Disclaimers: as before.

Thanks for the reviews on the last chapter. They were much appreciated!

Thanks to Leila for the quick proofing, and to the others of you who offered. You're all wonderful!

……………

Up at the top of the tower, the noise was almost unbearable. The rain was slamming against the loose and crumbling tiles of the spire, while the wind was whistling through every gaping hole in the stonework, roof and masonry. Despite all this, Sydney and Pansy were carrying on a much-needed 'girly' chat.

Pansy had confessed that she had been friendly with old Lord Bannockburgh for some time. He was a 'funny old panda-bear,' she said with a sob. He had been harmless enough, but slightly odd. He liked dressing up as a vampire, to scare the guests, and he enjoyed it if she did the same for him. She admitted that she was responsible for the marks on his neck, but pleaded that they were nothing more than a glorified love-bites. She could never have hurt him. He'd been so kind to her!

'Did you know anything about the will?'

'No…nothing!' Pansy collapsed into a fresh bout of tears. 'Worst of all,' wailed Pansy 'is that it was me that poured him his favourite glass of Glenmorangie... or whatever he called it. I didn't know it would kill… him…' She sobbed harder than ever.

Sydney believed her. Pansy might have been a bit of a gold-digger, but nobody who was about to commit a murder, would have deliberately left so many finger marks, and worse, around the scene of crime. Pansy was ingenuous, but she couldn't be that stupid.

Sydney asked her if she had seen anything suspicious. Pansy sniveled again, and then thought very hard. Suddenly, her blue eyes went wide. 'I've thought of something,' she exclaimed excitedly. 'Before I entered the room to see poor panda-bear, before dinner, he was talking to another woman. They seem to be having a bit of a barney. It was about a statue… and a professor… and a ceremony of some sort…'

'A statue!' It dawned on Syd that her mission may have been more mixed up in the murder than she thought.

Pansy continued. 'I don't like people shouting, so I knocked. He came to the door, and we both left for the sitting room across the hall. I peeped back in the library to see who had been shouting, but there was no one in there. It was like the woman had, well vanished… we didn't go back to the library, then, until just before I left him. That was when I poured him…his…scotch… '

'Have you any idea who it might have been?'

Pansy looked perplexed. 'Well…' she said slowly. 'At the time, I thought it sounded a bit like Moira, but it couldn't have been, could it?'

The wind moaned around the spire, louder than ever.

'We've got to get out of here,' said Syd, suddenly.

Sydney had already ascertained that there was no easy way of escape. The window was too small to climb out of. Anyhow, it had an iron bar across the middle. Her best bet was the door, but it was just too solid to kick down, and locked only from the outside. Now, though, escape seemed more urgent. She knew before that a murderer was on the loose, but if it was Moira…she was the person that Nigel trusted. In addition, she now suspected that Lord Bannockburgh had been murdered because of the statue. If Nigel had continued looking for it, he would be in real danger.

As an astounded Pansy looked on, Syd rammed her shoulder against the door. No luck. She tried again.

This time, the lock clicked and the door opened. Sydney fell straight through and landed, as graciously as possible, at the feet of the Baron.

'My dear Professor,' he drawled, offering her a hand. 'What's the hurry? I was just coming to release you.'

Sydney climbed to her feet without his help. 'Oh yeah?' she asked skeptically.

'Yeah. I've spoken to your assistant. We know you didn't 'do it.' He's waiting for you just out on the battlements.'

'Nigel's out there?' Now she really didn't trust this guy.

'Yes,' said the Baron. 'He doesn't seem to like heights, so I suggest you go quickly.'

Sydney had a vision of Nigel hanging off of the edge of the parapet, desperately clinging on with one hand. She pushed past the large man, and ran up the flight of steps that led to the slim, castellated, walkway that encircled the base of the spire.

'Nigel!' she called.

No answer. There was nobody there. When she turned, the staircase back down was blocked by the bulk of the Baron. He was grinning slyly, and pointing a small pistol at her.

………….

Left in his dark, damp dungeon, Nigel could not, at first, think of anything good to do. He couldn't see, let alone identify a possibility for escape. Was he really going to have to sit there and hope that Syd got herself out and came to rescue him? Again!

After a little while, his eyes began to adjust and he realised that it was not completely pitch black. He could see an area of grey light opposite, which looked about the same shape as a doorway.

He clambered to his feet, and made his way towards the opening. It led to a further room in which there was a small, high window through which shone the rays of a night-lamp outside. There was no potential for escape. The window was far too small, and there was no other door in this room. Defeated, Nigel slumped down against a wall, his mind filled with fearsome images of the returning Baron.

'Ow!'

Nigel jumped up. He hadn't expected the wall to be comfortable, but it was really bumpy and jagged. Reaching out in the dim light, he ran his fingers lightly over it. It felt like some sort of plaster relief or wall frieze. It was divided into segments, and he wondered if part of it might open up. Could it be a door? He knocked, and it sounded thin and hollow.

He felt across the façade again, looking for a lever or handle. Nothing obvious was forthcoming. 'Damn,' he muttered to himself. The Baron could be back any minute now.

Nigel took a deep breath and a step back. He put on his glasses and strained his eyes to make out any images on the wall.

It certainly appeared to be a Greek style frieze. It was not an original, but another imitation, put there when the house was built. He discerned several figures, including the image of a warrior, and a beautiful woman, her body scantily clad with wisps of fabric. He tried pressing and pulling at several parts of the carving, including the sword of the warrior, but nothing moved.

He had to think logically about this. If he was a 'Regency decadent' with slightly kinky tastes, how would he want to open a secret door out of his own, personal dungeon?

The answer seemed too obvious. In fact, he'd done it before! Nigel pressed the breasts of the female figure, wondering why, with nobody around, he was still slightly embarrassed. There was a clunk, and a section of the frieze rolled aside.

………………………..

Behind the screen was a staircase leading upwards, straight to a dead end. After a moment of despair, Nigel realized that it was not a stone flag that blocked his way, but a wooden floor. The floorboards were old, and slightly damp; they had obviously been put over the end of the staircase sometime ago. He put his shoulder to them, and shoved as hard as he could.

After a few attempts, the floorboards cracked, and he burst up into another stonewalled chamber. Rubbing his sore shoulder, he observed it was lit by blazing candles, which were placed in niches in the walls. Straight ahead of him, on a marble altar, was a statue of another stunning, barely clad lady. He knew instantly it was the relic they were after.

He hesitated before he touched it. Sydney had mentioned traps and an inscription. Sure enough, protruding down from the ceiling was a portcullis with sharp pointed spikes. It was poised to fall on anybody who reached for the statue… from the other side.

It occurred to him, that Sydney had found a secret passage in the library was in regular use. His passage from the basement, on the other hand, had not been accessed for some time. He doubted anybody even knew about it anymore, let alone bothered to protect the statue from it.

Cautiously, he reached for the statue and then dived forward under the portcullis. It fell with a loud clunk behind him. If anybody had reached from the library side, it would have taken their arm off. Ahead of him, he spotted a further portcullis, and heard its mechanism start to rumble. 'Damn!' Nigel leapt to his feet and hurled himself under the next obstacle, missing its spikes by millimeters. He had no time to panic. He burst through the door into the library, before any automatic locking system had a chance to kick into action.

Nigel stumbled forward and landed unceremoniously on the carpet. Nevertheless, he felt quite pleased with himself. Not only was he a bit of a stud; he'd negotiated traps and got the relic - with only the aid of, well, a fair bit of luck!

There was no time to rest on his laurels. First, he had another lock to break, to get out of the library. This task was made no easier by the accusing presence of the dead body, still slumped across the desk! Once out, Nigel could not risk going back for the key; he had to get up to the tower and warn Sydney that the Baron was trying to kill her. With the statue tucked under his arm, he frantically searched for the first exit that led out into the middle courtyard. He did his utmost to ignore the pouring rain and the howling wind, and even the bats in the darkness. He fumbled his way into the tower and up the spiral staircase, praying that he was not too late.

………………

Poised on the top of the tower, Sydney eyed the gun in the Baron's hand.

'So that's why you need so many women sucking up to you,' she retorted. 'It's all just to make up for the fact that you've got such a… little one.'

The Baron's grin faded. He had no sense of humour when it came to himself. 'You won't be wisecracking much longer, Miss Fox,' he spat. 'I am afraid this is the end of your wonderful adventures.'

'Yeah?' said Sydney skeptically.

'Yes,' the Baron affirmed. 'Climb up there,' he motioned with the gun at the castellations.

'Okay,' said Syd, still sounding casual. Her mind was racing, looking for a way to distract the Baron so she could strike the gun away. From this position, it wasn't easy… particularly with the hammering rain, and gale force wind.

'Now jump or I'll…oomph!'

The Baron was knocked sideways and the pistol flew out of his hand. A monumental blow had been delivered to the side of his body by a genuine antique, Grecian statue.

'Nigel!' gasped Sydney.

'Thank me later,' panted Nigel, who had just run all the way up the 242 steps. The three of them, simultaneously, jumped for the gun, which had landed on the top of the castellations,

Sydney, with the quickest reactions, got there first. Standing on the edge, she held the gun at arms length over the hundred foot drop.

'I hate these nasty things,' she said, and then swung it back around to point at the Baron, 'but right now even I'm tempted to shoot with it…'

The Baron lunged forward. Sydney, perilously near the edge, deftly sidestepped and planted a punch on the Baron's jaw which sent him flying back again.

Nigel was just considering the best way to help out, when Sydney gave a scream. The crumbling stonework, weakened by the damp, was disintegrating beneath her feet. She tumbled backwards over the precipice.

'Sydney!' Nigel was there in an instant, his heart racing. Sydney was clinging on, barely, with one hand clutching at the fragile edifice.

'I can't hold on…' gasped Sydney. Her fingers were giving way.

'I've got you, Sydney.' Nigel wrapped his hands firmly around her wrist. Keeping his eyes fixed on her face, he ignored, as best as he could, the long descent below. He could sense the Baron was climbing to his feet behind him. Whatever happened, he wouldn't let go.

More soon…

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