“Well. Lieutenant?”
“The story checks out, sir. That was definitely William D. Orcutt walking into the bar and not coming out again.”
“Three weeks after he was murdered. A week after his burial. And how was he dressed?”
“Just like the rest, sir, down to the dirk and sporran.”
“That’s eight murder victims now who made appearances in Highland dress, only to vanish somehow before they could be questioned.”
“He failed to recognize his brother, and ordered a drink far stronger than any his brother could remember him drinking. That fits with the personality changes seen with the others.”
“And our precautions? Everyone was in place?”
“Yes, Captain. All the exits were under surveillance.”
“Except, perhaps…the chimney, Captain.”
“Well, Mr. Holmes! Er, who let you into my office?”
“You know my methods, Captain. I have the killer downstairs. Watson is holding him in the hearse with holy water and haggis laced with garlic.”
“And who is it, Mr. Holmes?”
“The original owner of the land on which the pub was built, Captain. No less than the fourth Earl of Umner, who died in 1715, and was thought to be resting quietly in the family crypt. He is, as you have no doubt deduced, a vampire.”
“A vampire! And a Scottish one! But what was he trying to do?”
“He sought no less than a return to what he considered the golden days of his youth, the seventeenth century. Killing modern pubgoers, he could force their reanimated bodies to be possessed by other noblemen of his time and temperament.”
“You’ve uncovered a vampire conspirator which turned modern men into dead Highlanders?”
“And have brought the culprit to you, Captain. You may now take credit for the apprehension of your first serial kilter.”
Blogsy Babbles 