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“It was a gorgeous human that lounged along the banks of the loch, where it seduced unsuspecting victims, then lured them into the water—”
“Where it drowned them for kicks and giggles.”
“Pretty much,” Marty agreed.
“Man? Woman?”
“Didn’t say. But I’m thinking man because of the curse.”
“Well, this just gets better and better,” Kris muttered.
“The kelpie seduced and killed the daughter of a very powerful witch, who then cursed it to swim the loch as a monster for all eternity.”
“You’re thinking man because of the curse, but doesn’t Nessie indicate female?”
“Nessie came from the newspapers, not the legend. In a 1933 London Times the monster was referred to as MacNess, which has definite masculine connotations.”
“All the recent victims have been women,” Kris murmured, then had a nasty thought. “Were they raped?”
“I got a look at the reports. No signs of intercourse—consensual or otherwise—which was a big red flag that we’re dealing with the same traveling killer.” At Kris’s curious expression, he continued, “There’s always one thing that doesn’t fit the monster profile. And if an actual kelpie seduced its victims, then drowned them…”
“There’d be evidence of sex before death.”
“Bingo,” Marty said.
Silence settled between them. Kris let her mind mull what her brother had said. She’d have kept mulling—he’d said a lot—but then Marty broke the silence.
“There’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“Know any witches?”
CHAPTER 23
“Why?” Kris asked.
She liked Jamaica. She didn’t want to turn her over to Interpol—and from there perhaps the Jäger-Suchers or the “one call, that’s all” assassin—if she didn’t have to.
“The legend said that a descendant of the original witch would remain nearby to make certain the cursed one remained cursed.”
“How do you get uncursed?”
“Got me. But I think the ever present descendant was meant to ensure that the kelpie would remain miserable. Something about eternal torment.”
“Hell on earth,” Kris murmured
. “ “Nice.”
“The thing did drown her daughter.”
“You get what you pay for. Or at least this beastie did.”
“Who’s the witch?” Marty pressed.
“You think that the ancestor lurking about the village is also a witch? Isn’t that kind of obvious?”
“It’s all we got.”
