Mr Stone's Hunting Lodge

Chapter Five

While Mrs Forsythe slept off her excess from the previous day, the rest of the guests were civilized enough to eat breakfast in the dining room together. The Slains took one end of the table, Mr Hayward and Miss Doncaster the other, and Mr Forsthye sat by himself in the middle.

Mr Hayward and Miss Doncaster were staring out the window at the blizzard churning outside, indignation plastered on their faces.

Mr Slain, on the other hand, only looked slightly out of sorts. 'I think I'm going to have another grapefruit,' he said to himself loudly. Was he trying to get a rise out of Mr Forsythe?

Whatever his intention, Mrs Slain thought so. And wanting nothing to do with it, she excused herself and left. Mr Slain took no notice of his wife's departure and sipped his apple juice.

A short time later, Mr Stone walked in and Mr Hayward and Miss Doncaster shifted their focus.

'Well?' Mr Hayward asked Mr Stone with hope on his tongue.

'Sorry,' Mr Stone replied. 'Even if you two could trudge your way down to the train station with your luggage, the trains have all stopped. Too much snow on the tracks.'

'So we're stuck here.' Mr Forsythe's optimism turning as dark as the weather. 'Marvelous.'

Miss Doncaster placed her hand on his arm to try to calm him down. 'It's okay, Eddy.'

'You two really need to take it easy,' Mr Slain had to say.

'Please only talk to us if you're going to apologize,' Miss Doncaster said to him.

'Apologize? Apologize for what?'

Mr Hayward bolted up from his chair, almost tipping it over.

It looked as if another fight was about to unfold when Mrs Slain reappeared, bursting into the dining room with an ornate box in her hands. She looked to be in disbelief. 'My emerald earrings are gone.' She opened the box and showed that it was empty.

Mr Slain shot up from his chair almost as fast as Mr Hayward. 'Are you sure?'

'Yes. Someone must have stolen them.'

Mr Slain snapped to Mr Forsythe. 'Is this your wife's doing? Did she take them to get her revenge on me?'

Mr Forsythe was shocked at the accusation. 'You're mad.'

'Who else would have done it?' Mr Slain asked with more vigor.

'Maybe it was one of the staff.'

Mr Stone was offended. 'I'm sure that is not the case. But I will talk to them. Mrs Slain, when was the last time you saw your earrings?'

'It was the night we arrived. After dinner. I put them away in the box.'

'Is it possible they fell out?'

'I already searched my room but I'll try again.'

To Mr Stone's dismay, however, the search was a fruitless one, so he gathered his staff in his office.

'As you all probably know by now,' he said, 'Mrs Slain's emerald earrings have gone missing. She thinks they've been stolen.'

'And she suspects one of us does she?' croaked Harry, the Jack-of-all-trades. His gaunt and withered face expressed he already had enough of the drama.

'Nobody suspects the staff,' replied Mr Stone. 'I just want to know if anyone may have seen something . . . anything.'

Mr Brown, the cook, a middle-aged man who looked as if he tasted all the meals he made, remarked, 'I'm either butchering animals or in the kitchen preparing or cooking meals. What would I have seen?'

Mr Stone nodded in reply before turning to Jack, Rachel and Emily. 'You three see anything?'

Jack and Rachel shook their heads while Emily answered, 'Where did she keep them? I'm the one who cleans her room.'

'In a box she kept on her night stand.'

'Yep, I know the one. I never opened it, just dusted it.'

'What happens now?' asked Rachel.

'I'm still hoping that Mrs Slain did misplace them. But if they don't show up, I'll have to call the police.' Mr Stone scanned the faces of his staff and saw no change in their expressions, no flinch of guilt.

'I heard Mr Slain had accused Mrs Forsythe of taking them. Is that right?' said Jack.

'It is.'

'Do you believe she did?'

'Honestly, I have no idea what Mrs Forsythe is capable of.'

The lights in Mr Stone's office suddenly went out, sending the place into a carpeted gloom and highlighting the violence outside.

'Are you kidding me?' Mr Stone huffed. 'A power outage is all we need.' He went over to the light switch and flicked it off and on. Nothing.

'Not surprised,' said Harry. 'Quite the storm.'

'All right,' said Mr Stone. 'Everyone with me. There are candles in the supply room. We'll distribute them to the guests.'

So, with as many candles as they could carry, Mr Stone and his staff left the supply room and headed for the guests' rooms. However, they ran into them in the Great Room. They were sitting by the light of the fire, wondering what was happening.

'Power cut, I'm afraid,' Mr Stone said. 'We have candles though.' He noticed someone was missing. 'Where's Mr Slain?'

'Yes,' Mrs Forsythe burst out angrily, 'where's my accuser? Very rich of him to accuse me of stealing. Stole that property from me.'

'He didn't steal it,' replied Mrs Slain. 'He bought it fair and square.'

Mrs Forsythe just pouted at that.

'So where is he?' Mr Stone asked.

'He went down to the cellar to get a bottle of wine before the power went out,' said Mrs Slain. 'He was going to bring it back up to our room.'

'He's probably in the dark down there,' said Mr Stone. 'Jack, light a candle and go find him. I don't want him breaking a leg falling over something.'

'Will do,' and Jack left.

'No luck in finding your earrings?' Mr Stone asked.

Mrs Slain just shook her head.

Mr Stone was going to bring up calling the police but Mrs Forsythe lashed out at her husband. 'Why do you have your outdoor coat on? Take it off.'

'No, I'm cold. It was the first thing I grabbed,' replied Mr Fosythe, not looking at his wife.

Mrs Forsythe sucked in a breath, preparing, no doubt, to give her husband a dressing down when a shrill scream was heard.

Everyone turned in a flash at the direction of the noise.

'That was Jack,' said Rachel, looking alarmed. Everyone looked alarmed.

And all together, they rushed out of the Great Room and down to the cellar.