The Whitby Murders (A Yorkshire Murder Mystery) J. Ellis (distant reading TXT) 📖

fangs visible and the eyes sinisterly half closed. The chest was actually a coffin.

‘Bloody hell, that gave me a shock! There’s a box by her head, look!’ He put his hand rather gingerly into the chest and lifted out a wooden box for which they would clearly need to find a key. And so the clues, followed by discoveries, continued, and they were all thinking hard except Dominic and Andrea who kept disagreeing with each other and arguing.

‘Shut up you two and concentrate; you’re being a pain!’ said Maggie. The twenty minutes was nearly up but they were still in the first room. They heard a voice outside.

‘My friends, it is I, the count. I see you are struggling; please let me in so that I may help you and then we can . . . get to know each other.’ They heard the door handle being tried. Like Elaine he spoke in an Eastern European accent. It was hammy, but curiously effective. A frisson of fear and excitement went through the group. It was like being a child when a grown-up pretends to be a monster, and says they’re coming to get you in two minutes so hide!

‘Quick! If he gets in we’ve lost,’ cried Andrea.

‘Okay, don’t panic; we’re on it!’ said Dominic contemptuously.

‘Oh, just fuck off!’ shouted Andrea. ‘I’ve just had enough of you today!’

Embarrassed, the others ignored them, and Louise solved the final puzzle in the first room, which got them the key to open the door into the second room.

‘Lock the door behind us so that Dracula can’t follow!’ giggled Maggie. ‘I feel like a kid again doing this.’ The others laughed as Ben locked the door.

Dominic and Andrea were still arguing fiercely as they entered a room set out like a ruined chapel and graveyard. There was a broken altar and two gravestones lying on the floor. Bats hung from the ceiling. On the altar lay an open book.

‘Right, where do we start in here?’ asked Maggie.

‘Let’s start with that book. I’m sure that will contain a clue. Maybe—’ She was interrupted by Andrea shouting.

‘How dare you say that, you bastard!’ she screamed.

‘Who’s going to stop me, you cow!’ spat Dominic. They were now having a furious row and Andrea struck him across the face.

‘Dom, Andrea, for God’s sake that’s enough!’ shouted Ben, but Dominic wasn’t listening. His face was contorted; he looked out of control with anger and hatred. To everyone’s horror, he produced a knife and lunged at Andrea, who screamed again, with terror this time. She fell onto the gravestone.

‘No! Oh my God!’ cried Dominic. He looked around wildly at the others, his hand on his forehead as he gasped for breath. He ran out of the emergency exit, slamming the door behind him. It was over in seconds. The others, momentarily stunned, now screamed and shouted.

‘Dom!’

‘What the hell? He had a bloody knife. He’s gone mad!’

Ben was next to Andrea when she fell. He knelt down to attend to her. There was already fake blood on her white dress but now there was more blood and it was coming out of her mouth.

‘He’s stabbed her! He’s bloody stabbed her in the chest!’ shouted Ben.

Horror-struck, Maggie and Louise looked at Andrea. Her eyes were closed and she was groaning. Her hand was clutched to her chest where the handle of a knife was visible.

‘Oh my God, Andrea!’ cried Maggie.

‘Quick,’ said Ben, ‘get back to reception, tell them to call an ambulance. She’s still alive, but quick!’

‘I’ll go,’ said Louise, who still had the key. She opened the door back into the first room and dashed through. She met the actor dressed as Dracula who was waiting in there for the next twenty minutes to be up.

‘What’s going on?’ he asked in a Yorkshire accent. Louise realised that the play-acting had stopped and the horror was now real. She explained what had happened and they hurried back to reception.

‘I’ll get the first aid kit,’ said the actor.

Elaine was coming out of the toilet door as they arrived. She’d been away from the desk when the attack happened and had not seen it on the monitor. She immediately rang for an ambulance.

‘Stay with us! Stay with us!’ Back in the second room, Ben pleaded with the unconscious form of Andrea as he cradled her head. ‘Do you have anything to staunch the blood?’ he said to Maggie.

She ripped off a piece of her petticoat and gave it to Ben. At that moment they heard something through the emergency door. Ben looked up.

‘Is that him? Go and see will you. I’ll stay with her. I’ve done first aid. I’m checking on her breathing.’

Maggie tried to open the emergency exit. It seemed to be blocked by something and she had to push for some time before she got through. There was a heavy packing case behind the door. Dominic must have dragged it there to slow their pursuit. She found herself in another room, which was obviously used as storage. It was full of boxes and props and a big wardrobe. There was a coffin and a rail of costume items. Fixed into the wall vertically was a mummy’s sarcophagus. It was dark, but across the room she could see another door marked ‘Exit’, which presumably led onto the street. The door was open but there was no sign of Dominic. She went through the door and out onto a narrow, dirty alleyway full of wheelie bins and rubbish. She looked up and down but it was deserted so she ran back to help Ben with Andrea. She found him still holding her but crying with his head bowed over. Her body was limp and her eyes closed. There was more blood on her chest. Louise, Elaine and the Dracula actor came into the room, the latter holding the bright-red first aid case.

‘We’ve called the ambulance,’ began Louise. ‘They said—’

‘It’s too late,’ sobbed Ben. ‘I think she’s gone. There’s no pulse.’ He looked up with a face of anguish