Murder in the Haunted Castle
Missed the story so far? Catch up here: Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen Chapter Eighteen Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Chapter Twenty-one Chapter Twenty-two Chapter Twenty-three Chapter Twenty-four Chapter Twenty-five Chapter Twenty-six Chapter Twenty-seven Chapter Twenty-eight Chapter Twenty-nine Chapter Thirty Chapter Thirty-one Chapter Thirty-two Chapter Thirty-three Chapter Thirty-four Chapter Thirty-five
Back inside, Kim, Maddie, James, Brad and Brooklyn, and Cat and Lynx all gathered in the dining hall. Kim, Maddie and James had all taken hot showers to warm themselves back up again, especially Kim who had been so cold she had thought she might never feel warm again.
Brooklyn had made everyone hot mugs of tea and coffee. Finally, her skin still glowing from the hot shower and taking sips of scalding hot coffee, Kim thought she might actually be warming up at last.
Feeling a little more human, Kim asked the question that everyone was wondering about.
“Does anyone actually have any idea of what’s been going on?”
“We know one thing,” Cat said.
“The castle is not haunted after all,” Lynx said.
“Yeah, it’s so disappointing…”
“…we really thought we’d found some genuine ghosts…”
“…but no, it turned out we were just in an episode of Scooby-Doo.”
“What do you mean?” Kim said. “All the ghostly happenings were fake?”
“Yeah, we got talking to the ghost of Horace Von Trautskien…”
“…and he told us they’re all part of a Russian circus troupe, and…”
“…Boris hired them to pretend to be ghosts for the weekend…”
“…to try and drum up business so he didn’t have to sell the castle.”
“Really?” Kim said. “But they took their job a little too seriously if you ask me. Couldn’t they have stopped when they realised someone had died?”
“Horace is the only one who can speak English, and he can’t speak it very well…”
“…and they’ve all been living in the locked part of the castle…”
“…so they had no idea about Malcolm being poisoned or Boris being murdered.”
“You mean they were the ones in the locked room, the one that Doris claimed to have been locked for years?” James said.
“That’s right, and because they didn’t know what else was going on…”
“…they just carried on being ghosts, like they’d been hired to do.”
“And they were the ones in the suits of armour too?” Kim asked.
“Uh-huh, and the man who fell down the stairs and knocked himself out too…”
“…and not only that, they had keys for all the rooms in the castle, so they were…”
“…sneaking around and moving things to make it…”
“…look like there was a poltergeist in the castle.”
“But what about Boris?” Brad said. “Did his butler murder him?”
“And where are Walter and Agnes?” Maddie said.
Kim stood up. “Oh my gosh! I forgot all about her! Agnes was downstairs in one of the rooms in the back of the castle, the disused part, and she had been locked in there!”
“But why?” Maddie said.
“I don’t know, but something fishy has been going on with Walter and Agnes,” Kim said, heading for the door. “And I’m going to find out what.”
“I’m coming with you,” Maddie said.
The twins jumped up with excitement. “Us too!”
“And me,” James said, climbing to his feet.
Kim turned back. “No, you’re staying here, you’re in no condition to be running around the castle after that knock on your head.”
“I’m fine,” James replied, touching his bruised nose and wincing. “It’s just a little sore, that’s all.”
“I said, no,” Kim said, in the sternest voice she had.
“Uh-oh, she’s giving you her hardest teacher stare,” Maddie said.
The twins backed away. “Scary!”
“It certainly is,” James said. “But it’s not going to work today. I’m coming with you, Kim.”
Kim sighed and smiled. “Alright then, I can see you’ve made up your mind.”
Opening the door, Kim was confronted by a line of men and women in suits of armour, and the ghosts of Eve Von Trautskien and her grandfather.
“Oh, hello,” Kim said, and then she had a thought. “You lot, follow us.”
The procession of suits of armour and the ghosts of a little girl and her grandfather followed Kim and the others down the stairs. Kim headed straight for the room where she had encountered Agnes. The door was standing ajar, and the sickly yellow light of an old light bulb spilt out into the corridor.
And Kim could hear raised voices.
She stepped through the door and pulled up short at the sight that met her.
Walter and Agnes were standing facing each other, a sofa covered in a dust sheet between them.
Walter had a long, vicious looking carving knife in his hand.
“There you are at last,” Agnes said, her voice surprisingly calm. “I’ve been running out of things to say to keep him occupied.”
“You were waiting for us?” James said.
“I was waiting for someone to come and rescue me, yes,” Agnes said.
“Everyone stay right where you are,” Walter snarled.
Maddie and the twins had gathered behind Kim and James, just inside the doorway.
Walter waved the knife at them. “Get out of my way. I’ll use this if you don’t!”
“Fine,” Kim said, and stepped to one side, the others following her.
Walter circled around the edges of the room, making his way to the door whilst keeping his attention fixed on Kim and James. When he got to the doorway, he paused.
“You can’t stop me, you know,” he said.
Kim shrugged. “Yeah, whatever.”
Walter looked at Kim a little quizzically. Then he stepped through the doorway, into the hall.
And screamed.
“Looks like he’s met our battalion of knights in armour,” Kim said.
“Just wait till you give him your best teacher stare,” James said. “That’ll finish him off completely.”
See you on Friday for Chapter Thirty-seven.
Cheers,
Ken
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