Allegra Fairweather_ Paranormal Investigator - Janni Nell [59]
So did I. Wanda hadn’t been much help. Clothes and boys. What did they have to do with a creature in the loch?
I went for a walk to clear my head. It didn’t help much but when I caught sight of Stuart’s cottage further down the street, I started thinking about the naked woman he and his friends had seen. Was she really a member of a coven that was controlling a creature in the loch? If so, what was the creature’s—or rather the coven’s—motive for killing McEwen and Malcolm? Obvious answer: the men had seen something. But what? Possible answer: A ritual.
What kind of ritual?
Hmm.
My head started to ache. In an effort to clear it, I looked at the problem from a different angle. What if the naked woman wasn’t the perpetrator? What if she was the victim? If she was, that would make The Three M’s…
I ran the last few yards to Stuart’s house.
Anne was preparing afternoon tea. She served it to Stuart and me in the sitting room then took her own cup to another part of the house, allowing me to speak with him in private.
“I think I’ll start smoking again,” he said as he stirred sugar into his tea. “I might as well, considering I dinnae have long to live.” He paused as though he wanted me to deny it. When I didn’t—I don’t like making promises I might not be able to keep—he asked, “Do you think McEwen and Malcolm were bitten before or after death?”
“After,” I said quickly, hoping I was right. Maybe I was. The creature I had encountered last night hadn’t bitten me. Although I shuddered to think what might have happened if Casper hadn’t arrived in the nick of time.
Stuart stared morosely into his tea. “I’ll miss Anne,” he mumbled. “I told her to marry again when I’m gone. But she told me to shut up. She doesn’t believe I’m going to die.”
“Maybe you won’t.”
He looked at me hopefully. “Do you think you can solve this case in time to save me?”
“That depends on whether you can help me. I want you to tell me about the naked woman you saw.”
A blush rose in his cheeks.
I continued quickly, “Anything you tell me will be kept in the strictest confidence. I won’t tell the police.”
“The police?” he sounded shocked. “Och, it’s not a crime to look at a naked woman. It’s not like we were peeping in her window or anything. She was out there for anyone to see. Even you could have seen her, lassie. On the night you arrived—that’s when we saw her.”
“I wish I had seen her, Stuart.” From now on I had to go carefully. I had to make him believe that whatever he’d done I wouldn’t judge him for it. Fiddling with my teaspoon I said casually, “I’m sure the woman was very attractive. Did she come on to you, Stuart? To the three of you? Did things get a little out of hand?” I cringed at the euphemism, but I didn’t want to use the word rape. Not until I was sure.
Stuart looked horrified. “What’re you suggesting? We dinnae touch her. None of us. What kind of men do you think we are?”
I apologized but I wasn’t yet convinced he hadn’t touched the woman.
“I’m not trying to insult you,” I said, “I’m merely trying to establish a motive for the deaths of McEwen and Melville. If she offered to have sex with the three of you… Well, I can see how tempting that would be. A beautiful woman. No strings attached. Who would blame you for saying yes?”
“My wife would blame me.”
“But if she didn’t know…”
“Look, I dinnae touch the woman. And I’ve never been unfaithful to Anne.”
“Okay.” I made my voice soothing. “I believe you didn’t touch the woman. That makes sense. After all, you’re still alive. But what about McEwen and Malcolm? They were both single. They had no good reason to refuse.”
“You’ve got a dirty mind, you know that? None of us touched her.”
I was beginning to believe him. I changed course. “Did you see the woman remove her clothes?”
“No,” he said too quickly.
He was lying but I let him get away with it. I would ask him