Page 73 of Murder Most Haunted
‘The changing screen. I would imagine they were already there when Rendell entered. Hiding in plain sight. They waited, killed him, placed the false key in the lock before stepping outside and locking it with the proper key.’
‘You are clever, Midge,’ said Rona, her eyes wide. Midge’s face flushed with the unexpected compliment.
‘And so, if I’m right, this key belongs here.’ She gently placed the key in the clock face hole, smiling with satisfaction as she heard the answering click of a fit, and began to wind the mechanism back up. Her smile quickly faded, however, when the clock still didn’t start to tick, despite being wound up. Instead, a strange grinding noise could be heard coming from inside the clock’s body.
‘Something must be jamming it now,’ she said. Placing her fingernails into the gap on the front panel, she prised open the door.
Something was tangled up in the pendulum mechanics.
‘My camera!’ cried Noah.
Chapter44
‘But I don’t understand. Neither Dr Mortimer nor I ran past anyone on the landing,’ said Rona for the second time in five minutes, which Midge was beginning to find mildly annoying to say the least, and certainly not conducive to following her own train of thought. She cast her mind back to the intruder in Noah’s room.
‘If Noah’s visitor had come this way with the equipment, and tried to get to the stairs using the west corridor, then...’
‘Then Rona would have seen them,’ finished Noah.
‘So, instead, they must have turned down the south corridor...’ Midge had turned and was now walking towards the landing. ‘Where they would have only got about as far as here and had to hide the things quickly in the clock.’ She stopped as she drew level with the grandfather clock, the stairs visible further ahead. ‘Before running into the doctor.’
She held her cane up in the air as she thought.
‘Which can only mean one of two things,’ she said, leaning against the wall. She tapped her cane on the clock’s wooden panel. ‘One – we were all mistaken and the intruder did in fact pass you.’ Midge tapped the cane against the clock again. ‘Or two – it really was a ghost that disappeared into thin air. Both of which are ridiculous.’
‘Or three,’ said Noah, ‘it was a transmutation and now one of you is the ghost.’
‘Why would a ghost need to hide your equipment?’ replied Midge, slowly, as if explaining to a child, which in her opinion wasn’t too far off when it came to Noah.
‘So, who took it, then?’ asked Noah, confused.
Midge considered this. She knew that she hadn’t taken the camera, which could only mean that either Rona or the doctor was the thief. But why?
‘What have you taken on this?’ she asked Noah, who was busy checking for scratches on the camera’s lens.
‘Some photos of the building and rooms.’
‘But I thought a podcast was all audio?’ said Rona, frowning.
Noah nodded, rubbing the lens. ‘Yeah, it is, but I’ve got a website and stuff too. I use film photography for the website stories for a more authentic look. Not digital.’
‘Who’s got a website?’ Harold was making his way up the main stairs, and had evidently overheard them.
The others shared a look between themselves. Harold’s eyes widened when he saw what Noah was holding. ‘You... you’ve found your stuff?’
‘Yes,’ said Noah.
‘So, who took it?’ he asked.
‘That’s what we’re trying to work out,’ said Rona, pointedly.
‘The quickest way to find out would be to get these photos developed,’ said Midge, walking towards the stairs.
‘What?!’ said Harold, blocking her path. ‘Why on earth would you want to waste time doing that?’
‘Because the only reason to steal this camera is if you’re worried about what’s on it.’
‘Hang on a minute!’ Noah’s voice rang out loudly, his head bent over the back of the camera.
