Page 14

Chapter 14

Thankfully this body wasn’t as far away as Helmud’s had been. We walked down a shaft from the main entrance and into a branch where a number of dwarves stood guard around the corpse. He was lying on the ground only a few steps from the entrance, facing the aperture as if he’d been trying to escape; he’d have been lying face down – if he’d had a face. The bloody stump of his neck stared at us and the scent of blood overwhelmed me for a moment.

My stomach gave a loud and audible growl. ‘Sorry,’ I said faintly, my face reddening.

‘Skipping meals and eating Connor instead?’ Liv sassed. ‘I approve.’

My face warmed further.

‘Okay, Bunny?’ Gunnar was studying me, making sure I wasn’t about to go into a blood frenzy.

I forced a smile. ‘Totally fine. I guess that slice of bread just didn’t cut it this morning.’ I stomped on my embarrassment and made myself think about business. I turned to my currently canine friend. ‘Fluffy, scent.’

He started to sniff the area as I squatted down to look at the corpse. The dead miner was dressed like all the other dwarves: coveralls, sturdy boots and gloves. His hard hat had been discarded nearby. A small pool of blood had soaked the dirt floor around him where his head should have been: it appeared he’d been killed in situ and the body hadn’t been moved. If that was true, this wasn’t a staged crime scene.

I took evidence bags from the black bag so I could collect a blood sample but before I could start, Leif appeared. He nodded to the other dwarves, but his gaze lit with fire as he turned towards us. ‘Don’t you dare!’ he snarled at me. He strode over and ripped the bag from my hand. ‘The body and all its fluid must remain intact!’

Thomas had said the dwarves had been difficult, but this was a murder. I stared at Leif. ‘I understand your culture dictates the entire body must be burned, but surely a drop of blood won’t make a difference? Without it, I can’t test for drugs or poisons.’

Leif continued glaring at me. ‘Alfgar did not take drugs.’

‘Perhaps not willingly – that’s the point of the test. We need to determine if the murderer gave him something. ’

He snorted. ‘She didn’t give him anything, she just cut off his head!’

‘She?’ Sidnee said quietly.

‘The hag!’ He waved his arms wildly. ‘I don’t know why you’re here! We know who did this! And now we can get rid of her for good, like we should have done when we first came here.’ He slid a reproachful gaze to one of the older dwarves who was standing by the body.

Gunnar kept his voice level. ‘There is nothing here to indicate that the murder was carried out by the hag.’

‘The head is missing!’ Leif roared. ‘She has taken so much from us! This will be the last time. Our dead deserve to rest!’ His chest was heaving.

‘Damn right,’ one of the other dwarves grunted.

‘And you are?’ I asked.

‘Delvin Simonson,’ he grunted. ‘Alfgar’s cousin. And now I can’t burn him or sing his song.’ His voice warbled with emotion. ‘It’s not right. We should burn her and her damned den!’

‘We need to recover the heads first so that they may be laid to rest whole,’ the elderly dwarf said sagely. His back was bowed, his dark brown beard mottled with grey, and he was leaning on a gnarled stick. He was eyeing Fluffy with concern, as were his companions. Cat people, then.

‘And you are?’ I asked .

‘This is Baldred Simonson, our most honourable and venerated elder,’ Delvin explained a shade haughtily.

Baldred patted his hand gently. ‘I can introduce myself, son.’

‘Alfgar is your nephew?’ Sidnee asked.

‘Indeed.’ Baldred sighed and tugged his dark beard. ‘It is a sad day.’

‘We’re sorry to intrude on your grief,’ I offered.

‘And yet you do it all the same,’ Leif snapped.

‘Justice waits for no one,’ Gunnar said mildly. ‘The killer could be anyone, that’s why we must investigate. Now, is there any reason someone would want you to shut down?’

‘Yeah,’ Leif retorted. ‘The hag. She wants us out.’

I grimaced; Leif was a broken record and I didn’t think he was right. Matilda had wanted them to stay out of certain areas and she’d seemed more than happy to have some daily doughnuts. She hadn’t seemed in a hurry to get rid of the dwarves.

Gunnar sighed. ‘Anyone else?’

Leif glared at him. ‘We know who did this and we know why. She thinks she can intimidate us into leaving, and with some factions that will work.’

‘Some counsel leaving the mine,’ Baldred agreed. ‘The heads being stolen has stirred up much bad feeling over the last year. ’

I frowned. ‘The heads being stolen is a recent thing?’ Matilda had quite a collection in her cave; if the dwarves were long lived, she couldn't have taken that many skulls in the last year.

Delvin nodded. ‘It is wrong! Three have passed and had their heads taken before the proper burning. And now this is four – and it is Alfgar, no less.’ He shook his head sadly as he turned to his father. ‘We cannot let his soul wander lost.’

Baldred patted his arm again. ‘All will be well. We will talk when we are alone.’ He looked pointedly at us.

I cleared my throat and tried to return to the matter in hand. ‘When I spoke to the hag, she mentioned there was an odd smell around the same time the inspector died. Have you noticed any gas? Has anyone else complained of strange smells?’

Leif’s jaw tightened; he obviously didn’t want to answer but Baldred jerked his head, telling him to do so. ‘There is no poisonous gas in this mine,’ he said finally.

I knew nothing about chromite mining, so I couldn’t argue. ‘But did anyone report a strange smell?’

‘Yes, a couple of miners did,’ Leif admitted. ‘We sent in a testing device but it showed nothing.’

Maybe it had been a coincidence, a weird pocket of something that smelled bad that had since dissipated. Even so, I looked at Thomas, Liv and Calliope. ‘We’ll need a copy of that report.’

Leif threw up his hands in frustration. ‘Why are you wasting our time? It’s the hag .’

‘I’m sorry, Leif, but we have to investigate,’ Gunnar said. ‘We can't accuse anyone without evidence. As well as the report, we’ll need a list of all workers in this section at the time of death, as well as anyone else that had access to this area.’

Leif looked to Baldred who nodded, before replying huffily, ‘Fine. I’ll email you.’ He yanked on his long beard angrily.

Since Baldred was being agreeable, maybe I could make one more little push. ‘We need to examine the body. The small amount of blood by the missing head suggests it could have been removed immediately after death, but we can’t assume that decapitation was the cause of death. The pool of blood is too small and there’s no arterial spray. I need to examine the body.’

Delvin grunted, ‘Examine it, if you must, but Alfgar stays here under dwarf supervision.’

‘Could we take him to a better-lit place like the locker room?’

Delvin shook his head firmly but Baldred countered with a nod. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘That’s acceptable, Leif?’

Leif nodded grimly. ‘Yes, Elder Baldred.’ He glared at us. ‘I’ll be right back. Don’t touch him until I return.’

‘May I take photos before the scene is disturbed?’ Sidnee asked.

Baldred nodded again and Sidnee got busy, taking dozens of photos of the body and the cavern in general. She also took some more general shots showing the route to the body and the direction in which the deceased had been walking.

‘What do you think?’ Gunnar asked me quietly as she worked.

I hesitated. ‘I’m not sure yet, but my gut doesn’t like the hag for this. I can’t put my finger on why. But whether it’s her or not, we’ll find out who killed Alfgar.’

Gunnar smiled at me with satisfaction. ‘Damn right we will.’