Page 56 of Murder Most Haunted
‘No, we won’t,’ said Noah, stroking his cloak. ‘This fur edging has to be dry-cleaned.’
‘I’ll take you on my back,’ said Harold, fussing over Rona like a mother hen. Midge thought again of the press cuttings she’dfound him clutching, and felt a pang of unease. ‘Give her a lift up, Noah,’ Harold went on. Within seconds, he had hold of her as she draped her arms over his shoulders.
‘I don’t know what I’d do without you, Harold,’ groaned Rona.
Midge had suddenly noticed something else on the ground where Rona had fallen. It was shiny and smooth. Something that looked very out of place. She frowned. ‘Can I borrow the torch a moment?’
She shone it down, while Harold tried a couple of steps with Rona. The light bounced off something white.
It was a bone. And there were many more of them scattered around.
‘Oh my God!’ screamed Rona, struggling against Harold as she stared in horror at the ground. ‘Is that human fucking bones? Get me out, please!’ she sobbed. ‘GET ME OUT!’
‘It will be a sheep or something,’ shouted Harold, trying to be heard above the racket until Rona suddenly stopped screaming.
Noah peered round at her. ‘Oh dear,’ he said. ‘I think she’s passed out.’
Chapter34
According to Dr Andrew Mortimer, Rona’s ankle wasn’t broken. It was a bad sprain. Rona teared up at the announcement as they all stood in her room waiting for the doctor to finish examining her.
‘I’m so sorry, I feel like I’ve caused a drama over nothing.’
She was disappointed in the reduction of the injury, Midge could tell. A dreadful fuss was exactly what Rona lived for.
‘Not at all,’ said Harold, who had taken the opportunity to sit down in the chair after the long walk back through the snow carrying her. ‘A sprain can be just as painful.’ He held his hands out to the open fire and rubbed them together for warmth.
‘You will still need complete bed rest, to take the weight off,’ said the doctor. He was less abrupt when dealing with an actual patient, at least that was until Harold said, ‘Shouldn’t we try and get her to hospital?’
Dr Mortimer visibly bristled. ‘To what end, precisely?’
‘I don’t know,’ shrugged Harold. ‘An X-ray or something.’
‘I told you it’s not broken,’ said the doctor. ‘And how do you propose to get her there? And what in God’s name areyouwearing?’ he added, glaring at Noah.
Noah sighed and pulled his fur robe closer. ‘It’s cosplay.’
‘It’s fucking ridiculous is what it is,’ said the doctor, snapping his medical bag shut.
‘I can’t stay in bed all day,’ moaned Rona. ‘I’ll be bored out of my mind.’
Midge agreed. For the briefest of moments, she tried to imaginewhat it must be like, being in bed all day. This had only ever happened to her once in her life, after the baby incident. Even when she was a child, she had always been an early riser. In fact, it was a mystery what all these people found to do with their time under the bedcovers without getting pins and needles.
‘I’ve got a pack of playing cards in my room,’ suggested Harold. ‘I could go and fetch them later for you?’
Rona grumpily agreed before leaning back in the bed with her eyes shut. ‘I did see her, you know? The White Lady of the Moor.’
‘Did you lose consciousness at all, Rona?’ the doctor asked.
‘Only when I saw I was sitting in a graveyard.’ Rona gave a groggy smile.
‘We don’t know what type of bones they were,’ said Midge.
‘Harold said it was a sheep,’ said Rona.
‘Maybe,’ nodded Midge. The bones had certainly belonged to something small.
‘I saw her, she wanted me to follow.’ Rona winced in pain.
