The Avenger 29 - The Nightwitch Devil Read Online Free Page B

have something to do with this so-called gathering of witches?”
    “You’ll be late. Mr. Millman will be annoyed.”
    “He’s always annoyed, no matter what time I get there. Are you going to Deacon’s Meadow?”
    “Yes, I am.”
    “Why?”
    “I think the so-called witches may have done something to a friend of mine.”
    “What do you—”
    “Never mind, Gil. You think it’s all a fantasy, some kind of hallucination of mine. So go on about your business.”
    “You’re my business,” he said. “You’re so preoccupied with witches and spooks, Anne, you seem to have forgotten that we’re engaged.”
    “Informally.”
    “Okay, informally, until I find out for sure whether I’m going to be drafted or not,” said Gil. “But engaged.”
    She looked up at him. “Will you, please, help me?”
    After a second of hesitation, he answered, “Yes, Anne.”
    “Come up there to the meadow with me. I want to see if I can find any trace of Mr. MacMurdie.”
    “Who exactly is MacMurdie?” He opened the passenger door for her.
    As they drove up into the hills she told Gil about MacMurdie and what he’d set out to do.
    “You mean you think this bunch has done something to Dr. Ruyle, too?”
    “Yes.”
    “I really don’t know what to think,” said the lawyer. “It seemed to me that playing at witchcraft was harmless, not anything to—”
    “Wait now, Gil,” said the girl. “You told me you did know about this coven even before I mentioned it to you.”
    Keeping his eyes on the road, Gil replied, “I’ve lived here most of my life, Anne. Lately, sure, I’ve heard a few rumors, but nothing to indicate—”
    “Yet you gave me the impression you thought I was an idiot.”
    “I didn’t feel it’d do you any good to tangle with these people. Believe me, I thought they were only playing games with some old-time superstitions.”
    “A gathering of witches isn’t the same thing as a quilting bee,” said the girl. “Do you know who the members are?”
    “I could probably guess at least a few.”
    “Do you know who the Devil is?”
    “No.”
    “You can’t guess?”
    “No.”
    Anne slowly sighed out her breath. “Honestly, Gil, what did you think they were up to? I mean they’ve been holding Black Masses, Lord knows what else.”
    “Old people, simple people, they need something to divert them,” he said. “I really think this is—”
    “Honestly, Gil. You can’t be that naive. These people, and they certainly aren’t all little old ladies, are vicious.”
    “All right, I’m a simple rustic.” He pulled the car over to the edge of a field. “We’ll have to walk from here.”
    Anne jumped from the coupé before he got around to help her. “But you’re not stupid, Gil. That’s why I can’t understand how—”
    “Maybe I have other things on my mind.” He followed her up through the slanting field. “Such as trying to plan for the future—our future, I mean.”
    They found only silence when they reached the cave at Deacon’s Meadow.
    Gil went in first, clicking on the flashlight he’d brought from his car. “No sign of anything here,” he said after a moment.
    “They have their altar right . . .” Anne lowered her hand.
    There was no altar there now.
    “Whatever was here is gone now.” Gil shone the light on the spot she’d pointed at.
    “But there are scratches there, in the earth.” Anne moved closer to the circle of yellow light. “You can see where it stood. And there’s something . . .” Kneeling, she moved her hand across a black patch on the cave floor. “What is it?”
    Her fingers were stained a darkish red. “Blood,” she said.

CHAPTER VII

Missing Persons
    “Spring is nigh,” observed Cole, putting his knee up against the dashboard.
    Frowning out at the pale yellow midday, Smitty said, “Not nigh enough.”
    “Nightwitch three miles,” read Cole from a signpost. “Via that road there.”
    Smitty swung their car onto the side road. “What do you