that they preserved a vial of the disease and concealed it beneath the roots of their society for a better civilisation than theirs to discover,” he finished and Holly felt the implication of his words sink in.

  There was a sample of a disease that had wiped out an entire civilisation buried nearby.

  “That’s bad,” Holly said and Rob nodded, rolling his eyes.

  “Yes it is. Although now I can see why the government is so eager to get involved. I’m willing to bet they’d want to use the sample for the very same reason that the Midastophians developed the disease and, who knows? Perhaps they’d make the same mistake and we’ll all end up dead,” he said. “I suppose someone must have found something similar to the tablet and already be one step ahead of us,” he concluded and then narrowed his eyes. “Or they’re still stuck on their cover up mission.”

  “We should assume the worst,” Holly suggested and he nodded.

  “You never know what someone could have dug up and sold on. Whoever was flying that drone and planting those land mines, they weren’t from the government. Someone else is looking and they’re convinced that its worth killing for.” He paused. “That doesn’t sound like your average history buff to me,” he finished and Holly inclined her head in agreement.

  “So, we’re searching for an ancient biological agent, which may or may not be active, and may or may not have the power to kill everyone on the planet,” she summed up.

  “Maybe we could blow up the whole area?” Rob said, half seriously. She shot him a look, knowing his track record with explosives. He’d probably blow up the nearest three villages too.

  “Can’t do it, it might just release whatever it is that’s hidden and then we’d all be dead,” she said, presuming the worst: that the disease was active and that they had just as little resistance to it today as the Midastophians had when they’d developed it.

  “We could just tell the police, or the government people,” she said, her gut already telling her that it was completely the wrong thing to do. Now it was Rob’s turn to give her the look. She groaned and ruffled Watson’s ears, finding a distraction for a moment.

  “So what the hell do we do?” Holly asked for what felt like the hundredth time and Rob looked grim.

  “We make sure we find it first and I suppose we’ll figure the rest out then,” he said and Holly pulled a face.

  “That is the worst plan I’ve ever heard,” she said and sighed. “I suppose it will have to do.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Double Trouble

  Even though it was past midnight, they put on all the warm clothes they could find and grabbed their spades. Holly tried not to think about the threat of decapitating drones and land mines and instead focused on what might be their only opportunity to save the world. Her eyes grew misty as she thought of it. Perhaps she could add that to her business cards, private detective and saviour of the world. She rolled her eyes. It was too bad that if their mission succeeded, no one would ever find out how close the planet might have come to another mass extinction.

  “Oh no… I don’t think I fed Watson!” She said and hurried back up the stairs before Rob could give an answer. The puppy would destroy the room if she left him without proper supplies. Not that it would be easy to notice the difference…

  When she came down the stairs again, Rob was gone. She heard the revving of an engine and jumped back as a large, black van raced past her and
then screeched to a halt. She sensed there was something familiar about the van and then something sharp hit her arm and she blacked out.

  When she woke up, she was in that small concrete room again.

  “Jeez, can’t you just pick up the phone?! What’s with the kidnapping? It’s not like I don’t know the location. You made us walk back last time, remember?” Holly complained when the two suits entered the room. “Where’s Rob? Get him in here now,” she said, knowing that he’d be able to get them out again. The suits exchanged one of their meaningful glances.

  “We don’t have him,” one man said. “We thought you might know where he’s gone.”

  “You’re lying, you must have taken him too,” she said but noticed the uncomfortable stances of the two professionals. They’d messed up.

  “Someone else has Mr Frost,” they said and Holly felt cold all over. It had to be the other group of hunters, right? The ones who liked killing people…

  One of the men stepped forwards and handed her a piece of white paper.

  “We intercepted this after picking you up.” Holly was going to yell at him again about their different definitions of ‘picking up’ but what she read on the note stopped her.

  It was addressed to her.

  “Holly Winter, we have your partner. Find the answer and find us. Then we will let him go,” she read aloud. The two men were both looking at her.

  “Where are they?” They asked her and she nearly laughed.

  “How should I know?”

  “Well, that letter suggests that you do.”

  She paused for a second, unsure of what to say.

  “Look, I don’t know where Rob is. Otherwise I obviously wouldn’t have asked you where he was before you told me about the note, right?” She said but the men didn’t look convinced. “Maybe they thought I could figure it out,” she added, more thoughtfully. “But I really don’t know, not now anyway. I also don’t know what the answer they’re talking about is. That’s all Rob’s area of speciality. I was just here to investigate who was digging holes, other than Rob, and now I’m also looking into the murder of amateur archaeologist, Douglas Patterson, seeing as the police are doing nothing.” She eyeballed the suits and they didn’t flinch although everyone in the room knew that nothing was being investigated on their say so.