NINE
A Brave New Future
KATHIE
18 August
“What on earth is all this?Fang, dear, don’t leave, you and Emily have to finish the wedding.”Chris hurried over to where Brother was stabbing the air with a forefinger as he loudly insisted someone be arrested.“Brother, what are you doing here?You should be at the Sherlock Holmes house.”
“I know I should,” he answered, pausing in mid–air stab to glare at her.“I was kidnapped!And now my entire day is ruined.No, not day ...year!Chief Inspector Mortimer will be demoted after this, I just know it.And I’ve worked so hard to get through the Murder of the Barking Ewe at Midnight.Dammit!”
“Kidnapped?”Fang and Emily asked at the same time.
“By who?”I asked, catching sight of a very pale innkeeper peeking out of a half-opened door.“And I second Chris’s question—what’s going on here?”
Iain, being the brilliant man he is, immediately went to speak with one of the uniformed police.I watched a bit worriedly as his eyebrows rose every few seconds.
Clara filmed him for half a minute before turning her attention to the intruders.The uniformed cops had made a quick job of restraining the two ghost hunters, who now sat on the grass with hands zip-tied behind their respective backs, while bearing disgruntled expressions.Although it struck me that the man with the turtle pants looked somewhat pleased at the same time.
I intercepted Iain as Emily, Fang, and Chris descended upon Brother.Corbin and Amy—both of whom we had taken a liking to, having spent a few hours in a pub with them the previous night—moved in to talk.
“Surely this sort of thing isn’t normal here,” Corbin asked.“Kidnapping tourists would appear to indicate a more extreme society than BritBox led us to believe.”
“Oh, we’re very cool here, normally,” I said, glancing at Iain when he put one arm around me, and the other around Clara.“Football matches aside.What did the cop have to say, Iain?”
“It would appear there’s been a right muck up going on under our noses,” he started to say, but before he could get further, the bossy server clapped her hands and said loudly, “We will need to take statements from all of you.If you will make your way to the dining room in an orderly fashion, we’ll take you in turn.”
“Huh?”Amy asked, looking as confused as I felt.
“She’s CID,” Iain said, as the woman started shooing everyone inside.“According to the local coppers, she’s been working some underground burglary ring.”
“Burglary!”I said, touching the ruby necklace that Iain had given me for our last anniversary.I was glad I’d worn it the whole time we’d been at the hotel.
“Emily!”Chris shouted, stopping her as she was about to go inside with the others.
“What?”Em asked.
“You didn’t kiss him,” she interrupted, gesturing at Fang.“You have to kiss to make the marriage legal.”
