Chapter 12: Murder Most Foul

"Murder most foul, as in the best it is,

But this most foul, strange, and unnatural."

-William Shakespeare


Nicole's face went a sort of ashen grey, almost as if she herself were dead, and she dropped her fork onto the table with a clatter.

"How?" John inquired darkly.

"Don't be absurd, Watson, we know how he died," Holmes immediately admonished. "The question is how was the poison administered? Did he have a drink taken to him?"

"That's what I meant, Holmes…"

John's counter went mostly unnoticed.

"I didn't see anything like that," Andrew said. "I didn't look any closer either. I knew I should come get you."

Holmes, John, and Lestrade stood, and I started to as well, but John held up a hand. "Emily, stay here with Miss Camberwell."

Andrew moved to leave the room again, but quick as lightning, John stopped him as well. "No, Mr. Lynch, you stay here with Emily and Miss Camberwell."

Andrew opened his mouth to protest. "But I-"

"Unless you supervise them, Mr. Lynch, there is no telling where they'll run off to."

"Yes, Doctor."

John nodded briskly and followed Holmes and Lestrade out of the room. We sat in silence for several moments before I became aware that Nicole was hyperventilating, albeit softly.

I turned towards her and put a hand on her arm. At my motion, Andrew looked up sharply. He appeared to have been engaged in studying the fringe on the tablecloth.

"Are you all right, Nicole?" I asked gently.

Unable to say anything, she quickly shook her head.

"Do you need fresh air?"

She nodded.

"Absolutely not," Andrew cut in. "Doctor Watson will murder me if they come back and we're not here. Edward was just killed. His body was still warm when I checked for a pulse. The killer could still be close by."

"Andrew, please. Just to the front steps, and only for a few moments, until she can catch her breath."

He looked to the side for a moment, but shook his head again.

"Surely you are aware of what she has on underneath that dress!" I countered sharply. "Would you rather she faint?"

"Fine! But only for a moment. Here, help me support her." He relented and rose, and we helped her stand and supported her trembling figure until we were outside on the front steps of the house.

The cold morning breeze blew against my face, and I could see that Nicole was already visibly better. She was leaning against one of the tall pillars, eyes closed and letting the wind blow her loose strands of hair around her face. A moment later, she opened her eyes and looked at us. "I need to clear my head."

"You are clearing your head," replied Andrew tersely.

"Andrew, good Lord! You are taking this far too seriously!" I exclaimed. Indeed, he was acting far more serious than was his usual manner.

"Emily, there is a dead body upstairs! He was murdered not even half an hour ago and his is the third body to turn up in the vicinity of this house within the week!"

As if she hadn't heard any of this, Nicole said in the same soft voice, "I think I need to take a walk."

Andrew gave me an alarmed look, and I returned it. Nicole sounded as if she were in shock, and I wouldn't have doubted it for a moment.

"We should go back inside, Nicole," Andrew said warily, approaching her slowly in case she needed support.

She locked her gaze on him, and I confess that I was surprised, for they were sure, and did not have the vague, glazed look of a person in shock. "Please. I need to go for a walk. Just a short one. You can come with me."

Andrew gave a quick glance at the door. "It's all right," I said to him, "she seems to be in no danger at present."

"Can you walk on your own?" Andrew asked, studying Nicole closely.

She took a deep breath before standing straight up, but when she did, she seemed steady, like an old, weathered oak that is never blown down, although it may be slightly bent and rocked with each storm.

"I am fine." She began walking down the steps at a brisk pace, and we had no choice but to follow, Andrew's hand slipping into mine as we feverishly attempted to keep up.

Our gait bordered on sprinting as we struggled to keep Nicole within sight as she briskly made her way through the woods. She had the obvious advantage over us, as she knew every dip and rise in the landscape surrounding Rosedale Abbey, the location of every tree root and every stone that protruded the surface of the soil.

After a while, Nicole took a turn, curving through the trees in a direction that was unfamiliar to me. A musty, damp scent was wafting through the air, and I got a sinking feeling in my stomach.

"Nicole, where are we going?" I asked, as warily as I could as I struggled for a deep enough breath to get the words out.

She did not reply, nor did she need to, for it became painstakingly obvious within a few seconds. There was a large, gaping hole in the side of a hill, the border of it framed with wood so that it would not cave in. A stream of cold air flowed eerily out of it, like some kind of mouth engaged in an eternal act of gasping. Abandoned rocks and broken pieces of pickaxes were scattered around, and there was a sort of miniature train track that ran into the darkness inside the hillside, forming what looked like a tongue for the sinister mouth. There could be no doubt that this was the entrance to the mines.

Andrew stared in front of him in awe, and finally he grabbed Nicole's arm. "What are we doing here?" he demanded.

"It's all right," she said. "This is only one of the smaller entrances. It's an older one, as well. It isn't even used anymore."

"How far are we from the house?" I asked, now being able to draw enough of a breath to convey my wariness.

"Not too far," she said with a glance in the direction from which we'd come.

"You didn't answer me, Nicole," said Andrew, involuntarily shivering as a cold gust of wind blew. "What are we doing here?"

"The motive for these murders is someone wanting the mines closed," Nicole said, gesturing wildly to the entrance in front of us. "I had to come…come see."

"Come see what?" Andrew countered. "There's nothing here. It's an abandoned mine entrance, Nicole, that's it."

Although an instinctively bad feeling was brewing within me, I couldn't pass up the possibility of something, anything, that might help us being here. "Andrew, she's right. It can't hurt to take a look around."

Our conversation was interrupted by a noise from within the mines. It was the sound of rocks scrabbling and wood creaking, as if someone, or something, were crawling around inside.

"Let's go," Andrew said, something fearful in his voice. "We shouldn't be here, especially not now."

But I was already moving closer to the entrance. Curiosity was pulling me forward, and no amount of reason could stop me. I turned to Nicole. "Have you been here before?" I asked.

She nodded, seeming frozen in place by the thought of whatever had made the sound we'd just heard. "Yes, a great number of times."

"Are there any lanterns lying about?"

"I can do you one better." She promptly strode to a large rock and reached behind it, pulling out an old oil lantern. She then reached for the bottom of that and pulled out a match. "The miners always kept an emergency matchbook adhered with wax to the bottom of the lantern," she explained, striking the match and lighting the lantern before Andrew could move to stop her.

"No," he said, pointing a finger in our direction, and I could only assume that it was intended for the both of us collectively. "Neither of you are going to enter that mine shaft. We are going to put that lantern out and go back the way we came. When we get back to the house, we will report to Holmes that we heard something at the mine entrance. And, I imagine, we will all be chastised for leaving, especially me, having been assigned to make sure you two stayed put."

"Andrew, aren't you just a little curious to know what made that noise?" I asked.

He stiffened. "I'm sure it was some animal," he said firmly.

Nicole scoffed. "No, you're not. You're too scared."

"I am not scared! I am showing reason!"

"Good investigation calls for more risks than reason," I said, taking the lantern from Nicole and holding it out in front of Andrew. "You can either stay here, or take this lantern and lead the way."

Andrew tightened his lips and gave me a look, but after a moment of silent heated debate, he reached out and angrily snatched the lit lantern from me. "At the first sign of further trouble, we turn back," he said, stalking contemptuously into the mouth of the hollowed out hillside.

Nicole and I followed behind, and as the cold air hit us, Nicole grabbed my arm tightly. I winced, for her hand was clamped very tightly on top of one of my scratches, which was still in the process of healing, but I said nothing, and did not jerk away. I only bit my lip softly and reached for Andrew with my other hand for some reassurance. He put out his free hand behind him and I took it, all of us walking together carefully along the tracks in a closely knit clump.

The area that was illuminated by our meager light source was a long corridor of stone, with the track for what must have been mine carts running down the centre. The walkway was not closed by stone on both sides, only one. On the other side was a rather unsteady looking wooden railing, the supports of which were all but eaten away by some sort of mineral deposit that seemed to have spread like a fungus. I peered over the railing and saw a cavernous depression in the ground which had been dug out and descended down into darkness deeper than the night. The stone paved edge around the precipice went all the way around the cave-like space in which we had found ourselves, and several other corridors seemed to branch out from here on the other side. Moisture dripped from the ceiling above, pooling in a slight depression in the ground.

After we'd been walking for a few minutes, there came from somewhere behind us the sound of footsteps, the resounding echo making them out to be far louder than they actually were.

We all stopped short and whirled around. Andrew held the lantern aloft, hoping that it would illuminate some part of whomever was in here with us.

His light illuminated a shadow, but the personage itself could not be seen, and the shadow soon disappeared from view.

"Did they leave?" Nicole asked breathlessly.

"I think they – run!" Andrew exclaimed.

"What?" I asked, looking around in confusion for the source of his urgency.

"Go!" he shouted again, pulling us further into the mine.

Nicole and I glanced at one another, for we had no idea what was happening, but we turned and ran anyway, Andrew two steps behind us as he ushered us on.

I was glad in a moment that he had, because there was a flash of light and smoke and a loud, thundering boom, the force of which sent us flying backwards into the stone wall.

We landed in a coughing heap, waving smoke and dust away from our eyes as the debris from the explosion cleared.

The lantern had gone out, leaving us in pitch dark. Andrew fumbled for a match to relight it. He held it up and cursed.

"What?" Nicole and I both coughed out in unison.

"There's no more light from outside." Andrew reported darkly.

We scrambled to our feet. Andrew began making his way through a sea of fallen rocks that now lay between us and the entrance. Nicole and I followed close behind him, slightly slower because of our long skirts and still coughing violently.

As we got closer to the place where we had come in, it became quite apparent. The explosion had triggered the fall of a large number of gigantic stones, and the entrance was now blocked. We were trapped.