“No, we can’t,” Gabriel said.
“We will have to deal with the body as we did with Heidi’s” the manservant said. “I’ll need your help to do that.”
His chest tightened painfully. “My help?”
“Yes. You’re strong. I need your strength to transport the body downstairs.”
Gabriel struggled to breathe. He’d rather face the killer head on than deal with this. Clinging to his brother’s lifeless body after he died had been the most harrowing hours of his life. Now there was another dead body to reckon with, and just thinking about it made bitter bile rise in his throat.
“Fine. It’s the least we can do for Otto,” he forced out. “But I won’t leave Jane here alone. So she’ll need to either come with us or stay with the others in a secure room.”
“The groundskeeper is already in the parlor,” the manservant said. “She will be safe there. Afterwards, we can all convene in the parlor to determine our next plan of action.”
“Got it. I’ll meet you in ten.”
Gabriel shut the door and moved back to the bed, pressing a kiss to her forehead to gently wake her.
Her brown eyes opened and she gave him a sleepy smile. “Hey, you. How long was I asleep?”
“A couple of hours,” he told her. “Jane…I have to help handle Otto.”
Jane’s smile vanished instantly, as if she had suddenly remembered the circumstances that had brought them together in his bed. “Oh, no. Poor Otto.” She shut her eyes for a moment. When they opened again, they were shining.
“I want you to wait for me with the groundskeeper while I take care of this.”
“Okay.”
He handed over her discarded clothes and then headed to the bathroom to change.
When they were both back in their clothes, he gave her the iron poker. “Use this if there’s any trouble.”
She swallowed hard and then nodded. “I will. Thanks.”
He led her out of his room, meeting up with the manservant and the groundskeeper in the hall outside.
“Come, we wait in the parlor,” the groundskeeper said to her.
“All right.” She paused to look at Gabriel for a lingering moment, her huge brown eyes imploring. “Please be careful.”
“I will.” He watched as the groundskeeper guided her to one of the rooms further down the hall, not tearing his gaze away until the door was firmly shut.
He turned to follow after the manservant, the sound of the howling wind seeming to fill the whole castle.
When he stepped into Otto’s room, he found that this time the body was covered. A blanket had been draped over it. “Won’t we be disturbing a crime scene if we move him?”
“The knife is still in his chest. We did not remove it,” the manservant answered. “I placed a plastic bag over the handle to preserve the fingerprints if there are any.”
“Probably the best decision, considering the situation.” Gabriel moved over to the foot of the bed. There were still blood stains on the surrounding sheets.
“Shall we begin?”
“Yeah. I’ll take his legs.” Gabriel grabbed hold of Otto’s ankles, resisting the urge to step away from the body.
“We can place his body on the rug and then lift the rug,” the manservant said. “That will make the task easier for us.”
The manservant hooked his arms up around Otto’s armpits and together they heaved the body off the bed. Even after years of near-daily workouts, Gabriel staggered under the lifeless weight. Whoever had managed to kill Otto had to have been both clever and stealthy to do it. The average sized man would have lost in a one on one fight with a man of Otto’s strength and stature.
They placed the body on the floor and then each of them grabbed two corners of the rug. Holding on tightly they carried the body out of the room, moving it through the hall and then downstairs to the ground floor.
Gabriel followed the manservant’s lead, exiting the castle through one of the obscure side entrances beneath the grand staircase where poor Heidi had met her own end.
The moment the door leading outside opened an icy gust of wind tore through the entrance, bringing snow with it. Against the cold blast, they walked out onto the snow to the top of a small slope where Heidi’s body lay beneath a woolen blanket. Though the snow was coming down hard, at least the bodies would be safer at the top of the slope where they were less likely to be buried under so much snow. Still, there was something somber about the howling wind and two bodies dwarfed by a world made of pure white snow.
With a final grunt, Gabriel helped set Otto’s body down beside Heidi’s and then turned to follow the manservant back inside the castle.
Silently, they headed back upstairs and walked into the parlor. There was a palpable air of gloom over the place.
Jane was sitting in front of the fire, holding tightly to the iron poker he’d given her. Timothy sat across from Jane, a haunted look on his face. Meanwhile, the groundskeeper and Agnes the housekeeper were whispering in a corner away from the others.
The manservant cleared his throat and motioned for Agnes and the groundskeeper to come closer.
“I contacted the police with the landline telephone,” the groundskeeper said as he approached them. “It is the storm that keeps them away. They cannot send out even a helicopter to help us because it is too dangerous for them to fly through such wind. So they can only arrive when the storm is finished. But they have agreed to notify Otto’s family for us.”
“So we’re stuck here with whoever did this,” Gabriel said, unease rippling through him. “Did the cops at least give any advice on what to
