The Dead of Winter Read Online Free PDF

as I’m concerned, it might as well be.’ Viv grinned. ‘Give me shops and pavements any time. Anyway, as I was saying, the village is about five miles away, and he took a route across country through Aikensthorpe wood. That’s over that way.’ She pointed at the window at the front of the house. ‘If it ever stops raining, you’ll be able to see it.’
    â€˜It’s still on manor land,’ Robin said quietly. ‘The house was named after the wood. Aiken is Old English for “oak”. The local guidebooks say it’s a real, authentic patch of wildwood.’
    â€˜Sounds lovely,’ Joy said. ‘Is it walking distance?’
    â€˜Only if it stops raining long enough for you to see where you’re going and you have a pair of wellies,’ Viv said.
    â€˜Melissa has a stock of wellingtons,’ Toby told them, looking at Joy with what seemed, to Rina’s eyes, slightly predatory interest. Her somewhat irrational dislike of the man increased.
    â€˜Well, if it clears up, Tim and I might borrow a couple of pairs and go and see,’ Joy said. She reached out and took Tim’s hand, then leaned over the arm of the sofa and planted a very deliberate kiss on his cheek.
    Tim looked surprised, then smiled at her and returned the kiss. He inched his chair closer.
    Rina was pleased at the look of disappointment that flickered across Toby’s face.
    â€˜So, accidental death then,’ Joy said cheerfully. ‘He probably rode into a branch.’
    â€˜Ah, but what about the look of sheer terror that eyewitnesses report, frozen on his face? His lips drawn back in a rictus or . . . oh, something or other.’ Viv laughed, then seemed to reconsider. ‘Sad though, don’t you think, that a man should die just because he had an argument with a friend? My mum always says you should never let the sun go down on your anger – you never know what will happen, so you should never part with harsh words.’
    â€˜Oh, God,’ Toby groaned. ‘Homilies from Viv’s mum.’
    â€˜My mum says that too,’ Joy said. ‘Something like it, anyway.’ She smiled at Viv.
    Bridie would certainly express it differently, Rina thought, but she could well believe Bridie would have her version. Rina considered it to be good and sensible advice.
    â€˜It was the last seance they held here,’ Robin told them.
    â€˜Which is kind of a surprise,’ Viv said, considering it. ‘You’d almost have expected them to try and get in touch with him, wouldn’t you? That’s what they did when the gamekeeper died.’
    â€˜Gamekeeper?’ This bit was evidently new to Toby.
    â€˜You should have read the background notes,’ Viv chided. ‘The gamekeeper was the first seance, about two years before. He got shot in what was reported as a hunting accident, but there was some doubt. Southam and his little gang decided to do some psychic investigating. Actually, he did some real investigating too. He called in a detective all the way from London to look into things. They had regular seances every few weeks after that, until the one where everything went wrong and the room was sealed up.’
    â€˜They called in a private detective?’ Toby seemed to pounce on the fact ‘I must take a look at that. Anyway, that’s the end of the story, really. After that last seance, as Viv said, the anteroom it took place in was sealed up, and no seance ever conducted here again. It was something of a cause célèbre locally though, and it made a splash in the national papers. Various mediums and the like claimed to have been in touch with Dr Pym, and the general shenanigans took a good year or so to die down.’ He got up, and the others saw that as a cue to move too. ‘Viv and Melissa have put notes together for you about the house and such, and there are mini biographies of speakers and such in the conference