Read Online Killing Cousins by Alanna Knight - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Alanna Knight
Tags: Historical fiction, Historical, Literature & Fiction, Crime, Genre Fiction, Mystery; Thriller & Suspense, Crime Fiction, Murder, Thrillers & Suspense
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in Edinburgh.
But for Balfray this was a new experience. Nothing as sensational as the scene they were witnessing on the Odin Stone had ever happened in their lives before. One day it, too, would go down in legend.
Watching Sergeant Frith depart, Erlandson indicated Thora's corpse. 'The coffin must be about somewhere.'
They followed him into the vault where Faro relieved him of the torch for a closer look. They were in a tiny stone room and one glance was sufficient to convince Faro that the Balfray family vault had been adapted from a prehistoric chambered tomb.
He knew from such burial chambers that the main purpose of the stone shelves in the walls had been to hold the dead in a series of rectangular chambers subdivided by pairs of upright slabs into individual ledges or burial lairs. The foremost example was Maes Howe, excavated only ten years earlier, in 1861, when he and Lizzie were spending their honeymoon in Orkney.
By the flickering torchlight, the Balfray vault was revealed as only one part of what had once been perhaps a huge chambered cairn, entered by a long low stone passage. Considering its nearness to the cliff edge, it was not difficult to imagine what had become of most of the original structure, reclaimed by the sea.
A decidedly unpleasant atmosphere of decay and corruption lingered about several mouldering coffins, indicating the last resting places of bygone Balfrays. Taking command of the torch, Faro continued his minute search of the vault, examining ledges, floor and walls for some clue to Thora Balfray's remarkable resurrection.
The vault was small and, with each passing moment, less inviting. Space to move freely was severely limited and he had to ask Erlandson and Vince to step aside. The minister regarded these requests in the manner of one humouring a madman, adding a grunt of disapproval as Faro knelt by the open and now empty coffin on the floor of the vault.
The walls of the vault were innocent of any inscription which might identify their place in history, let alone incriminate a murderer, but Faro raised the torch for a final inspection. Above the ledge which Thora Balfray's coffin had occupied was the carving of a large insect, a bee.
'Part of the family crest?' he asked Erlandson.
'I have no idea.' The minister peered over his shoulder. 'A bee. How interesting. I've never noticed it before. I'm told that this was once the crypt of the original castle,' he whispered. 'But it goes back a great deal further in time.'
Faro looked round. 'It does indeed.'
Erlandson seemed ill at ease. He looked longingly towards the entrance. 'Exactly so. Exactly so. Probably the same date as the Dwarfie Ha'.' He indicated the empty coffin. 'If you two gentlemen would be so good as to assist me ...'
Contact at close quarters with the cold clammy body, already wreathed in the unpleasant stench of corruption, brought a further dimension of nightmare to their activities. This was definitely not for the squeamish, thought Faro, only the strongest of stomachs would not have rebelled.
However, considering the nature of Erlandson's mission in life and death and Vince's encounters with corpses as an everyday occurrence, the three men succeeded very well in restoring the late Thora Balfray to her coffin once more.
As they prepared to leave the vault, Faro said to Erlandson, 'Be good enough to leave the door unlocked, sir. I need to make sure of certain facts... evidence,' he ended lamely.
'Feel free to do so, for there is no lock. The door is sealed by the laird after each interment. As for your evidence,' he added wearily, 'there can be nothing in there that is not immediately visible. All that happened in the crypt is that Troller Jack forced open the coffin - and you know the rest. Nothing else has been disturbed. It is all perfectly obvious,' Erlandson added with a tone of exasperation.
Faro nodded. 'Possibly so, sir, possibly so. This is purely a matter of routine. There is no disrespect to the
But for Balfray this was a new experience. Nothing as sensational as the scene they were witnessing on the Odin Stone had ever happened in their lives before. One day it, too, would go down in legend.
Watching Sergeant Frith depart, Erlandson indicated Thora's corpse. 'The coffin must be about somewhere.'
They followed him into the vault where Faro relieved him of the torch for a closer look. They were in a tiny stone room and one glance was sufficient to convince Faro that the Balfray family vault had been adapted from a prehistoric chambered tomb.
He knew from such burial chambers that the main purpose of the stone shelves in the walls had been to hold the dead in a series of rectangular chambers subdivided by pairs of upright slabs into individual ledges or burial lairs. The foremost example was Maes Howe, excavated only ten years earlier, in 1861, when he and Lizzie were spending their honeymoon in Orkney.
By the flickering torchlight, the Balfray vault was revealed as only one part of what had once been perhaps a huge chambered cairn, entered by a long low stone passage. Considering its nearness to the cliff edge, it was not difficult to imagine what had become of most of the original structure, reclaimed by the sea.
A decidedly unpleasant atmosphere of decay and corruption lingered about several mouldering coffins, indicating the last resting places of bygone Balfrays. Taking command of the torch, Faro continued his minute search of the vault, examining ledges, floor and walls for some clue to Thora Balfray's remarkable resurrection.
The vault was small and, with each passing moment, less inviting. Space to move freely was severely limited and he had to ask Erlandson and Vince to step aside. The minister regarded these requests in the manner of one humouring a madman, adding a grunt of disapproval as Faro knelt by the open and now empty coffin on the floor of the vault.
The walls of the vault were innocent of any inscription which might identify their place in history, let alone incriminate a murderer, but Faro raised the torch for a final inspection. Above the ledge which Thora Balfray's coffin had occupied was the carving of a large insect, a bee.
'Part of the family crest?' he asked Erlandson.
'I have no idea.' The minister peered over his shoulder. 'A bee. How interesting. I've never noticed it before. I'm told that this was once the crypt of the original castle,' he whispered. 'But it goes back a great deal further in time.'
Faro looked round. 'It does indeed.'
Erlandson seemed ill at ease. He looked longingly towards the entrance. 'Exactly so. Exactly so. Probably the same date as the Dwarfie Ha'.' He indicated the empty coffin. 'If you two gentlemen would be so good as to assist me ...'
Contact at close quarters with the cold clammy body, already wreathed in the unpleasant stench of corruption, brought a further dimension of nightmare to their activities. This was definitely not for the squeamish, thought Faro, only the strongest of stomachs would not have rebelled.
However, considering the nature of Erlandson's mission in life and death and Vince's encounters with corpses as an everyday occurrence, the three men succeeded very well in restoring the late Thora Balfray to her coffin once more.
As they prepared to leave the vault, Faro said to Erlandson, 'Be good enough to leave the door unlocked, sir. I need to make sure of certain facts... evidence,' he ended lamely.
'Feel free to do so, for there is no lock. The door is sealed by the laird after each interment. As for your evidence,' he added wearily, 'there can be nothing in there that is not immediately visible. All that happened in the crypt is that Troller Jack forced open the coffin - and you know the rest. Nothing else has been disturbed. It is all perfectly obvious,' Erlandson added with a tone of exasperation.
Faro nodded. 'Possibly so, sir, possibly so. This is purely a matter of routine. There is no disrespect to the
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